I'm reporting a feature on the use of technology in the presidential campaigns, with a focus on the ground game -- registration and getting out the vote. McCain and Obama are going about this very differently, with McCain volunteers following tight scripts and Obama volunteers given much more latitude to act on their own with the info they get via the webs. "It’s the difference between open and closed source,” as one RNC official put it when we spoke.
Anyway, I called a McCain "Victory Center" in North Carolina to get the local angle. A guy answered, I introduced myself as a reporter, and he launched: Obama volunteers are "stupid." They're "wandering around like Moonies in an airport." "You have to be stupid to vote for Obama." "We know who the enemy is."
I asked if he was a volunteer or a staffer. "I'm the chairman," he said. A local chair, not a county chair, as it turns out.
Does this strike you as a good way to run a campaign?
The sad part is they don't have to run a good campaign. They simply have to resort to the same old fear tactics that have worked every time. Hopefully this time is different, but I'm not betting the farm on it yet.
Posted by: aburtch | Sep 25, 2008 at 01:27 PM
No. But we have heard of very similar stories on this very blog from the left. Sykes, I think had a run in.
At any rate, as we see many times here and certainly on blogs in general, hard core politicos are just that ... hard core. Kind of a turn off really and I tire of the SOS already with weeks yet to go!
Personally, I dont for the most part find folks who disagree with me "stupid". For what ever reason, perhaps it is in their DNA, some folks just have to do that. Plenty of examples right here from both right and left.
Posted by: mick | Sep 25, 2008 at 02:20 PM
When someone uses words like "stupid" and "enemy" to describe people who don't agree with his politics, then that person is telling you he has delegitimized them from participation in the competition. His goal is not to win a political contest but to eliminate the power of the "stupid" "enemy." It's the same thinking that allows conservatives to support torture, because they've decided that they are not required to engage in moral and civilized behavior in regard to the "enemy."
Posted by: justcorbly | Sep 25, 2008 at 02:40 PM
D'uh, Ed. THE Chairman -- and you were surprised?
Posted by: Roch101 | Sep 25, 2008 at 02:47 PM
It was not Marcus, who is no longer chairman of anything that I'm aware of.
Posted by: Ed Cone | Sep 25, 2008 at 02:50 PM
JC,
I find your example a bit hyperbolic and your commentary a perfect example of the problem I just noted.
Posted by: mick | Sep 25, 2008 at 03:38 PM
Mick, what's hyperbolic about it?
I happily admit I'm very partisan. Throughout my lifetime, the GOP has opposed everything I support and supported everything I oppose.
But, I did not, and do not, characterize my political opponents as "stupid" and the "enemy." I think they are wrong, possessed of an errant interpretation of this country's history and soul, but I do not think them unworthy humans.
Posted by: Justcorbly | Sep 25, 2008 at 05:54 PM
"its the same thinking that allows conservatives to support torture..."
You dont see hyperbole in there... I do. We were talking about hyper partisans.
Posted by: mick | Sep 26, 2008 at 10:19 AM
"You dont see hyperbole in there... " -- Mick
Help me to understand the hyperbole. Is it that conservatives didn't support the administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques or that the techniques weren't torture?
Posted by: Roch101 | Sep 26, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Why was torture even brought up when we were discussing hyperpartisan wonks?
I have no intention of entering the "what is torture and what are aggressive interogation techniques" debate. It is above my pay grade. That is an acceptable answer... right?
Posted by: mick | Sep 26, 2008 at 02:29 PM
Ah, that clears it up. Thanks, Mick.
Posted by: Roch101 | Sep 26, 2008 at 03:49 PM
"When someone uses words like "stupid" and "enemy" to describe people who don't agree with his politics, then that person is telling you he has delegitimized them from participation in the competition."
Get over it. I have heard the same kind of rhetoric from both camps. If anything, more from the Dems. Remember "poor, uneducated and easy to command?"
It is the nature of contemporary politics, and both sides are guilty. Quit acting like your own shit doesn't stink.
Posted by: moqui | Sep 29, 2008 at 02:17 PM