Quote:
McCain Manager: 'This Election is Not About Issues'
UPDATE, 6:18 pm: In reaction to Rick Davis' comments about the election not being about issues, Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe released the following statement: "We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change."
ORIGINAL POST
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.
"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
Davis added that issues will no doubt play a major role in the decisions undecided voters will make but that they won't ultimately be conclusive. He added that the campaign has "ultimate faith" in the idea that the more voters get to know McCain and Barack Obama, the better the Republican nominee will do.
Davis generally dismissed the controversies surrounding McCain's vice presidential pick -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- as a media creation but did acknowledge that her acceptance speech, which seems likely to come tomorrow, is critically important to defining who she is to the American public.
As for the speech itself, Davis said a generic, "masculine" speech was being prepared before the pick was made and, now that Palin is the choice, she is adapting the speech to her own needs and personality.
Davis demurred when asked when Palin will sit for interviews with major news organizations, pointing out that now would not be the right time given the "combative" attitude the media has seemingly adopted toward Palin. Pressed on the issue, Davis insisted that "we allot a lot more access in our campaign than any campaign in modern political history....we'll get around to it."
On the general election playing field, Davis alleged that Obama had tried -- and failed -- to expand the political map, and that 11 or 12 states (and maybe as many as 13) would be truly competitive. He added that campaign operatives are feeling better than they did a month ago about Iowa and Minnesota and believe their prospects have not dimmed in any competitive state during that time.
Davis did admit, however, the challenges of running for president as a Republican in this political atmosphere.
"We are in the worst Republican environment since Nixon in 1972," said Davis. "We take that seriously. We get the joke."
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McCain Manager: 'This Election is Not About Issues' - The Fix
so far, then, this idiocy of a presidential race, a televised sporting event, has been shaped in large measure by what rick davis says is the case--and this is apparently the republican strategy---personality over substance, appearance over position, generating the illusion of intimacy over providing meaningful alternatives for the american polity at a point where things have already slid dangerously out of whack. what this means, then, is that this election is a matter of identity, insofar as the republicans are concerned: if does not matter what either candidate says so much as matters the impression of a series of qualities that individuals identify with, projections that they desire to see as their very own Dear Leader.
and there is a way in which this is a smart strategy in that it relies ultimately on the role of television in determining viewpoints, in shaping perceptions---and on a spectator or consumer relation to the future of the country. what's smart about it is that it relies on the *form* of television rather than on its content, on what television *does* rather than on what anyone who circulates within the medium says.
and it assumes that all of us are fucking nitwits.
meanwhile, laura ingram did a little speech today defending sara palin against the "entrenched elites" who "control the media" and who "hate life" and so who "hate sarah palin" because she defends "life..." the analyst who summarized that little series of bon bons argued that the republicans were going to run against the media, against "the elites" who persecute them so.
Talk Radio Host Slams Media, Palin Critics - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
if you take these two things together, what they amount to is an argument for non-falsifiability---believe the image you see but not what anyone says---trust your projections, but ignore those pesky facts that get in the way---those pesky facts are the weapons of a nameless formless "elite" who are out to keep conservatives down.
this is a paranoid narrative.
the nomination process for the republicans hasn't happened yet.
already, the recipe seems to be for delerium on the right.
this is a pretty depressing state of affairs.
i wonder sometimes if how other folk see the general state of politics in america at this point, and what that assessment leads them to think the outcome likely to be.
so what do you think?