Wink of The Poet's Eye--Flip-flops

[Lightning Rod]

Final Night--Who Wears These Flip-flops?

If the Republicans are nothing else, they are On Message. The message of this convention is that Gdub is tough and unwavering and you are safer because of it and John Kerry flip-flops. This writer watched all the major speeches and over and over these themes were reiterated. One person could have written them all. This message was repeated again and again without the benefit of one concrete program or proposal. Those Republicans really know how to throw an infomercial.

They were passing out flip-flops to illustrate their point. I found it amusing that during Zell Miller's keynote addresss, the delegates were waving their flip-flops while Zell can't decide if he's a Republicrat or a Demicon. But then Zell Miller doesn't know in which century he is living. Moments after he left the podium he challenged Chris Mathews to a duel.

As a speaker, George Bush reminds me of many mediocre musicians that I have known from Texas. When they work night after night in sleazy bars, eventually they get pretty good at what they are doing. How do you get to Carnagie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

George Bush has been practicing for the past four years. He has repeated so many lies that he can tell them without a blink. You might even think he believes them. More than a year, a thousand American lives ago, Bush declared victory in Iraq. That was a lie, or as he charitably calls it, a miscalculation. Now, in his acceptance speech, he has declared economic victory in a failing economy, he has claimed the garland for education when our kids can't read, he gave himself a gold medal in healthcare when five million have lost their insurance during his administration. He must think that we will go for anything.

As usual the Republicans have chosen symbol over substance. The RNC has portrayed Georgie as the Marlboro Man. They want us to believe that he is tough and decisive. He shoots from the hip. He won't take no shit from them terrrrrerrrishts. The Bush campaign is hanging its hat on this solitary hook: George is a tough hombre and Kerry is a pansy Yankee who wears flip-flops.

If I were Kerry I would be particularly offended by the flip-flop thing. He has vacillated no more than any other politician who has had a thirty-five year career. Times and people and ideas change. I would be offended by the flip-flop symbol just because I hate those little rubber torture devices posing as footwear. I've always thought that flip-flops were strictly for the deer and the antelope and other cloven hoofed beasts.

The Republicans didn't get rich by being stupid. They know that George is bulletproof on the flip-flop issue. He has absolutely no voting record. While John Kerry was serving in Vietnam, Bush was partying in Texas and being absent from his National Guard duty. While John Kerry was voicing his protest of the war before Congress, Bush was partying in Texas. While John Kerry was being a public servant in Mass, Bush was partying in Texas and losing money in the oil business. While John Kerry was building a voting record in the US Senate, George Bush was playing with his toy baseball team and partying in Texas. While John Kerry was voting his convictions and working across party lines with John McCain to resolve our final issues with Vietnam, Bush was in the largely symbolic office of Governor of Texas and bragging about how he had given up partying. Flip-flop.

The Poet's Eye sees that we live in a world of symbols. A pair of flip-flops with a stenciled slogan on it carries more weight than a coherent energy policy or a real plan for education or healthcare. It's much simpler and cheaper to produce, and the dumber you are the better it works.

[Zlatko Waterman]

See any parallels in being "On Message", LR?


( from Joseph Goebbels "Principles of Propaganda", 1934/ points 14-19)


14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.
a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses

b. They must be capable of being easily learned

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations

d. They must be boomerang-proof

15. Propaganda to the home front must prevent the raising of false hopes which can be blasted by future events.

16. Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.
a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat

b. Propaganda must diminish anxiety (other than concerning the consequences of defeat) which is too high and which cannot be reduced by people themselves

17. Propaganda to the home front must diminish the impact of frustration.
a. Inevitable frustrations must be anticipated

b. Inevitable frustrations must be placed in perspective

18. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.

19. Propaganda cannot immediately affect strong counter-tendencies; instead it must offer some form of action or diversion, or both.


--Zlatko