Josh clearly means this movie to expose how utterly vapid, robotic, and contemptible McCain is as he repeats his vacuous talking points, all the while fearfully blinking like a two-bit hustler caught stealing from the mafia boss.
Pretty funny, huh? Or maybe you thought it was pathetic. Or pathetically funny. Or something similar, the point being that it turns McCain into a joke, an object of snark. Well, I saw something different in this film. What I saw and heard - and just about the only thing I saw and heard - was that McCain cares about workers.
Modern mass media is non-linear. That is why - duh - McCain or any other politician (or, for that matter anyone selling an idea or a product), must repeat, and repeat, and repeat the same message over and over again to the same media outlets in the same time frame. Sure, when strung together, it looks stupid and comical. That's why The Daily Show and others do it all the time. And like jokes about all things flatulent, it's a quick, effective snicker. Don't get me wrong: these mashups can be hysterically funny.
But that's not how it looks in reality. By sneering at McCain's technique here - and spare me the the lecture that McCain deserves to be sneered at, I was mocking McCain back when Josh Marshall thought he was a magnificent maverick, thank you very much - we miss the fundamental point. This is how voters are reached today and it works.
Proof? Look at the polls. Remember: This should be a rout. Objectively speaking, there are pieces of lint that are more qualified than McCain/Bush/Palin to run this country. But this Republican Ticket of the Damned is ahead (or statistically even) in the polls right now and there are reasons for that. Racism explains a lot. Conservative media bias explains a lot. The immaturity and timidity of the media explains a lot. But that's not the whole story. So, please, tell me how lame McCain looks repeating his talking points when he, Bush, and Palin are down 10 points and I will gladly, gratefully agree.
Let's can the meta-snark to study what the message is. And the message here is not "McCain is a robot." The message is "McCain cares about workers." Therefore, the message Democrats ought to be repeating again, and again, and again - just as clearly and montonously as the Republicans do - is this:
It's real easy for McCain to say whatever he wants from the personal library of one of his many, many homes, but those of us who are workers know his record and we know McCain is lying through his teeth.
That it has the distinct virtue of being absolutely true is an added bonus.
But Democrats need to do more. They need to make news. What news? That is for Obama's advisers to work out. But here's a hint: Terry McAuliffe campaigning for Obama in Virginia is not news. It's what all leading Democrats should be expected to do beginning the day after the convention. The campaign support Obama has received from the party poohbahs has been nothing short of disgraceful.
UPDATE: This, if it happens, is not news either. At best, it is news-ish. Of course, Rove deserves to be held in contempt; hell, he should be locked up with only the Unabomber for company. But the Dems should be thinking up something additional that isn't so bloody easy for Republicans to swat away as mere politics.
UPDATE: Added this depressing link about the unspeakable childishness of the press.