Right Wing "Brilliance"
by David Atkins ("thereisnospoon")
It has been amusing to watch conservatives attempt to characterize the Occupy Wall Street protests. Some portray the movement as a collection of shiftless, ne'er-do-wells. Others paint it as the orchestrated creation of George Soros and the Democrats. Still others claim the unions are behind the protest. There is even the insinuation thrown around from time to time that the protesters are guilt-ridden trustafarians.
The right-wing is essentially throwing accusations against the wall to see what sticks, which isn't entirely surprising given the popularity of the movement.
But this isn't actually out of the ordinary for conservatives. For all their reputation for careful framing and targeted messaging, the conservative strategy has mostly been to throw the kitchen sink at liberal targets and just run with what works. Barack Obama is both evil Anti-Christ mastermind egghead, and clueless affirmative action dunce who can't give a speech without a teleprompter. Bill Clinton was both cunning serial killer mob boss, and stupid rural hick not worth gracing the prestigious halls of the White House. Democrats are both the party of the class-warring mob, and of the liberal elite looking to take advantage of the common man.
Messaging for the right-wing has always had less to do with deductive determination of the best language and avenue of attack, and much more to do with throwing just about every potential attack out there to see what gets traction. Often, there will be multiple contradictory attacks happening simultaneously, designed to appeal to different species of ignorant or bigoted audiences.
That is also why their messaging largely works. They have absolutely no problem "Othering" anyone who disagrees with them in any way possible in order to shift as many people as possible into their camp. Liberals like Bob Somerby tut tut at this sort of dualistic approach to politics even as they moderate themselves into political irrelevance.
The Left need not need be as intellectually dishonest and inconsistent as the Right. But it should be as forceful in its revulsion for the "values" of the other side, and force a clarifying division of America into one camp or the other. Because when all is said and done, if the Left carries a progressive populist message, at the end of the day there will be more people in our camp than in theirs. Meanwhile, in a political world of moral clarity, Democrats will have greater success in actually implementing progressive policies and claiming mandates when they win elections, just as the Right continues to do after every successful election.
Above all, the Left should not fear the Right's vaunted message machine. Throw enough attacks out there, and some of them will stick more than others. All one need do is be unafraid to go on the attack in the first place.
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