Resistance is futile
by digby
I think Seth Michaels is on to something here:
Yesterday, a perceptive piece by Buzzfeed political reporters McKay Coppins and Zeke Miller laid bare a breathtakingly cynical strategy by the Romney campaign and top Republican-leaning superPACs: to win the election by a sheer, exhausting flood of money.
“There’s no way they’ll be able to keep up. Our SuperPACs are our Star Wars, if you will,” said a Republican operative close to the Romney campaign…In fact, on Wednesday Obama officials told reporters that all-in, they expected to be outspent three-to-one by Romney and his Republican allies by Election Day.
Coppins and Miller call this the “Cold War strategy,” a reference to how the arms race of the 1980s crippled the Soviet Union. It’s a sharply observed piece, and it’s hard to argue that this isn’t the intended strategy, especially after a quick look at the actual money involved. We’re seeing multi-million-dollar fundraising commitments from billionaire donors like Harold Simmons, Sheldon Adelson, and David Koch as well as from major corporate groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And, of course, some of the money going into this strategy is anonymous and untraceable.
So that raises another question: if this is really the strategy Romney and his allies are going with, why would they tip their hand and explain it? It could be that they think the story won’t get much public attention, or it could be that they feel confident that it’s hard to counter. But there’s a deeper reason, and it’s a kind of deliberate psychological warfare. They want people to know their strategy because they want to discourage and demoralize their opponents. The shameless, arrogant insistence that they can and will buy the election is kind of the point.
That deep strategy is going to be something you’ll see all year. Whether it’s aimed at people who work in progressive politics, at activists, or at voters themselves, the ethically-loathsome goal is the same: to make people feel hopeless and powerless, like they can’t make a difference and shouldn’t bother trying. Read between the lines of op-eds and TV ads from Karl Rove and his allies and you’ll see the real message: your participation isn’t going to do any good. And the number of ads you’re going to see is going to be a tactic in and of itself: the kind of money we’re talking about is enough to completely flood the airwaves, and the effect of seeing an exhausting number of negative, misleading ads is going to be downright numbing—in a way that will make the political process seem just awful.
It's also an extension of the "we're winning so why bother even voting" strategy that was a favorite of Karl Rove's during the Bush campaigns (which is itself an attempt to force the bandwagon effect.)
I believe that Michaels is right, that they are telegraphing their intention to smother the Democrats with millions of dollars. And if what I hear in activist circles is correct, it's working out just great already. People are very depressed and disillusioned anyway, the economy sucks and the big money is the knock out punch. Of course it isn't just the money, it's the press disseminating storylines that imply that progressives are sunk and writing columns that are factually incorrect. They're helping spin the threat.
This election is in some ways a grand experiment in the power of big bucks. The good news is that progressives have managed to pull out some primary wins so far despite being outspent by establishment Dems and their well-heeled friends. That proves nothing, of course. The Big Money Boys are putting most of their golden eggs in the GOP basket. It's hard to see that how it won't just be overkill in the presidential election, since the president will have plenty of money to fight back. (There are only so many ads you can see in a day.) But in the down-ticket races it's going to be interesting to see if they can just overwhelm the congressional Democrats. On the other hand, if all politics is local, it's just possible they may overplay their hand. We'll know in November.
The worst part of all this is the further inculcation of conservative propaganda with this bombardment of right wing messaging. It's one thing to lose elections. It's quite another to have the entire population brainwashed more quickly and efficiently than they've ever been before. You have to wonder if people will even get a chance to hear the other side --- or, worse, if the other side will simply capitulate and ride the storyline the Big Money Boys are selling.
Here's a little factoid: The Camber of Commerce is only playing in one congressional election so far --- Alan Grayson in Florida. I'm sure it won't be the last, but it's fairly clear who they think is their most important target.
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