Once Upon A Nightmare
By DrJaysonFoster Posted in Archived — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Once upon a nightmare the Democrats nominated a left wing presidential candidate. How left wing was he? Boy, was this guy left wing! He embraced the economic policies of Jimmy Carter and the foreign policies of Jane Fonda. Even Fidel Castro was overheard to mutter, "I like him, but he may be too liberal."
In days past, the Republicans would have crushed such an extremist like a grape, leaving his juices to ferment in the hot political sun. But those days were gone. The GOP had lost its way and lost its nerve. The Left Winger was free to prance across the countryside, spewing meaningless rhetoric and babbling incoherently without being seriously challenged.
It was a sad time for America.
What happened next? This is where the narrative reaches the fork in the road. In the most obvious ending, the Left Winger gets a free ride all the way into the White House, where he proceeds to govern as though he were the illegitimate spawn of Mother Jones and Che Guevarra.
But hold those tears, children. There is also what Hollywood calls "the alternative ending". This occurs when the script fails to test market well among selected audiences, and Plan B is put into effect. For example, did you know that the original denouement of "Gone With The Wind" called for Rhett Butler to say, "Frankly, my dear, I care a great deal because I am an emasculated sissy boy who will do anything you demand." Audiences recoiled, and the appropriate corrections were made.
The rest, as they say on MSNBC, is history.
So, too, can John McCain rewrite the script and make history. First, he must stop campaigning as a "moderate" and start being principled. Zero tolerance policy on terrorism, even if the world objects. Lower taxes. Less government. Traditional values. The American people have a track record of supporting this agenda, and since the American people will decide the election it would be wise to provide them with policies they like.
Second, it is time to point out that Barack Obama is a left wing nut. The media will howl, but the case is supported by an avalanche of facts. Negotiating with terrorists. Jacking up taxes on everything from income to dividends to capital gains. Embracing much bigger government. Promoting the value free moral system. The American people have a track record of opposing this agenda, but the media will not highlight the leftist Obama record, so McCain must relentlessly highlight it himself...even though doing so will require him to offend his longtime admirers in the Fourth Estate.
Whether the 2008 electoral nightmare morphs into a happy ending depends upon the key question that was raised during the GOP debates: is John McCain really a Republican, or is he an ideologically vacant opportunist whose clueless opportunism will doom the conservative movement?
The only thing riding on the answer is the future of our country.