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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 08:36 AM
Original message
No One Is Going To Save You Fools

Before I explain the generic insult, let me first make something perfectly clear: I am your enemy. That you don't know this is understandable: after all, people like me prefer it that way. But until you understand just what you're up against and why, you're going to continue to lose, and look like fools in the process.

Barack Obama has indeed sold you out. He and many of his Democratic colleagues have sold you out on healthcare, and they've sold you out on financial reform. You were looking for a savior, and you've been had--not an altogether atypical result for those looking for a strong leader to "save" them.

He hasn't done this because he's a bad guy. In fact, he's a great guy. I think he's doing pretty much the best job he can. He's sold you out because he's not afraid of you. And really, if I may be so bold, he shouldn't be afraid of you. You don't know who really runs the show, and you're far too fickle and manipulable to count on.

thereisnospoon's diary :: :: The first thing you need to understand about healthcare reform is what Jane Hamsher identified long ago: nothing--absolutely nothing--is going to trump the White House's deal with PhRMA and the insurance industry. The question you need to ask yourselves is: why? If you're intellectually mature enough to get past "personal betrayal" as your best answer, you'll be on the right track.

While you ponder that one, you might want to also consider why nothing has been done--nor will anything serious actually be done--about financial industry reform. Standing up to the financial industry in the current political environment should be a no-brainer. So what in the heck is going on here? If you can think past shadowy conspiracy theories and possible personal enrichment for the Obama family, you'll be doing the kind of thinking that will help actually solve the problem.

The problem is people like me, and the people I work for. I'm what they call a Qualitative Research Consultant, or QRC for short. Here's my website. There's even a whole association of us who meet regularly to discuss ideas and tactics. Together with the AAPC, the MRA, the AMA, ESOMAR, and a whole host of other organizations you've never heard of, we have more power and control than you know. We're extremely good at what we do, and we do it all behind the scenes, appealing to and manipulating your subconscious brain in ways that your conscious brain has little to no control over.

Give us a little money to test some things out, and we can work magic. Our business is persuasion, and we're very good at it. Just watch PBS Frontline's series, The Persuaders to get just a small inkling of what you're up against. We can make a company that earns a 38% gross profit margin manufacturing purely propriety products seem hip, cool and progressive. We can take sugar water and sell it back to you as a health drink, and even Whole Foods shoppers will believe it. We can take 30 different brands of vodka with almost exactly the same ingredients, and make you understand instantly just what kind of person drinks which brand, and how much you should expect to pay for each, without a moment's thought. For any given category of products, I can show you a bunch of different brands, and you'll be able to tell me a wealth of information about each one, despite the near absolute similarity of their actual products to one another. One exercise we QRC's like to conduct involves actually turning a brand into a person in a group discussion; it's called personification. And you wouldn't believe how effectively and universally we can tailor a brand's image, right down to what kind of car that "person" would drive, and what music he/she would listen to. So much attention has been paid to Naomi Klein's outstanding Shock Doctrine, that few pay much attention anymore to her far more provocative and important work No Logo. If all Americans truly internalized the message of No Logo, people like me would be out of work, and we could really reform this country.

For a little coin, we can even make poor people hate inheritance taxes, just by using a few little words that work. The biggest difference between Obama and FDR/LBJ is that people like me weren't really around back then. As the TV show Mad Men can show you, our industry was just getting off the ground in the mid-1960's. And while it's true that the Democratic ad consultants of the 1980's and 1990's and early Aughts were wildly ineffective, that says far more about the prevailing consultant class in the Democratic Party than about the power of ad consulting in general.

So here's what you have to understand. If the health insurance and financial industries really felt scared by any particular politician or political party, or their lobbying efforts were inadequate, they could throw them out of power in a heartbeat. With a wave of their hand and a few billion dollars or so in our direction, the pharma companies and Goldman Sachs could absolutely destroy the Democratic Party in 2010 and beyond. The only reason they don't do so is that it's cheaper and easier to buy a few key Democrats off instead, and intimidate the rest. Plus, they don't have to run the risk of a right-wing populist backlash, either.

That's why Barack Obama can't renege on his deal with PhRMA: PhRMA almost singlehandedly destroyed Hillarycare in 1993, and spent the money to tip the balance of the elections in 1994. They can easily do it again. So could Goldman Sachs and the rest of the financial vampires. Rahm Emmanuel knows this, too: the deals are in place in return for their holding their fire.

And each and every one of you is being taken for fools. You work for an election or two to put chosen leaders in place, and expect those leaders to work their "leadership" magic to ram reforms down the throats of the corporate sector, failing to understand just how fully the corporate sector holds the cards. It's not the campaign contributions: it's the persuasion money.

You're looking for a savior. And like that Savior of biblical fame, s/he isn't coming, as long as there are people like me out there. I personally won't work for a company or organization that goes against my personal convictions. But 99% of us certainly will.

If you want to win, you will ORGANIZE. You will organize in the same way the Right has done for the last 40 years, and you will spend money on persuasion, where it really matters. You will, in short, make the politicians as afraid of you as they are of them. The Right has built vast networks of think tanks, newspapers, periodicals, cable news channels, and political advocacy organizations to spread their finely tuned, well-honed messages. Their politicians may fail them, and their actual policies may be deeply unpopular, but their message machine nearly always works its magic to get them what they want, even when Democrats are in power.

That's partly because the American political Right never quits and never gives up. They know that organization is the key to their success, and they don't trust politicians to do their work for them. Democrats, on the other hand, get disappointed and quit when our politicians don't pan out the way we wanted. That's why we lose.

As the healthcare debacle went on month after month, I didn't ask myself why the Democratic politicians weren't pushing single-payer or Medicare for all. I wanted to know where the Left-leaning organizations were. Where were the think tanks, the message machine, the newspapers, the whole infrastructure? Where were the national, well-tested ad campaigns pushing Medicare for All? Where were the free screenings of Sicko at major movie theaters across the nation, complete with sponsored food & drink for those who attended and signed up to take action? Where were the mid-cycle ads done by Madison Avenue professionals targeting specific Senators and making them deeply uncomfortable? Where, in effect, was the message campaign?

It didn't exist. What we had were labor unions and the AARP delivering generic hopeful messages without an ounce of the power or creativity that one might find in a random Budweiser ad.

If you want to win, ORGANIZE. Develop parallel organizations willing to persuade with the power and intensity of a corporation. As long as people like me are out there, and most of them are willing to work for the highest bidder, you'll need to stop looking for saviors, and instead learn to fight fire with fire.

The upcoming battles won't wait for us, and there won't be anyone coming to save us but ourselves.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/16/815429/-No-One-Is-Going-To-Save-You-Fools

In other words we don't have a marketing arm and marketing works!
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
1. Yes, I've pounded on this a lot
Our messaging is piss poor and when we get someone who gets it out there in a soundbite that everyone understands and gets us a full day of FREE coverage, we have not one clue how to work it. Our Democratic leaders go on TV and back away from him. Republicans? They would have walked out there and said, "Well, he wasn't as diplomatic as he could have been but I totally understand his frustration. The current situation in this country...blah...blah...blah

We get free coverage with his, "Don't get sick/Die quickly" speech and we try to shut him up quickly because that's not "dignified."
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democrat_patriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 08:50 AM
Response to Original message
2. Sounds like the campaign against ACORN

That went swimmingly for the Right....

They are a scary message machine.
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 08:58 AM
Response to Original message
3. Because the GOP Is So Good At Governing, Getting Things Done?
The GOP is only good a destruction and looting. Are we to emulate them?

It doesn't take much organization to pull that off, just some grease money and some juicy lies. And the complicity of every corporation on the planet.

If we have to organize, it's against multinational corporations that feel free to litter across the world and loot anything of value. And that means literal warfare. It means Revolution.

No political movement will be able to dislodge the corporations off the country's breathing tube. Chavez and South America notwithstanding, and plenty of people died there for the glimmers of hope they have today, it will not be a velvet revolution....
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rhett o rick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:36 AM
Response to Reply #3
9. Fixating on the GOP is hurting us. Someone organized K street very successfully.
Our enemy isnt the GOP or Sarah Palin or Tiger Woods. Those are misdirection. CorpAmerica has bought Congress and we now live in an corptocracy. We are in far more danger from Democrats like Ben Nelson than the defunct GOP.
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Laelth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:05 AM
Response to Original message
4. Very insightful. k&r for exposure. n/t
:dem:

-Laelth
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wuvuj Donating Member (874 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:10 AM
Response to Original message
5. Manipulating a population that is...
...composed of 2/3s overweight dumb-butts has to be a lot of fun.
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Daveparts still Donating Member (614 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:15 AM
Response to Original message
6. There is nothing "New"under the sun
I think the author flatters himself, in the 1930's it was the Hearst News syndicate. Publishing hundreds of anti-FDR newspapers and FDR was elected by landslides.

Marketing is what brought us Barack Obama, the author's buddies anointed Obama. So is the answer really more marketing?

We are living on a knife edge, showman who can't perform and performers who can't show. Sadly, the oligarchy will not go quietly and until they fear to walk the streets not much can be done.
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rhett o rick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
7. I totally agree. We need a movement. We need to oust the corporatist Democrats.
We need strategy and tactics to overthrough the corporatist dominated Congress. So.....who is going to step up? Maybe Howard Dean.
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jotsy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:58 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. Actually, I believe that's supposed to be a collective kind of you and me.
Edited on Thu Dec-17-09 09:59 AM by jotsy
Does anybody know if the citizenry has the right to impeach elected officials between election cycles at the state level?

Is there a way to liberate the doctors from the insurance companies?

Can we show up one or two at a time every hour at a police station to press racketeering charges against the banks?

Can we go to the big department stores and not spend any money but make sure to say you don't want to be supporting the corporatocracy and will be buying elsewhere.

When folks working at these places hear something like this once in a while, well I'm sure it strikes them as coming from someone a little loopy. If they heard it 15 to 20 times a day from a variety of folks, it would carry enough weight to make a difference.

Got to dog the wag when things are swinging so badly.

Happy holidays to you and yours!
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Usrename Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:32 AM
Response to Original message
8. Without our ability to organize we are nothing but chattel.
:fistbump:
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tblue37 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 09:54 AM
Response to Original message
10. Key point:
"Democrats, on the other hand, get disappointed and quit when our politicians don't pan out the way we wanted. That's why we lose."
We see it innumerable times every day--our people saying, "That's it. I quit. I won't even bother to vote next time, much less give my time or money." What they should be saying is, "This or that bought-out pseudo-Dem needs to be tossed out on his fanny by a strong primary opponent next time. I am going to work my ass off to see that it happens--and in the meantime I am going to relentlessly work my ass of to pressure the so-called Dems in Congress to work for us instead of their corporate masters."

It would be nice, though, if some of our deep-pocket types helped finance such organization and a parallel media and think-tank empire. Bright young up-and-comers are courted and financed by the Republican Party, while progressives are expected to work for nothing. I believe it was Juan Cole who commented once that after he got his PhD he watched his peers who went to the Republican think-tanks making all sorts of money while he had trouble paying his bills. The late, great Steve Gilliard used to complain all the time about this lack of financing on the progressive side.

Of course, the Republicans and their corporate masters started consciously and deliberately building this empire of media outlets and think tanks during the 1960s. They took the long view--as they always do--and did not let the prevailing liberal mainstream sentiment in the country distract them from their goal. On our side, we can work together for one election cycle, and then if we don't get what we want, we cede the next cycle, or the next several cycles, to the RW. But I do believe it would be easier for us to stay in the game if we had the funding to build the media outlets and think tanks. We have a lot of rich people on our side--Soros, Buffet, the Hollywood liberals, etc.--but they don't seem to underwrite our goals the way Richard Melon Scaife and other Right Wingers underwrite the Republicans' goals.
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ShortnFiery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
12. Cynical ... and if true, that makes President Obama "less than" a GREAT GUY.
:thumbsdown:
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FourScore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 10:13 AM
Response to Original message
13. dupe
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lib2DaBone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 10:20 AM
Response to Original message
14. K/R The DEMS need to show up on every news channel wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible..
I'm serious... even if you believe in separation of church and state.. it's a marketing tactic used by the Repukes.

For Example: AEI-American Enterprise Institute OWNS 'friggin C-SPAN.. they are on there 24/7.

I'm surprised Brian Lamb doesn't wear knee-pads by now....

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kath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 03:19 PM
Response to Original message
15. Kick - A MUST READ diary -- read the whole thing.
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BigBearJohn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-18-09 08:19 AM
Response to Original message
16. THE most important post in YEARS.... IMHO
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