What happened to the all-powerful Rove-machine?

[meganmonkey]

How is it that the PRopaganda bullshit from Rove Cheney & Bush Co. was so effective over the last several years, and now they seem to have NO idea how to handle this?

I don't get it.

They rather effortlessly convinced America to support this war from Day One. They effectively utilised a national tragedy in a way that ensured gung-ho nationalism for a completely unethical war, and they convinced the vast majority of the country that it was absolutely necessary for survival.

As it became more and more obvious throughout 2004 that it was a total clusterf*ck that was only getting worse, that it was based on (at the very least) poor intelligence and mismanagement, they still managed to get Commander Cuckoobananas reelected. As you probably know I am a believer that the election was fraudulent, but with or without it, the fact that this country sees him as a legitimate leader is absurd. But Rove Cheney & Bush Co pulled it off somehow.

Now something is happening. I think I know what it is - the country is waking up from several years of hibernation, of being like puppets controlled by cable news, fear, and manipulation. Polls lately have been a joy to read (regardless of my skepticism of their real meaning, they show a trend that I like seeing), the Peace movement is riding a wave that hasn't been seen in decades, and (not having lived through Vietnam) in my perception we are heading to critical mass next month in DC without having to suffer a tragedy like Kent State...I am not saying I think we are close to success, I know we have a lot of work to do and we need to keep this up for as long as it takes, and I know it will likely get uglier and more violent - I am optimistic without being naive - but we are on our way.

Rove Cheney and Bush Co know that we are on our way. But they seem to have NO IDEA how to handle it. They seem not to have figured out that they can't just put the chimperor on the teevee and have him stutter over the same old tired talking points and catch phrases. They don't seem to recognize that no one is falling for 'Stay The Course' anymore, or that we are actually making America Safer or any of it.

Why haven't they stepped it up? I mean, someone hired a PR firm to send a bus to Crawford and they seem to have a somewhat sizable counter-protest, but that doesn't help them a whole lot. It may help keep some of the folks on their side who are wavering because they are starting to feel alone in their hyper-'patriotism', maybe.

But there is a change in the big picture, and they don't seem to be handling it at all, let alone successfully. So what's the deal?

My tin-foil-hat part says something big is in the works, another LIHOP or some sort of major event to instigate the next phase of WWIII in Iran or Venezuela or whatever.

But a big part of me thinks that they are failing, and they don't have a workable plan. That part of me says that they got giddy with power, especially after the re-election, and they started taking things for granted, and now they are just f*cking up.

So what do you all think?

What happened to the PRopaganda machine?

Is there a 'secret plan'? (yeah, I know, there's always a 'secret plan' :P )

Or are they starting to get a hangover from being drunk on power so long?

Discuss :)

[MADem]

1. Rove is shitting cupcakes, he has legal woes

He has less time than usual to rub his hands together with glee and plot, nefariously. His meetings are spent with lawyers trying to find ways to keep his ass out of jail. He knows he isn't flexible, so a frogmarch would be painful, and must be avoided at all costs.

Who's the PR genius lately? Karen Hughes? Whoever is giving Chimpy direction, they are falling down, miserably, on the job...

[emulatorloo]

2. You can't fool all of the people all the time

"You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time."

[A Simple Game]

5. Fool me once, shame on you,

ah, err, ummmm, won't get fooled again!

Fool me once,
shame on you.
Fool me twice,
shame on me.

People are starting to realize how many times they have been made fools of, and they won't get fooled again!

[opihimoimoi]

3. One Trick Ponies never last....when the REAL COMPETITION arrives

they wilt by the wayside flummoxed and bewildered....

Truth and Sanity made their escape from GITMO.....

In thr form of CINDY and others who believe in PEACE is better than BS Wars for Profit and Power.

The Scam of the Pubs is about to be OVER

[NYC]

4. New Orleans may qualify as something big.

...My tin-foil-hat part says something big is in the works, another LIHOP or some sort of major event to instigate the next phase of WWIII in Iran or Venezuela or whatever...

No MIHOP/LIHOP necessary.

[Writer]

7. That's more of a natural than man-made disaster...

there's not the same conflict between good versus evil.

[NYC]

13. It's something for Bush to take advantage of,

and without the blame.

[Writer]

6. Why do we continue again and again to ignore

the phenomenological impact of the 2001 Terror Attacks?

Rove never was anything special. Fear controls and the GOP became quick experts at exploiting that tragedy.

It's impossible to know for sure, but I bet that 80% or more of Rove's "influence" was connected to this.

Can we not remember the state of the country in the weeks following this event? Do we really forget that easily?

[randr]

8. Too busy picking out prison garb!

[stevietheman]

9. The American people are slowly becoming "nobody's fool"...

or should I say... "nobody's tool"? I think people across the board are waking up, not only to the mess in Iraq (and that we were lied into it) but also the ravages of big corporate power, or I should say, particular segments of big corporate power that are working against the best interests of the American people.

I see more and more people "putting two and two together" and realizing the awful but true idea that the U.S. is acting as an aggressor to seize resources to maintain economic preeminence, rather than approaching our very real economic issues multilaterally and sensibly (like deploying and inventing alternative energy sources). In other words, people are realizing that their government is acting irresponsibly and bully-like, when it really doesn't have to. And this leads to the thought... if our government doesn't really have to act in this manner, some groups *must* be benefitting from these aggressive policies. And then they see the links between this administration and those groups.

A big collective "Hmmmm" and "A-ha!" is occurring.

I am convinced that most of the people that pulled away from Bush in these polls are never going back to Bush, no matter what he says or pulls. And if another "incident" occurs that would normally shock the country, I do believe we will see many strident citizens calling for Bush's immediate resignation (or other form of removal)... and loudly. And I will be one of them.

It's funny, but this thought occurred to me today: The whole world is coming to a tacit agreement that the world economy should be a kind of mix of capitalism and socialism, and that the world's political problems should be handled multilaterally. And the only stray nation in this new world is the U.S., insisting on pure capitalism and unilateralism. The U.S. has indeed become "Earth's #1 rogue nation", as uncomfortable as I am to say that.

Gee, I wonder who's right and who's wrong in this scenario? And Gee, I wonder which side will win? Answer: It's *not* the U.S. if we keep this crap up.

[meganmonkey]

15. Thanks for your response

and it seems like most people on this thread are in agreement - that they really are failing.

I am so glad to see other well-reasoned responses from this perspective. I was almost trying to get someone to burst my bubble because the difficulty with optimism is the dissapointment that tends to follow when things turn out bad.

I am glad that others see it this way, that the US is waking up. And I really like what you are saying about the capitalism/socialism blend. I think you are right. Many countries seem to be reaching this balance, and I hope we can too eventually.

Peace.

[catmandu57]

10. It does seem that they are collapsing

like a cheap suit.

[stevietheman]

11. Bush always was an empty suit. :) n/t

n/t

[pretzel4gore]

12. the pigmedia are being called on it

that's all that's happened. rove did nothing you or i or gomer pyle couldn't have done (as the pigmedia controlled not only stage but the cameras and the reviews...they could make michael jackson a blackman of all things (tho he's white as toby's ass) or convict an innocent oj (like ms bates, he wouldn't hurt a fly) and make geebush jr a top gun fighter pilot just by working back from the desired result and ignoring any thing that the cud chewers couldn't be trusted to eat up (such as DSM, or preparedness exercises held exactly same time as the wtc attacks and the london bombings) the shiavo case exposed the pigmedia and too much crap has piled up....on top of all this something called the 'instinct of survival' has kicked in, maybe not among the hardcore bushwhores, but there's also some legitimate newsmen who can see that their grandkids will be stuck with huge bills, and no money to pay them!
the baksheesh era is not far off, and bush is a peewee herman, for gods sakes

[hwmnbn]

14. B* always enjoyed pretending, and dressing up like.......

a cowboy, fighter pilot, a president. The "machine" expected this theater of the absurd would continue. A restless audience is starting to boo at his favorite lines. The curtain is coming down. the lights are coming up. His production is a flop.

Sorry for the dramatist references. My brain just went there.