When asked why she supports Sarah Palin for VP, a Republican supporter said:
"Well I love Sarah because she makes us feel like anyone can be President!"
This pretty much sums up the collective IQ of the Sarah Palin voting base.
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2 comments:
Do I detect a note of bitterness?
That really is an amazing quote, though. It adds a little more empirical evidence on my claim that the political parties in America appeal to voters the way retailers attempt to appeal to consumers, that is through claiming to assuage their emotional needs. This is the neoliberal model of democracy; that of the atomized consumer of politics, not the engaged citizen who takes an active role in her political body.
This model is so insidious that it basically forces a political candidate into conformity with it. For example, how often do we calculate to ourselves "candidate x needs to do this to appeal to group y." (Group y, of course being the "voting bloc" - white females, hispanics, ect. That is to say "the target demographic," not a politically organized faction within the politiy articulating its political goals, but a group of atomized individuals whose individual needs, emotional or material, are addressed by the candidate).
No candidate can appeal to a citizen as a citizen, that is as someone who takes responsibility for their own government. They can only try to market themselves to the plurality of interests of potential consumers. This is the end of the democratic polity.
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