The Incredible Lightness of Being... A Dim-o-crat

I’m not the first person to note that some of the more perceptive comment on our presidential election comes from beyond our shores. There’s a lot to be said for a “disinterested” perspective… or as disinterested as one can be about an American presidential election (and no, that’s not ethnocentric hubris. It’s just fact). Case in point… Clive Crook, writing in Sunday’s Financial Times (free registration required):

For Mr McCain to win the election against the odds that faced him pre-Palin – with the economy in the tank and the incumbent Republican president setting records for unpopularity – would be sensational enough. For this to happen because of his vice-presidential pick, a decision that is usually of next to no consequence, beggars belief. The Democrats had to bring all their resources to getting themselves into this fix. They proved equal to the task.

As I argued last week, Mr Obama’s own initial reaction to the Palin nomination was exactly right. All the party had to do was follow his lead. Mr Obama, in effect, would give her enough rope; her inadequacies would reveal themselves in due course; it cost nothing, in the meantime, to be courteous, and to keep pressing on the issues, where the Democrats still enjoy an advantage with most voters. Ms Palin’s first television interview last week, an adequate but far from stellar performance, affirmed the wisdom of that course.

But the Democratic talking-heads had to exult in their disdain for Ms Palin and all she represents – namely, a good part of the electorate whose support Mr Obama needs. In the space of a few days, they irreversibly damaged Mr Obama’s candidacy and transformed this election.

[…]

Certainly, the Democrats can see they are in a hole. Somehow, though, the word has gone out: “Keep digging.” Mr Obama is also urged to be less cool and lose his temper. Voters adore an angry candidate, you see. “Dig faster, and be more angry,” is the advice coming down from the political geniuses who decided it was a fine idea to laugh at Ms Palin in the first place. A recurring television image in the past few days has been the split-screen contrast between a serenely smiling Republican operative and a fulminating red-faced Democrat about to have a stroke.

Mr. Crook puts his finger on something that frankly has amazed me over the past week or ten days. You don’t have to be a frickin’ rocket scientist to realize that dissing Mrs. Palin ain’t exactly… umm… smart. One could possibly cut the Democrats some slack for their initial reactions to Governor Palin… but to keep on keepin’ on like they've been doing? It's absolutely, positively inexplicable to anyone with three inter-connected, fully-functioning synapses.

A quick look at any of the recent polls would tell ya Mrs. Palin is a bona fide phenomenon. The woman struck a chord with the conservative electorate and that chord has yet to quit resonating throughout the Right and the entire nation, actually. And the Democrats seemingly just don’t get it. On the other hand, I think they DO get it. But the fact is they can neither help… nor stop… themselves in expressing their utter contempt for a woman like Sarah Palin and those terribly unsophisticated rubes who identify with her. And that, Gentle Reader, is real hubris at work.

Keep digging, Lefties. It’s oh-so-amusing to watch your slow-motion train wreck in progress. As it will be to watch you rend your garments, don your ritual sackcloth and ashes, and listen to your wails of agony at having lost yet another election, come November. The fact of the matter is Middle America doesn’t much like you or your policies. But we most especially dislike your condescension.

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Related: “The Audacity of Defeat." Excerpt:

It’ll be far more acrimonious this time around if the GOP wins. Already mainstream commentators (on the liberal side) are preparing for the bitterness and reprisals with premature eulogies of Obama’s campaign. On Sept. 14, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said, by choosing Palin, McCain had sold his soul to the devil to win the election. Richard Cohen, a colleague of Ignatius at the Post, implied that Obama was “too cool” to fight back against Palin’s “jibes, her sarcasm, her smug provincialism, her exploitation of mommyhood” and so on. The Times’ Paul Krugman, incredibly, wrote on Sept. 12 that McCain’s “lies” were worse than those of Karl Rove and Bush. “The Bush campaign’s lies in 2000 were artful—you needed some grasp of arithmetic to realize you were being conned.” Yet, according to Krugman, McCain’s campaign is so dishonest that should he and Palin win the White House, their administration would be “much, much worse” than Bush’s.

And you thought Bush Derangement Syndrome was bad, eh? Just wait. You ain't seen nuthin' yet! Heads are gonna explode, and lots of 'em, too.

(via Real Clear Politics)

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Kinda-sorta related… Didja see this?

It's time to dump Biden and replace him with Sen. Hillary Clinton. I don't care how it's done. Campaign chief David Axelrod can figure that out. And the sooner the better. Because I'm starting to think that if Team-Obama doesn't do something dramatic fast, it's gonna lose this election. There's a worrisome shift in momentum and in the polls. The Palin phenomenon, while truly unfathomable to Democrats (ed: See?), has energized McCain's campaign and allowed him like Houdini to snatch Obama's "change" theme right out from under him. It's time to snatch it back.

Conventional wisdom says replacing Biden with Clinton can't be done. That it's too late. That it'll make Obama appear indecisive, impulsive and lacking good judgement (sic). Many Democrats believe this would cause irreparable harm to the campaign, ringing Obama's death knell. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it'd be a freakin' coup for Obama, and would instantly melt Palin's undeserving outsize political ice cap.

[...]

Obama should do what the Republicans would do in this situation. In fact, he should do exactly what his opponent did. Shake things up. Be unconventional. Roll the dice. Out-McCain McCain. Who cares how it looks.

Oh, YES! Please, please DO!! What a capital idea!

[Pssst! Senator Obama! Over here!

This is really, really GOOD advice…and, trust me… you should take it! Seriously. Yes, I know this sounds strange coming from a McCain supporter, but really… I have your best interests at heart. I want to see you keep this thing close, ya know. We don’t wanna see any McGovern-like blow-outs, now, do we? That would be truly embarrassing and would… for all intents and purposes… end your brilliant political career just as it was beginning. Keep in mind: you’re a young man and 2012 ain’t that far away. Pick up that phone. Go on… call her. You know she wants to hear from you. It’s what’s best for the country the Party you, and Joe won’t mind. At all.]

(Snerk) (Smirf) gag… grwun… snork… Bwah-wah-HA-HA-HA!

Oh shit, Oh Dear.

I can’t even type this with a straight face.