Popdose: Political Culture: Will Hollywood Matter in 2008?
DwDunphy
· 1 year ago
There are a couple uncontrollable wild cards to consider here. The first, and by far the worst, is if we're attacked by terrorists before November '08. Then it is all about who spins that the hardest: Democrats will still be softer on terrorism than Republicans OR Republicans weren't together enough to stop what they had been capitalizing on all these years (the real reason Bush won in '04). Hollywood wouldn't be able to touch it with a 10 Foot Pole.
Another factor is the Uninvited Guest Syndrome where certain celebrities become so omnipresent that familiarity breeds contempt, poisoning their effect and causing backlash against their attached candidate. This factor has the ability of making even a severing of the relationship moot - God help the candidate that takes on Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, lovely people though they may be. I don't wanna hear from them, I don't wanna know their position or preference politically and I don't want their satellite influence for four years. If they suddenly drop away from a candidate, big deal. I will still associate one with the other tangentially.
Should that make me dislike a qualified candidate? Certainly not. That would be stupid. Have lesser infractions damaged candidacies? Oh, hell yes.
Speaking for myself, every candidate says they're for brokering change. Every one of them says they're going to make better the big problems in America. None of them have actually described how they plan to do so, and in that miasma of rhetoric and lip-service I think all of them aren't doing me any good. At this point, even Michael freaking Stipe couldn't alter my opinion.
1Py_Korry1
· 1 year ago
Rove and Co. Have been very good at running a "remember the base and don't bother much with the center" campaign. The problem for the current throng of Reps is that what constitutes the Republican base is fractured as they head into the primaries-- Dems are less so. Also it seems most of the Dems running are running campaigns that are more focused on a center-left politics than a "base only" playbook. If economics and the war trumps the cultural issues in this election, we may see the Dems taking this one-- or so I hope.
All Comments
Another factor is the Uninvited Guest Syndrome where certain celebrities become so omnipresent that familiarity breeds contempt, poisoning their effect and causing backlash against their attached candidate. This factor has the ability of making even a severing of the relationship moot - God help the candidate that takes on Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, lovely people though they may be. I don't wanna hear from them, I don't wanna know their position or preference politically and I don't want their satellite influence for four years. If they suddenly drop away from a candidate, big deal. I will still associate one with the other tangentially.
Should that make me dislike a qualified candidate? Certainly not. That would be stupid. Have lesser infractions damaged candidacies? Oh, hell yes.
Speaking for myself, every candidate says they're for brokering change. Every one of them says they're going to make better the big problems in America. None of them have actually described how they plan to do so, and in that miasma of rhetoric and lip-service I think all of them aren't doing me any good. At this point, even Michael freaking Stipe couldn't alter my opinion.