Is it me or do the horrible and complex scandals fall flat....

[HardWorkingDem]

I seemed to have noticed that the most despicable republican scandals tend to fall along the roadside if they are seemingly too complex for the American people (or if they take too much effort to understand).

Look at the coin scandal in Ohio and Abramoff. Sadly, I think the rethuglicans are on to this and use it to their advantage.

[bluestateguy]

1. I would say that is accurate

What kept Monicagate alive was the simplicity of it all: sex, lies and audiotapes. Even a moron could follow it all, and they did.

But the Coingate deal has hurt Ohio Republicans: Taft pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, his approval rating is 18% and the Democrats are well on their way to winning the governorship this year, and maybe DeWine's senate seat too.

[Monk06]

3. I would agree and go a step further. In some cases they create...

a scandal as a media diversion, even when
the scandal involves their own.

Plamegate and Rathergate come to mind as
two very successful disinformation/psych ops
gambits.

The object of those two exercises was to
put a bell on the tail of the MSM cat.

Seems to me it worked quite well as Colbert
illustrated nicely just recently.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. The 10 second sound bite has sapped American's of their

cognitive abilities.

It's a sad state of affairs. :(

[Robbien]

4. Oh come on, they had hookers and limos. How complicated is that?

No, it is not complexity, it is that they have control of the media.

They attack Democrats over and over on cable and talk radio. But have a GOPer in deep shit and the airwaves go silent.

[MADem]

5. Maybe the addition of the booze and the card games was too much

for them to process!!!!! And let's not forget Duke's boat and commode!!!!

[izzie]

6. Things become normal if done all the time?

We do seem to go through stages of all this. As my dear father said. 'Well I do not care if every one is doing it,you will not.' Bet you all got that. Then their is a way of thinking that many more like better. 'I will do it as long as I can get away with it.' In testing for such moral standard few ever said 'I will not do it because it is wrong.' I think Yale did some very well known studies on that stuff.

[TayTay]

7. They have a cumulative effect

Most Americans have neither the time nor the inclination to follow politics to the degree that people on the blogs follow it. They will not know the various scandals in depth. It's just not going to happen. There are a few very major stories that suddenly will take over the national consciousness and command attention, but other than that, people absorb information through snippets of the news.

What does happen is a sort of 'drip, drip, drip' effect. This is what is affecting the Bush Admin and what is driving their polls downward. The Bush Admin is in a sort of death spiral. They are not getting better and a heck of a lot of Americans have simply tuned them out.

We often comment that the news is all skewed toward the Republicans and the conservative viewpoint. What some at DU fail to notice is that the news and the way it is perceived in America can cut both ways. The Repubs are unable to get any traction with their 'Bush rebounds' stories. The American people have not responded with any positive uptick in the polls for Bush or for the Repubs. Americans seem to be tuning them out.

DU and political junkies notice all the stories that the Lie Merchants put out. We foam at the mouth about Rove's comments and the idiotic debate the Repubs put forward on the war and such. But we are paying hyper-attention. Most Americans are not. They got the memo last year on the Bush Admin when Katrina happened. That was a definitive moment for these people and the Bush Admin has never really bounced back. None of the speeches or tricks or personnel changes in this Admin has made much of a difference. The American people have made up their minds on this Admin and the steady 'drip, drip, drip' of stories that reinforce the notion that the Repubs are all about selfishness and greed. The people see it and agree. The polls show this. The Repub propaganda machine may drive Dems crazy, but the American people are seeing through it right now.

[Armstead]

8. Good post

I think you're right about the drip,drip,drip effect.

I think you're also right about people tuning Bush out. Except for the Bush loyalists and the Bush bashers, most people are just tired of him and the GOP. He's stale, and the genral sense is that he's a screw up, and tyhey just want to forget about him and ride out the rest of his term.

Even if Rove didn't get indicted, the basic point that he is an immoral creep did get through the noise. I think people also grasped the signifigance of Bush saying he'd fire anyone involved in the leak, while keeping Rove on.

[Cosmocat]

9. Yes and no ...

I agree that there is a cumulative effect ... I think it works both ways at this point ...

We go NUTS with each revelation with these scumbags ... The general public, however, has basically grown immune to ... They get it, they know these guys are just totally immoral and unethical ... There is such a great level of disconnect and a feeling that there is nothing that can be done to change it, as well as the fact that our standard of living is so high right now, people just are not feeling it enough to REALLY care ...

Also, the Rs and MSM have successfully been able to frame it as an "they ALL are corrupt" thing ... They now have Jefferson, and while you can name 10 Rs who are in real shady, at best, ethical waters to every D, it doesn't matter cause all the Rs and MSM do is talk about Jefferson ...

This country is in a heck of a bad spot, and frankly, until the people wake up, they deserve what they are getting ...

[HardWorkingDem]

10. Thanks for the comments.....one other thing I've noticed that hurts us...

is that Clinton's problems were seen as ONE person's problems, while all of these other scandals are like birdshot from a shot gun. Sort of like a widespread bout of scandal fatigue that is including many, many people and has become diluted because of it I guess.

Still, it just baffles me how so much of this seems to just wash away, when many of these scandals are much, much more serious than anything else around.

Thanks...

[deaniac21]

11. They are taught at the republican scandal school to only

be unethical if it's complicated.

[itcfish]

12. I Guess Americans

only pay attention if sex is envolved.