McCain-Palin Playing the Culture Card

[jpertello]

October 12, 2008

McCain-Palin playing the culture card

By LISA VAN DUSEN
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2008/10/12/pf-7060491.html


There's a great scene in an episode of 30 Rock from last season in which Alec Baldwin's lovable-demagogue network VP, Jack Donaghy, stands in the middle of an NBC executive dining room full of Republicans and introduces his Democratic congresswoman girlfriend, played by The Sopranos' Edie Falco.

"She wants to tax us all to death and make it legal for a man to marry his own dog," Donaghy tells the hushed executives. "But I think what we have is special."

Instead of a backlash, the revelation prompts a series of AA-style confessions from conservative diners who stand up one by one and state their own violations of America's culture war rules.

"I gave to NPR last year!"

"My children go to public school!"

"I'm gay!"

"I'm black!"

Falco's character responds with, "In 1984, I voted for Ronald Reagan!"

The scene is an absolute gas because it's so far-fetched it would never happen in real life, at least not in today's America.

In the broadest terms, the culture war divisions are right vs. left, south vs. north, west vs. east, red state vs. blue state, rural vs. urban, pro-life vs. pro-choice, white vs. non-white. In extreme culture-war caricature terms, one side finds the other overly intellectual, elitist, bleeding of heart, tax-loving, appeasing, unpatriotic, Godless and too enamored of foreign objects, especially italicized French words.

The other side finds the first side narrow-minded, dogmatic, blindly patriotic, overspending, intolerant, anti-diplomatic, irrational, xenophobic and bewilderingly enamoured with firearms and country music...

-snip--

[Lerkfish]

1. "culture card" is a blatant dogwhistle for race.

[Cresent City Kid]

2. Simple talk for simple minds

There's nothing wrong with simplicity, except that reality is complex and nuanced. Voters say they want the truth, but many don't like it when they hear it, opting for the simple, if flawed message. The reduction of GOP votes down to just the base is indicitave that many are coming around to a more realistic point of view.