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Punching Hippies

by: Dean Barker

Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:21:00 PM EDT
Katrina Swett, at tonight's debate (any errors in transcription mine):
"Annie, you have cast yourself as the very, very progressive candidate, and have been warmly supported by the far left progressive movement. You policy positions bear this out. Your strong opposition to nuclear power as part of our energy future. Your insistence that President Obama withdraw American troops from Afghanistan immediately. Your support, as we've just talked about, for higher taxes, for example, a state income tax here in New Hampshire. I know these are sincere and deeply held beliefs, but they are out of step with the majority of voters. In a year when everyone understands that the country's moving back toward the center, and away from the more left, progressive point of view, if you were to become the nominee, would you try to distance yourself from your own positions, or are you hoping that your Republican opponent and perhaps the voters would simply overlook them?"
Between the UL piece, the Pledge Politicking that came out of nowhere, and this quote, the strategy going into the final days of the primary is in clearer focus.

Morning Update: I'm not the only one who noticed that Swett's 11th hour plan is to attract undeclareds by beating up on the left.  And adding: It's taken Glenn Beck and Co. two years of language framing to try to turn "progressive" into the dirty word that the right has made out of "liberal," but last night was the first time, in NH or elsewhere, I've seen a Democrat employ that strategy in a Democratic primary. Note the careful repetition from her statement: "the very, very progressive candidate," "the far left progressive movement," "the more left, progressive point of view."
Dean Barker :: Punching Hippies
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Punching Hippies | 27 comments
that debate (0.00 / 0)
was painful to watch. If Katrina was trying to come across as unpleasant and condescending, she was hugely successful.  

member of the professional left  
Joe, is that you? (4.00 / 2)
The voice is getting stronger...
My original plan (0.00 / 0)
was to compare that quote to her work for some of the things she said in support of Lieberman for President, because there are striking similarities.

But then I just resigned myself to the (painful) reality that that quote stands all on its own.  It is truly a wonder to behold.

birch, finch, beech

[ Parent ]
But wait (4.00 / 2)
Didn't I read this today?

Katrina supports President Obama's approach on Afghanistan but knows our commitment cannot be open-ended, and she is dedicated to keeping him to his word that our troops will leave that country in 2011.

"Immediately," in terms of the next Congress arriving, is January 2011. President Obama's deadline is July 2011. So essentially Swett is saying Kuster wants to leave one Friedman unit too soon.

A few questions on this:

In a year when everyone understands that the country's moving back toward the center, and away from the more left, progressive point of view,

Who's everyone? What was this more left point of view the country's now moving away from? Was it good? Did we get any goodies? Damn it, Dean, I sleep pretty soundly, but I really think a seismic left shift would have woken me up ...


Try to keep up. (4.00 / 5)
Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, Kelly Ayotte.

They all agree: centrism is the winner.

[ Parent ]
Atrios (4.00 / 3)
in tweet form:

whatever happens on election day, it'll prove that america is, now and forever, a center right country


birch, finch, beech
[ Parent ]
Sure (4.00 / 1)
Everyone understands that.
[ Parent ]
Unity (0.00 / 0)
That's going to make the Unity Tour a bit awkward.  

Hope > Fear




Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.
Driving Up Annie's Negatives (4.00 / 3)
Swett's closing argument figures on two things
1) The base will faithfully support the nominee. Hell, I've been shouting "Speaker Boehner" at fickle liberals.
Katrina, though, is pushing her luck with the "enclaves."

2) Prodding the Center to shun Annie.

By "punching the Hippie," Katrina is effectively bullying the school nerd to impress the "cool kids." Sad, actually. Not to mention piss poor politicking that undermines the slate.

Katrina Swett apparently adheres to the "Hooray for me!" mentality.


www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

Stay away from the drowning woman. n/t (4.00 / 2)
[ Parent ]
Driving Up Annie's Negatives Part II (0.00 / 0)
At the time, I took this with a grain of salt:
A poll conducted for the Ann McLane Kuster Second Congressional District campaign shows her with a sizable lead over Democratic primary rival Katrina Swett, just 11 days just remaining before the primary.

A Mellman Group poll of 400 likely Second District Democratic voters shows Kuster with 47 percent support, Swett with 24 percent, and 29 percent were undecided. The Mellman Group polled for John Kerry's campaign in the 2004 New Hampshire primary.

But then I watched this debate clip.

That amount of snarl surely means that Swett's internal polls are in line with Annie's.

PS. Does anyone have a link to the debate, as a whole.


www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

[ Parent ]
I knew hippies. (4.00 / 4)
I worked leisured with hippies.

Hippies were friends of mine.

Dean, you're no hippie.

Annie, you're no hippie.

Promo for Book? (0.00 / 0)
What are hippies anyway?
What values work well and last the test of time?

Stay tuned, fellow BHers, for a book I'm writing.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Does anyone understand Pindell's grade for the debate?


No'm Sayn?

[ Parent ]
Re: work/leisure activities of hippies (4.00 / 3)
When I was about 20 I worked the night shift doing brutal piece work in a factory where if you went 100 miles an hour all night you might make minimum wage. All or almost all of the other workers were immigrants or hispanic americans. One night a young Puerto Rican man asked me based (upon visuals) if I was a hippy. Before I could say yes, his father said, "No damn hippy would ever work in a place like this." I thought about it and decided that he was right.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  
[ Parent ]
the only clear winner... (0.00 / 0)
The only clear winner in any of the 3 congressional debates was Peter Bearse.  (He is a Republican from CD-1 who was excluded altogether.)

-----

Thanks for all the fish

-----
If this is the tone of the frame (0.00 / 0)
watch for the mind numbing attack Monday night.
linky (0.00 / 0)
scroll down to links for questions in order...

http://www.wmur.com/politics/2...

It was a creed written into the founding documents

Federal Funding Question (0.00 / 0)
Where Katrina gets all frikky dikky ... So Ann supports full federal funding for abortion on demand ? Really ? REALLY ? She lobbied for all these pro choice groups...so name them all dearie. The mud was flying from Mrs. Swett's corner.She was well sited to the task.

 http://www.wmur.com/video/2493...


It was a creed written into the founding documents
*suited n/t (0.00 / 0)


It was a creed written into the founding documents
[ Parent ]
I thought (4.00 / 1)
Swett's defense of her support for parental notification was very creative - claiming that Annie "threatened and bullied" state Dem legislators who were also for it.

birch, finch, beech
[ Parent ]
Yyyowch. (4.00 / 1)
The primary is when you want to play up how much you support your side of the ideological line. That whole debate... just ow. Katrina's campaign was starting to make progress on tactics and strategy, after far, far, far too much flailing... and then this.

If you're in a deep red state (like New Hampshire was when Katrina was forming her political consciousness), then it can make sense to play up the 'centrist' card, particularly when you have a lead or when there are multiple candidates splitting the more-ideological vote. But in a head-to-head campaign in a slightly D-leaning district, running from behind? That seems like a really obviously bad move to make. Yes, independents can vote in the D primary, but the marquee race in the state this year is the Republican Senate primary. If Katrina is counting on independents to flock to her side, she is making some very unsupported assumptions.

Not to hit on Katrina Swett too hard, but I think this was a much worse showing for her than for Kuster. Using Republican messaging in a Democratic primary is a really terrible move without something substantial to mitigate it.

IT for John Lynch '04 and NHDP '08 - I'm liking my track record so far!

'Left Wing Darling' (4.00 / 1)
Swett is using the narratives that are layed before her feet by the media. Co-opting their memes is easier than trying to frame the narrative herself.

As Annie's and Katrina's campaigns developed, it was clear that Annie was favored by the bulk of NH-02's grassroots activisst. The media rewarded Annie with a label. Swett quickly pivoted with the label, insinuating the "worst" of what it could mean. Hence, "Punching Hippies."

Now, Swett has created two brands for Annie that don't quite jive. In Swett's scheme, Annie is a 'radical, dirty hippie that hates nukes, war and is pro-abortion,' while concurrently being the 'power elite, insider lobbyist, shilling for Big Pharma in shadowy smoke filled rooms.'

Of course, it's not Swett's job to paint a coherent charicature of Annie. She need only promote them to drive up Annie's negatives. Each version of Annie resonates with a certain type of political bias. Swett will spin off as many different effigies of Annie, as there are receptive groups of voters.

This is lazy, unimaginative campaigning by Swett. Instead of crafting an appeal for her candidacy, which she has had ample time and resources to do, she takes the low road. With her back against the wall, she is tapping into the negative streams of thought that persist, channeling it for her own benefit.

Like we hear so often about today's GOP, 'it is easier to be against something, than for something.'

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

[ Parent ]
Conservatives are people who are resistant to (0.00 / 0)
change because they are personally incapable of it.  Which political party they align with seems to largely depend on their social comfort level.  If they're comfortable, they associate with democrats.  If they're feeling antagonistic towards other people, they associate with Republicans who hold out the promise of being better than someone else.

Katrina addressing Annie, rather than the audience before whom she was auditioning, strikes me as a good example of the politics of personal destruction.

[ Parent ]
the opposite of progressive (4.00 / 2)
is regressive.  

member of the professional left  
ancien régime (4.00 / 2)
We are most likely witnessing the death throes of a political lineage. It performs as an ugly spectacle, hitting out at those in the progressive left as it perceives they are responsible for its downfall.Look inward I say. See the maneuvering for what it is and is not...it is not based on attaining any moral high ground, but on a lust for power.

One definition of ancien régime is "a sociopolitical or other system that no longer exists". May the day not be far oh Lord...
As now I go to seek the better nature of my soul in a day of prayer and devotion, I feel that if I am wrong I will stand for my sins.
I am participating in an old ritual custom this afternoon after services called Tashlikh. We go to the river and cast bread upon the waters as a metaphor for casting off our sins. In politics my sin has been to support someone of little merit, because he said all the right things.Perhaps I am going overboard in the other direction, believing little but my gut. A bigger sin is ignoring that inner voice.Never again.

It was a creed written into the founding documents

[ Parent ]
Holistic Blogging (0.00 / 0)
Ya got the whole enchilada here. Bundled up tighter than a frog's ass. That's water tight.

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
[ Parent ]
Want to do something about it? (4.00 / 4)
http://www.kusterforcongress.com/gotv

Campaign Manager,

www.KusterforCongress.com
Punching Hippies | 27 comments

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