Right is Wronged

Last night I watched Alexandra Pelosi's documentary on the McCain campaign. I know what you are saying. You are telling me that Pelosi probably just did a Michael Moore on everyone she interviewed.. liberal bias... blahh blahh. Not so. Pelosi's technique was simply to stick the mike in someone's face and ask them a simple question like "Why are you supporting McCain? or Why don't you want Barack Obama to be President?" she editorialized little and you never even see her face.

Some comments/observations:

McCain won the fat guy vote big time.

Almost all the folks interviewed lived in small towns. Many said they were the "real America/Americans." They seemed to ignore the fact that the vast majority of Americans live in the city or its suburbs. Rural Americans are representative of very little except the country's past.

President Obama's education was viewed as a liability. This may be the only subgroup in America to view education negatively. We talk about education as a silver bullet, but if you get some of it, you're an elitist. We love education and hate the educated.

Almost all the interviewees were white men and women.(they were after all Republicans.) These are folks who have led perhaps the most privileged life in history on a categorical basis. They drove the Indians from their land. Built an economy dependent, in part, upon slavery, and rode an economic wave powered by leveraging the poverty of other nations. They live in a country that has authored its own destiny to an unprecedented extent. Yet they all expressed a feeling of being victimized. They thought something was being taken from them. Nobody could really say what.

Most of the interviewees could not even repeat the GOP talking points from the campaign. It was really astonishing to see people form such strong views and yet have little ability to explain their foundations.

The fetus is huge with these folks. I am not sure what it symbolizes, but its huge. At one point, the filmmakers followed a pro life campaigner to a homeless shelter, where she pointed out John McCain's pro life stand. One of the residents looked at her and said "Pro life? He doesn't care about us." I am not sure she got the irony.

Many of the working class folks expressed strong feelings on their economic plight. They didn't draw any connection between their plight and the economic policies that preceded it. They thought a meteor fell from the sky and killed the middle class.

The "liberal media" is an article of faith. To a person, everyone in the film thought Katie Couris was out to get Sarah Palin. Couric is the cheeze whiz of network news. If you think she is out to get you, you have a problem. Its like going after Minnie Mouse.

Palin is huge with these folks. (She could have only been more popular if she were unborn.) There was no real attempt to explain her popularity, although she seems to have a simple answer for everything. Need oil? Drill. Need money? Lower taxes. Scared of a country? Invade them. America wears a white hat. All others wear a black hat.

Pelosi's film was significant because it let Republicans be Republicans. I suspect that really pissed off Republicans.