About  
Editorial  
Philosophy  
Editorial  
Board  
Home  
Archives  
Subscribe  
Write for Us  
Contribute  
Resource Center  
Web Resources  
Working Groups  
Archives of  
Ruy Teixeira's  
Donkey Rising  
2003-2007  
 
Ed Kilgore's  
New Donkey  
2004-2007  
 
Strategist RSS  
Articles RSS  
  

« National Security and Risk | Main | Messaging, Registration and Turnout Decisions Key to Election »

Life Imitating Parody

Most of us have heard and laughed at Stephen Colbert's neologism "truthiness," defined by him as "truth that comes from the gut, not books," and defined by Merriam-Webster Online as ""the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true."

Well, check out this quote from "Republican strategist" John Feehery in today's Washington Post, referring to the demonstrably false claims that Sarah Palin fought and slew the "Bridge To Nowhere:"

The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there's a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she's new, she's popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent. As long as those are out there, these little facts don't really matter.

How truthy!

Posted by staff on September 10, 2008 10:53 AM

Comments

If if is so wrong, though, why have we lost 20 whole percentage points in ten days among married women? Why have we lost 11 points total among everybody?

Because, this guy has something right. It is perception, and we continue to lose the perception war. I am glad to see Obama is fighting back a bit, but it may be too late.

Issues are our enemy, and they on the other side know this. We cannot, have not WILL not win by concentrating on facts in the NYT. (Though I do not dispute the reporting itself. I am only saying Paling made them irrelevant.

It's all image now, and the more we talk about issues, the more John Kerrified we are becoming. The cattle, (aka the voting public) don't care.

Posted by: ThinkingGuy [TypeKey Profile Page] | September 10, 2008 11:48 AM

The "facts don't matter" quote lends itself perfectly for use in a line of attack like "These people will say anything to get elected," and/or "These folks simply don't respect your intelligence."

An ad could combine this quote with the "issues won't decide this election," quote interspersed with clips of the obvious lies being repeated daily by the R candidates.

Posted by: martingauthier [TypeKey Profile Page] | September 10, 2008 12:53 PM

Post a comment

Posting Policy

The Democratic Strategist's comments section welcomes intelligent discussion and debate from individuals representing every sector of the Democratic community.

Because of the spam problem, the first time you leave a comment you will have to sign up for a username by filling out a brief form. This just takes about two minutes and after that you will always be able to join the discussion just using your username and password.

Also, please note that all comments must be expressed in a mature and civil tone of voice. Individuals posting rude or otherwise inappropriate material will lose their access to the discussion.

Thank You, TDS staff

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?


 
Copyright © 2007 by The Democratic Strategist