The Party That Cried Wolf
American Crossroads and its affiliate Crossroads GPS are going up today with their biggest paid media push so far in the 2012 cycle, with a $16 million one-week buy on TV and radio in eight presidential battlegrounds and four Senate contests, POLITICO has learned.
On the presidential level, American Crossroads will spend $11 million on a spot called “Actually Happened,” which focuses on the impact that President Obama said the stimulus would have on the unemployment rate. The spot features a man using charts and graphics to show where the president said unemployment would be around now, under 5.5 percent, compared to where it is, at 8.1 percent.
And, after reading the article, all I can manage is a shrug. Four years ago I would have been blogging furiously about this. ( I would also gleefully be pointing out that the graph in this ad showing unemployment figures was moving downward.) I would have been calling everyone to arms. And while I’m not advocating for complacency – because GOTV efforts and countering these ads is critically, vitally important – I will point out that after the last four years of Republican hysteria over everything Obama I’m kinda numb to it. And I’m starting to think the American people are as well.
For four years we’ve heard Republicans screaming hysterically about how the ACA would create Death Panels and Kill Grandmom. We’ve heard from the Birthers (and are still hearing from them) and watched as they launched investigations and went to court trying to oust the Kenyan Usurper. We listened as Reverend Wright morphed into “foreign” and “not American” to “Food Stamp President” to a thousand more ways to make Obama the scary “other.” We have heard lies about Obama raising taxes; lies about ending work requirements for welfare, lies about giving black people cell phones. We’ve even heard that Obama’s father isn’t his real father. There are many more examples, but I don’t have all year to write this post!
And it’s these lies combined with a unprecedented level of sustained hysteria that has me feeling numb. No one can take this constant outrage seriously. There’s simply too much. If everything is an outrage, then nothing is. And that’s a problem. When you cry wolf all the flippin’ time people stop listening… They also stop believing you.
Tags: Karl Rove, National Republicans, Republican Crazy, SuperPacs
You make a great point. The GOP has forced a stark, no wiggle room, choice on America. Either you believe the President is as evil as Hitler or you support him.
They’ve removed the chance for any kind of reasonable opposition, and most Americans are saying that they like him.
I am numb to the crazy – which might explain my blogging slowdown. 😉
That goes for all of us. Have you noticed how few Obama and Romney signs and bumper stickers you see around?
I have noticed. Of course, I have my 2012 Obama bumper sticker and sign!
What I hope the response is to this BS is a reminder at how obstructionist the GOP has been for the last 4 years. Remind people of exactly what they’ve blocked. Because if President Obama had a real partner in governing, there is a good chance that we’d be further along in the recovery.
Fact-checkers (yeah, I know) need to show up on this ad, and BEFORE the debate (maybe that’s the plan, to get the ad out so Romney can make the claim in the debate before it is exposed). The unemployment claims attributed to “Obama” come from projections in a report from economic advisor Christina Romer, heavily hedged with disclaimers. There is no instance of Obama promising any numbers of employment, as far as I know.
The GOP no longer believes in polls or fact-checkers (yeah, I know you know) – just toss them on the Republican list of non-beliefs. This is another part of the crazy.
Jason hit on this in the first comment. If you don’t buy into all the Republican crazy/beliefs then it’s hard to vote for them.