On the possibility of "Shampaigns" by Niki2

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

On the possibility of "Shampaigns"

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Sunday, August 21, 2011 07:01
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Saturday, August 20, 2011 8:56 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

I heard something that made me think on TV the other night about why is there such a huge field of Republican candidates. There's one possible explanation never thought of.

Way back in 2000, then again in 2004 and 2008, Alan Keyes ran for national office. The result was not that he won, but that it got him a TV show which not only paid him, but helped him maintain his influence. Pat Robertson, already a successful televangelist, ran for President in 1988. He lost, but parlayed it into fame and fortune, and a way to maintain his influence, even speaking at the Republican convention that year. His television empire grew and he has published about a dozen books since then. For both, being "more than a gadfly, less than a contender" was very good for their careers. Mike Huckabee, who won the caucuses but lost the GOP nomination, became a Faux News commentator; he's published four more books, audio books, "conservative revisionist" DVDs for kids, and more. One of the reasons he said he wasn't going to run this time is he'd "be walking away from a pretty good income."

Then there's Sarah Palin. In a conversation with an Alaska resident, Todd Palin made a remark that's interesting. He said in response to the woman asking why Palin quit as governor, something to the effect of "what would you do when you had $700,000 hanging over your head...?" The woman replied "go for the money, obviously, that's what she did. Everybody in Alaska knows she sold out." He reiterated his remarks and added the expense of defending that complaint against her and asked again "what would you do?" The woman replied "Wait for the complaint to pan out." He went on about "all this debt hanging over your head that can bankrupt your family..." The woman snarked back "Well, it's not there anymore, is it? You got quite the deal" and walked away, tossing "sellout!" over her shoulder.

So he was apparently telling this ex-constituent of Palin's that she quit being governor and started doing what she's doing now because she had a lot of bills to pay.

It's an excellent career strategy. Individual Democrats have done this, but the GOP candidates seem to do it wholesale. The Conservative movement (as opposed to the Republican Party, which is quite different in this way) is in constant need of celebrities. They've created a market, and they need a product to sell to that market. The speaking tours, publications, book clubs, TV networks, movies, religious TV networks--they're all lucrative. They don't need to have held political office, they just need to be famous for being conservatives. They need to say conservative things. They need to say reliably conservative, headline-grabbing things, and a Presidential campaign is a great way to do that. It's a great place to build the brand. Conservative media celebrity is a really remunerative career.

When it comes to conservatism, there is an entire industry which dwarfs the scale of anything on the left so, tho' some Democrats have been able to parlay runs for office into fame and fortune, most of them haven't had the same success. There is nothing wrong with it per se, but at a certain point there is a question as to whether these people are running for office for the right reasons, whether they're "ideological warriors" or it's a racket, and it becomes harder and harder to tell the two apart. Having so many of these candidates has a political impact, however, as it makes the Presidential process have that much more of a circus atmosphere.

Looked at in that light, Michelle Bachmann might make more sense than she seems to. For example, some of the "gaffes" she has made:

Asking people to celebrate Elvis Presley's "birthday" on the day which was actually the day of his death;

Saying there is fear in America because they see the rise of India, the rise of China, the rise of "the Soviet Union"...

Her remark on the campaign trail that she was proud to be from Waterloo, Iowa, because that's where John Wayne was from. No, that's where John Wayne GASEY (the serial killer) was from.

The shout out she gave when in New Hampshire to Lexington and Concord for their role in the Revolutionary War (when both towns are actually in Massachusetts), that she and New Hampshire had a love of liberty in common and it was where the "shot heard round the world" happened.

There have been so many other "gaffes" in her repertoire, that looked at from the viewpoint that perhaps these weren't gaffes, perhaps they were buzz words (true or not) that appeal to conservatives, that keep her name in the papers as someone who is "reliably conservative", they make sense.

The same, of course, could be applied to Sarah Palin, with the obvious difference that some of the gaffes SHE has made weren't aimed at conservatives, just gaffes. Nonetheless, her name recognition and celebrity status has been pretty lucrative.

What say you?

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Saturday, August 20, 2011 12:01 PM

DREAMTROVE

Yeah, sure.

I nominate Rick Perry and Sarah Palin as shampaigns. Nice word BTW.

Serious candidates are Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney. I think Huntsman and Newt are serious, but they'll lose. Same for Bachmann.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Saturday, August 20, 2011 12:20 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Again, Mental illness.

And since any rational person immediately realizes that RWAs are batshit and scorns them, scoffs at them, and gets the hell AWAY from them before they do something insane...
They'll pay damn good money to hear someone, anyone, validate their bullshit beliefs in a public venue - it's all part and parcel of the insanity, and LWAs do it too, hell, it ain't even limited to politics cause the whole mighty-whitey-righty crowd plays the same game.

-F

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Saturday, August 20, 2011 12:32 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

"Shampaigns" sounds a bit too celebratory (sounds like "Champagnes"); I'd call 'em "Scampaigns" in the interest of clarity and simplicity. Add an "S" to "campaign", and there you go. Plus, yes indeed, they are designed to scam the American people out of their money.

And when you think about it, what's the worst-case scenario for a Palin or a Christine O'Donnell? The worst thing that can happen, from their point of view, is that they could actually WIN. They're really hoping to parlay the campaign into a well-paid speaking tour or book tour, or even a national spotlight as a paid consultant or pundit.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:43 PM

DREAMTROVE

But that's why shampaign is clever.

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Saturday, August 20, 2011 6:05 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

I like Scampaigns. It communicates the message immediately and without the possibility of confusion, generating the appropriate mental imagery right off the bat.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

“If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all”

Jacob Hornberger

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”

Mahatma Gandhi

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Sunday, August 21, 2011 3:44 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Funny how this issue is raised with GOP candidates as the examples, but Al Sharpton and Cynthia McKinney some how get left out of the 'sham'paign discussion.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Sunday, August 21, 2011 7:01 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

I kinda like scampaigns too, and yes, I thought the other one sounded more like something celebratory. I didn't come up with the term, it's the title of an article on the subject, by the way.

Oh, good gawd Raptor...you COMPLETELY missed how I STARTED OUT with Keyes! The point was that the GOP seems to have more of them, and more successful ones, certainly not that the Dems don't have them. Because there is greater demand among conservatives, it gives them more opportunity to parlay a run for office into a money-making career, not that Dems don't do (or try to do) the same. Sharpton and McKinney are perfectly valid examples.

Mike: I agree, I think you categorized them perfectly. There's also what's-her-name, the one that ran out West and made such ridiculous statements, too.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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