It’s Their Fault

Below find the transcript of an enlightening chat with a reader.

Me: i think there’s a good chance obama has settled on clinton for VP.

Itstheirfault.com Reader: no f—ing way. that would be the WORST move EVER

Me: i don’t know…he could be thinking that the main case against hil was that it fires up the GOP smear machine. now he sees it is already fired up anyway…any further attacks on Clinton will seem gratuitous to everyone and shes better at getting sympathy. plus - easily the biggest polling bounce by far. and finally, it doesn’t lose him any votes; basically, it trades some independent votes for an arguably larger contingent of hil die hards…it makes “celeb” type ads seems rather goofy…and also, if obama picks the staid white guy, mccain can trump him with a woman and conceivably gain tons of feminist votes

Itstheirfault.com Reader: those are all really good points, actually; but do you think it might totally alienate the white working class male?

Me: most of them are mccain supporters anyway. white working class males who support obama are rare, and those who do probably do because they are above the fray in a way…but its def a consideration. it could all blow up. but if the dems sense the potential in this country for a landslide, hil is the only one who will help get it. any other choice and obama could eke out a stressful victory…but hil offers the potential for a blowout: the two most well-known politicians, dem base fired up like crazy, etc.

Itstheirfault.com Reader: yea… that is definitely true. it might even win over some republican ladies

Me: yeah. biden is terrific but the smear machine can arguably do a much better job on him than hil. since nobody knows biden, they can do a slow rollout of all his scandals. with hil, i feel like the dem campaign will just become a large media circus victory parade. it throws the mccain strategy of making the campaign “about Obama” / “about the dem ticket” right back in his face. all of a sudden he’ll be struggling for any attention, and the spectacle itself will make mccain pointing it out in those paris hilton ads seem kind of silly, and only reinforce his image as the nobody.

Itstheirfault.com Reader: but what to do about Bill?

Me: more fuel for the circus. hill/bill choice sends the message that, despite the negative ads, we are making the fame thing a priority and defining it as an advantage. i think it works for our culture.  they just say:  maybe we are “incredibly famous.”  so what?

the only problem is mccain instantly becomes the underdog whereas obama was starting to do well in that role. and i think mccain thrives as the underdog, and independents like that sort of thing as well

Itstheirfault.com Reader: hmmm…you need to zip this all up into a post

Me: okay. whats a movie or culture analogy…

Itstheirfault.com Reader: hm…

bonus points to those who now get the title