I didn’t watch the debates last night, as I was busy doing something more important. I think I was watching the Sci-Fi channel while playing Civ III, actually. At any rate, I wanted to see if there was any buzz, and via the predictable Michelle Malkin, this piece of “analysis” from village idiot Dan “WHERE IS NATALEE HOLLOWAY” Riehl:
I watched the Republican debate via Fox News.com and took advantage of the ability to watch it with the so-called People Meter which gave a running response from two focus group’s reactions to the candidates as they spoke by graphically presenting a mean number. There were two lines, one for moderates, one for conservatives.
Putting the candidates aside for a moment, what I saw was that when the message was win in Iraq, it didn’t matter which candidate was saying it – the numbers for both conservatives and moderates went through the roof. And the stronger the talk, the higher the mean number. The only other issues that came close were immigration and taxes – the more talk there was of lower taxes, the higher the meter went. And moderates, as well as conservatives, wanted straight, tough talk on illegal immigration, as well.
That is what passes for wisdom from the right when it comes to Iraq- “winning” is popular. Who would have thunk it? Is this a surprise to anyone? Dan Riehl and Michelle Malkin love to pretend that everyone not in the 28% crowd really hates America, but is there really a notable segment of the population who DOESN’T want us to win in Iraq, whatever that means anymore? Christ on a crutch, of course the concept of winning is popular. I am going to guess that free oral sex (yes, Republican congressmen- it can be gay oral sex if you like) and a million dollars to every adult would also rate high on the ‘People Meter.’
And that is where we are- the notion of “winning” is popular, so we will get all sorts of happy talk about “winning” from the Republican Presidential hopefuls. And since “winning” is popular, it stands to reason that “losing” is unpopular- we will leave “losing” to the Democrats. Pay not attention to the news from the region- that is all pushed by the “loser” Democrats and their allies in the liberal media. The people want to win, so we talk about winning.
Serenity now.