Fear mongering doesn’t resonate well
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Editor,
“A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.” No, actually it was not the Forum, but Les Schwab’s below the hill on 93. I had a questionable tire that needed checking out, so while that was being done I sat in the lounge area and picked up Time magazine, Sept. 10, 2012.
I opened to “commentary”, and there was a full page diatribe against Obama written by Rich Lowry, editor of National Review. You would have thought Romney had already won the election, the Republican’s were now in complete control, and his article entitled “A Bright, Shining Lie” all about Obama’s total abdication from what launched his career was going to make him, Rich Lawry, look like the “bright and shining light.”
But, you know, it did not come out that way just a month later. “Woe is me,” was the cry. “What happened?” “How could this happen?” What happened was that the attempts to raise the level of fear and anger to new heights in America by the Tea Party, the Karl Rove’s, the Koch brother’s, and even the outrageous rants of voices such as Rush Limbaugh, simply did not resonate with the majority of voters. By the way, in the same edition of Time magazine, a few pages on, was an article by Joe Klein about Obama’s campaign. He’s a journalist in Washington, D.C. and also a columnist for Time magazine. The contrast in these page-long articles was so telling as to the difference between very shallow and totally ignorant of majority public opinion, and a person writing from a rather thoughtful perspective on things.
This often happens with a fear monger. They are so busy talking, shouting, ranting and raving that they forget to listen.
Other good news? No real tire problem. All is well on both fronts.
Bob McClellan
Polson
