I am not accusing the author of writing under Karl Rove's instructions. I am suggesting that the concept of "Scandal Fatigue" is playing right into the hands of Karl Rove, who has been trying desperately to get a handle on the WhiteHouse's many scandals for the last five months.
Last fall, when Karl Rove was under the cloud of possible indictment, I put my thinking cap on and asked myself, what would Rove do if he wanted to get out of this mess? Answer, he would use his lackeys in the press to try to convince people that American was tired of do-gooders. Tired of people cleaning up corrupt government. Tired of having messes brought to light. From this absurd scenerio, I created "Morality Fatigue"
http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/050613.htmThis was not supposed to be a depiction of the way things are. This was meant to be a depiction of the way that Karl Rove would like to make things become for his own political purposes.
Lately, there have been signs that the RNC and Rove are trying to do just that. We see pundits and even some groups within the Democratic Party tell us that Americans do not care about illegal domestic wiretap (this is a lie, they do care if you ask the polls correctly) or that they do not care about the war (a really big whopper). In fact, saying that Americans do not care is a lie. While "Scandal Fatigue" may hold try for the press, it does not work for the human mind. The press has limited copy space and air time, so Karl Rove can use the smoke from one fire to hide that from another. However, the human mind has a near infinite capacity to absorb and remember. And outrage is additive not exclusive.
As those who recall the Nixon administration will remember, it was the sum of his crimes that did him in. The illegal wars in Cambodia, lies about Viet Nam, the wiretaps, the firing of the prosecutors, Kent State---so much crime had an additive effect. I doubt that the man would have been driven from office were it just a matter of wiretaps alone.
The same is true for the Bush administration. Katrina, DSMs, illegal wiretaps, torture of prisoners, PLame---put these things together in the minds of the public and you have an administration that is out of touch and out of control. The average American is not concerned with holding Congressional hearings or deciding which charge to impeach W. on. They make two decisions, whether or not to vote and which party to vote for. Pile up enough WH scandal and they will decide to vote and they will decide to vote Democrat. Add a few more scandals and they will give some money and time to the Democrats.
This is what Karl Rove fears. He does not have enough electronic vote fraud in his bag of tricks to compensate should all the Democrats and Independents out there who are amgry with the administration decide to turn up at the polls this fall--especially if disenchanted Republicans stay home because they are sick of hearing about all the WH scandals.
So, do not stop your litany of administration scandals. It takes so little effort to repeat them in the press, to friends, on bumperstickers. Do it for the sake of those who have been injured or killed, so that they are not forgotten. The people who want to work on effecting change for each particular problem--i.e those who want to rebuild NOLA--will triage themselves. Someone has to be the Tom Paine who lets the American people know what a monarchy like that of King George II is capable of, otherwise we will never have a democracy again. And since this is a big country, it will take a lot of Tom Paines.
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