Conservatives Just Don’t “Get It”
You’ve heard this right? Conservatives just don’t “get it” when it comes to technology, social networking, and Internet marketing.
Really?
I’m so sick of hearing this. What secret technology recipe do Dems and liberals hold in this medium? What have they done that is so damn special? Everywhere I turn I’m being fed this line about how liberals have cornered the market on online politics. Why? Because the Obama campaign used Twitter, Facebook, and put a donate button on their campaign website? Please…
MoveOn.org is certainly a big player in some areas of webspace, and they have no equal in the conservative cybersphere…yet. TheVanguard.org argues that they will be the conservative answer to Moveon. This is a promise we have heard before, so I will remain cautiously optimistic. But while we are on the subject, what is it that MoveOn has on it’s website that is so mind blowingly special?
I circled it for you in case you are a conservative/libertarian that just doesn’t “get it”:
The MoveOn page is filled with rhetoric and articles. As an aside if you look closely you will pick out blatant misleading numbers all on one page. Their email sign up claims 4 million members. The article under “Success Stories” claims 5 million members in the title. While just under the title the actual story print claims 4.2 million members. I wish my boss paid me an extra 80% on every 20% of the dollar I made. But I digress.
The big FTW that liberals all other the Internet sipping their techno-lattes are getting all worked up about is how many email addresses MoveOn has collected via what boils down to a newsletter sign up box, a donate button, and a graphic icon link to their Facebook and YouTube fan sites. That’s it folks. That’s what the big liberal Net geniuses are walking around heads in the clouds over. High-five guys! You conquered the Internetz!
What is the actual gain from this? MoveOn had close to $60 million in donations in 2004, and unless usual donors took their money straight to Obama, it’s safe to assume that the number was close to that in 2008.
While not in direct competition, The Heritage Foundation had a similar endowment in 2008 and also holds a similar size contact list. Being that Heritage is a think tank, and not a social club, many of their priorities are different. But there endowment certainly allows them to compete in the same spaces that a group like MoveOn is battling for ground in.
But what are the real numbers here? Why can’t conservatives compete in the webspace like they do in talk radio in meatspace? Why don’t we get it? What aren’t we getting?
WHAT WE DON’T GET IS THAT WE HAVE BOUGHT INTO A LIE THAT WE “DON’T GET IT”.
… in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.
?Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X
Look at the numbers:
MoveOn is winning the Facebook war. That’s pure Paris Hilton “hot” right there. You guys can trade pictures and make cute references to the Messiah’s newest portrait in your status bar. But Facebook isn’t the only application in webspace. Liberals claim to be controlling everything. But the numbers don’t add up. The DNC less than half the subscribers or channel views than the much webspace belabored RNC on YouTube. And the RNC easily rivals MoveOn in YouTube channel subscribers, falling behind by only 500 subscribers, but actually having 65,000 more views of channel content. And Twitter, the Internet rage that is constantly talked about by liberals like they invented it is completely dominated by conservative and libertarian organizations! In fact MoveOn and the DNC don’t even have representation on Twitter. And let’s not even discuss individual members of Congress’ Twitter or Facebook adherence. They all have them. No one has an advantage.
So why are liberals and media outlets always saying that conservatives “get it”? Because of Obama.
The Obama campaign’s technology effort which receives ravenous attention didn’t invent these applications or even use them any differently than anyone else in the conservative movement, with the exception of my.barackobama.com which allowed individuals to organize local events online. Ultimately a brilliant strategy. But It is no secret that Obama implemented an 18 month online social networking strategy, while John McCain simply pushed hard at the end, running what amounted to be a 72 hour “get out the vote” train wreck. The reality of what happened last year was that Obama’s team produced an in depth Internet strategy from the very beginning. The Internet was not just a webpage used to promote his candidacy and explain his policies. It was used to connect like minded individuals through various ranges of social networking.
This isn’t something new to conservatives and libertarians.
It was new to John McCain’s campaign staff and John McCain. And by the time McCain got on board with a decent Internet strategy, that ship had sailed, and Obama’s web presence was rolling down a mountain like a Mac truck with no brakes. When liberal pundits are issuing their insults toward the other sides comprehension and use of Internet applications, they are thinking of the Obama campaign specifically, and not the broad strokes. What Obama did with technology and did early was a great move. But the uses of tech in his campaign was not some secret cauldron of witch brew which only liberals had the necessary skills to use. Conservatives have been using the same tools for years. And when we saw them being used by Obama and used successfully, we were sitting around all thinking, “This stuff should be obvious, we are all using it, why isn’t McCain.” Conservatives have it right. They’ve “got it”. In fact if you want a closer look at how well they get it, look to efforts like CEI’s openmarket.org, bureaucrash.com, globalwarming.org, or the Heritage Foundation’s stopspendingourfuture.org, 33-minutes.com or their joint venture ReadTheStimulus.org. Or try RedCountry.com, RedState.com, TopConservativesOnTwitter.com (#tcot), atr.org (Americans for Tax Reform), netrightnation.com; these go on forever.
The RNC’s loss of Cyrus Krohn is a tough blow. But you can’t build an empire with one hammer. And furthermore, the duties of the RNC specifically does not necessarily need to be creating and implementing new widgets and whatzits. It needs to be making sure that the next candidate is. If the RNC was behind at some point then let’s be clear, the RNC is not the conservative movement.
Realistically, there is also more to the story. While conservative get technology and use it effectively, the last campaign was riddled with problems. Mixed messages and feelings over the Bush policy, the party being sporadic with their message, and many conservatives feeling like they were being left behind and no strong voice to represent their political ideology. At the same time, Democrats were very united. Not by Twitter or Facebook, but by a common theme, ‘Paint McCain as another Bush — No more Bush!”
For conservatives to rebound, and additionally re-capture the votes of moderates and libertarians they don’t need to just use technology well. Getting a lot of followers on Facebook or Twitter will not win an election. Conservatives need a unified voice, a return to traditional conservative values, and a common theme.
Which they have found, in Obama.
-nick
?I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!?
Many of us conservatives have been confused by media hype that Democrats strategy was/is so much better. But most of us have always suspected theirs is not better, its just transmitted better. In short, the network media outlets have so promoted the idea Democrats are doing better that some have actually come to believe that. Democrats have CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, NPR & a host of other media outlets to put their brand name & how terrific they are in the face of the public on a nightly basis. THAT is what has worked for them, not their strategy. Yes we have conservative talk radio. BUT, Rush is attacked from even our side. Rush is reaching 20+ million a day, perhaps. But he is not in the face of the public nightly & that exposure is what has Democrats looking so good. If the networks were not so in the tank & they were not feeding the public specific regulated doses of their hyperbole, they would be dealing with the same message issues we are. Conservatives appear disjointed because no one has put it all together as a singular effort machine. Democrats did through their organizations.
We have a better message. We have a better product. Our purposes are more in tune with American freedoms & prosperity. While we recognize the needs for specific federal efforts, we also recognize the needs to limit such involvements because once they get a toe in the door, you end up with their foot in the door. Its the old door to door salesmen thing.
Republicans, and more specifically conservatives, need to communicate with each other better & significantly more frequently. We need to organize our efforts so when we need to get out the vote or to contact members of Congress, we do so as a serious concentrated effort that no member of Congress can afford to ignore. We are not the “protest” type. Democrats are. We are not the march in the street type. Democrats are. We are not the guys who scream for the media so we can claim to be victims & require federal government intervention in whatever is happening. Conservatives deal with their problems by hooking up with each other & getting down to work. And we do so more often on our own dime, rather than on the taxpayers dime. Those are all good things.
Now we need to organize & create the communications network that we can use to facilitate our rebirth & our take-over of Congress come the 2010 elections.
We also need to figure out how to combat the TV screen that favors Democrats now. So long as the networks put Democrats up there in the face of the public in a favorable view & then portray Republicans and/or conservatives in a negative view, we will be fighting to keep up. We need to change that. We need to do our own video publications & news reports. We need to stop the networks from doing our editing. If we edit on our own & give them what they can produce or transmit, we can control our message but more importantly, HOW we are portrayed. Once we can control how we are viewed & what we say, the public will learn the truth of why they want us & not the socialism of Democrats & their cronies who seek to put us under the thumb of a worldwide socialist cabal.
Think about it. Its not our message, its how it is transmitted. Nixon lost to Kennedy because he did not look good on TV. Kennedy had a make-up pro to dust him up pretty, Nixon did not & looked craggy. Lets set up a TV studio & do our own productions that we give out to the networks. That way we reduce the possibility they can edit us to look bad while they edit the Democrats t look better than us. And if we do this, we can also truly portray the Democrats as what they are with no network cover up of make up dust up to make them look good.
We may also have to hire our own journalists. Lets face it, the public is not being told the truth or the whole truth. In fact the public is being fed propagandized news. News that has been deliberately tailored to match the political line Democrats are selling. The irony is, they actually sell themselves as us as actual conservatives or conservative policies, while they plan something altogether different than that once in power. Obama portrayed himself as a conservative or centrist politician. We know he is not. The public did NOT now that & the public, having been fed the bull Democrats wanted them to believe, could not even tell an interviewer who was running against whom, which policies were Democrats versus Republicans, & who committed which crimes. They did not know answers to basic questions any American should know by heart! How can that be? Propaganda is how. Democrats & their media allies did a number on the people & perhaps tailored i to specific markets when they did, but they duped people into believing things that are simply not true.
So, our own TV production facilities is possible. Our own journalistic staff may be more difficult, BUT, I think we can do it & do it well.
Really nice response Rubicon. I’m going to have to let the Twitter following know about this one. Speaking of which, if anyone has a Twitter account, you’re welcome to follow me personally at: hownowbrowncow Or if you strictly only want Twitter updates of new posts and updates to the site, you can follow the site at: thelobbyist.
-nick