Such is, and will be until the election, the case with Sarah Palin.
Allahpundit at HotAir is proof of the "consumerist" nature of Republican voters in this election.
He writes about a rally in Florida where Republican VP pick Sarah Palin was appearing under the heading of:
Palinmania: 60,000 turn out for event in Florida?
He attempts to rationalize, in the special ham-fisted way that only neo-conservatives are capable of, the crowd numbers and then relates them to Biden and current "president" George W.
He quotes a write-up on the event:
The Villages, a vast, upscale planned community north of Orlando, has about 70,000 mostly adult residents — many of them military retirees — who vote reliably Republican in statewide races. Tens of thousands inched along roads into the picturesque town square of the complex, where they stood in sweltering heat for about four hours as local GOP officials and a country band revved up the crowd.
emphasis via Allahpundit
Impressive.
People standing outside in the "sweltering" heat of Florida for hours. As if this common act - that other large groups of people in Florida have done - has somehow instilled within them a power, an ethereal glow if you will, that demands us to show our undying adoration.
Give me a break.
It is interesting to note that The Villages - touted in advertisements as "Florida's friendliest home town" - is a retirement community populated almost entirely by Republicans. So, to claim that Palin has accomplished some fantastic feat, that the mere presence of 60,000 people ( that number is still in question ) in what is nothing more than a conservative "compound" is something to be amazed at is to really be reaching for something to cheer about.
The warm reception that Palin received at The Villages is comparable to what would happen should a favored sports-caster appear at a baseball stadium in New York.
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The other group that met in Florida several weeks ago were also there in reference to Palin, just not in the same way:
From The St. Petersburg Times
Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.
Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.
"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.
This small focus group, containing only 11 people, was labeled as such by the esteemed HotAir employee as:
that anti-Palin focus group in Florida the ’sphere was buzzing about yesterday.
Whereas the focus-group seems to see Palin for what she is - a gimmick - Allahpundit and so many commentors at HotAir are approaching each story that is even peripheral to Palin as if she is the one running for President.
Neither group is representative of the whole of the American voting public. However, it is the later group that favor discussing issues rather than jumping up-and-down in the Florida heat over a woman is nothing more than a shiney, new toy.
2 comments:
Oh please, the St. Petersburg Times is as far left as they come. Probably the most liberal paper south of D.C...of course they will print anything that is worshipping Obama.
Yeah, "undecided" voters, lol. For their "focus groups" they handpicked people that they knew ahead of time would tell them what they wanted to hear (Perhaps we should look into the size of the "group" -- 11 people?). This doesn’t even pass the laugh test. If this "focus group" were typical McCain Obama polls would be 30% McCain to 60% Obama.
Believe anything published in this newspaper at your own risk. It has had to downsize substantially over the last couple of years — and for good reason.
Even if this were technically true, rather than a transparent ploy to rattle the GOP and deprive them of one of their most effective assets, it would still be wrong, because we’ve heard scores of cases where just the opposite effect occurrred, making Palin a net gain. My own experience with other people is that, if anything, Sarah Palin has pushed far more people the other way...including former Hillary supporters.
The press knows this and they are out desperately looking for any smidge of data to make it look the other way.
"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg,"
Lifelong Republican? Then why was his only documented campaign contribution 11 years ago to a Democrat?
http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=516961770
See? That's one example of how the St. Petersburg fixes their focus groups to give them the results they want.
Your anonymity aside, I tried to follow the link that you posted and all I got was a "the page you requested does not exist".
Be that as it may, please provide information that shows that Palin has swayed as many undecided voters into the Republican column. Can you provide your alleged numbers for former Hillary supporters as well?
Your statement that the St. Petersburg Times is "as far left...." sounds suspiciously like nothing more than O'Reilly style hyperbole. One thing about statements like this, you have to assume that your definition of "right" and "left" are parallel to mine. This is the fundamental flaw in such meathods of debate.
There is enough random generalization and conjecture in your post to render it into the "talking points" segment of internet diatribes.
Lastly, focus groups are meant to be small. Sean Hannit trots out Frank Luntz and his focus groups of 12 quite often and uses them as a stick with which to beat Alan Colmes and whatever "liberal" guest is dumb enough to appear on their show.
The main point of the post, which is readily apparent, is that neither group is truly representative of the whole that either side is claiming they are. I stated in my conclusion that the focus group was willing to discuss the issues while the "mass" at The Villages was just there to get a glimps at the celebrity of the moment.
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