| In reverse order.
Mavrick Rolling John McCain
Rickrolling is an internet meme in which someone provides a fascinating link they claim is relevant, but in fact points to a Rick Astley music video.
Can we work together to use the same technique to mavrickroll John McCain? Pick the most humiliating video of him--maybe the most awkward moments of the 'lime jello' speech, maybe the clip where he says he agrees with Bush on the most profound issues--and 'bait and switch' links to it everywhere?
Try to push that into a phenomenon?
The Ten Taboos of John McCain: A Style Guide for Serious Journalists
Write, email, promote, discuss, print, and so forth, a mock style guide for journalists, explaining exactly what they can't mention about McCain, in chapters such as:
Bad Soldier: He crashed 3 jets. Only flew for 34 days in Vietnam. Did more damage to the US war effort than most enemy soldiers. 'A Serious Journalist covers McCain's military triumphs, never his failures.'
Broken Man: He made dozens of propaganda films for the enemy. Understandably so--but that's the other half of his POW experience. 'A Serious Journalist must dwell on the causes of McCain's suffering, but never mention the effects.'
Cheater: Cheated on his wife. Cheated with the Keating Five. 'A Serious Journalist must focus on McCain's repentance, never his sins.'
And so forth: Liar, Flipflopper, Misogynist Golddigger, Unstable Hothead.
I'm not sure how best to promote something like this, but I think the format is pretty sound, some way to explicitly call out the media.
John McCain is a war victim, not a war hero
John McCain is not a war hero. He's a war victim. Instead of saying how much we esteem his service, we should say how very, very sorry we are for all that he suffered, and how terribly that must've damaged him. I really am sorry for both of those things, but they don't make him a hero. He's a victim. It's a terrible thing. We're very sorry. But being abused by torturers is not a qualification to be president.
How do we push that? Raise money for premium blog ads, with 'John McCain: Hero or Victim' in bright flashing colors? Link to a site that lays out the argument? Like this but obviously ... completely different.
Oh, and a fourth.
Organized Outrage
The RNC ghoulishly exploited 9/11 for political gain. My sense is that many of us were a little outraged--but also unsurprised. Yet this is justthe sorta story that'd dominate the news for a week, had the Democrats done the same.
We need to figure how to take our sparks of outrage and fans the flames.
Another big example: the John McCain Propaganda Tapes. Do they really exist? Did he really make any? How many? I honestly have no idea if this is just an internet rumor--which is odd, considering the guy's got a good chance of being the next president.
What if the A-list left bloggers actually organized a propaganda video roll-out (if they do exist)? Not the videos themselves, but the fact that they were made. A 'discovery' of this story. One finds a link, asks people to debunks. Turns out it's true. OMG! Someone else uncovers another thread, etc. But the key is to organize the 'roll-out' ahead of time.
Truth is, this might make McCain more likable. I know the fact that he broke repeatedly under torture makes me more sympathetic to him as a person. But still, setting aside partisanship ... that's a pretty important part of the story to drop entirely from his biography, particularly when torture is a subject of national interest. I mean, if even John McCain gave false information under torture, surely that's something to take into account when discussing--as we apparently do--the utility of torturing people. |
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