The right wing ain’t so crazy as they seem

“The more outrageous the Republicans become, the weaker the left becomes.” Ralph Nader

This line from a longer interview with Nader by Chris Hedges sums up nicely the triangulation phenomenon that we are now caught in. We have right wing Democrats in office who are carrying forward with the corporate agenda, and no organized resistance. The left has been sucked into the Democratic party, and had its balls cut off as a consequence.

But how many times have you heard some Democrat say “Yeah – but look how crazy those Republicans are!”

Like a fox. Right wing craziness is aimed both at its crazy Tea Party wing and at the progressive left. For the TP people, it’s music to soothe the soul. For the lefties, it’s frightening enough to cause a stampede into the Democratic Party.

Republicans are not crazy. They know the impact of their words. The sound effects are measured and calculated to create the effect we are seeing. I have long said that the public pronouncements of politicians do not carry useful information. I am more in tune with Josef Goebbels, JC’s main man, who said words to the effect that everything that is done in public is done for effect.* I cannot find the actual quote, and hope that someone out there possibly reading this can do so.
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Here it is, courtesy of Ellul, Propaganda, page x footnote 1: Goebbels said:”We do not talk to say something, but to obtain a certain effect.” And F.C. Bartlett states that the goal of propaganda is not to increase political understanding of events, but to obtain certain results through action.