If you are going to attack, you have to dress it up as nice. I thought Arnold’s speech was good and probably effective in its rhetoric. Miller and Cheney scared the bejezeesus about of me and not about terrorism, but them.
Call It A Comeback
If you are going to attack, you have to dress it up as nice. I thought Arnold’s speech was good and probably effective in its rhetoric. Miller and Cheney scared the bejezeesus about of me and not about terrorism, but them.
Arch, you weren’t the target demographic; you’d vote for a pig in lipstick if it ran as a Democrat.
Very true, but I can’t imagine that being a winner for married suburban women either.
As red meat–good stuff for supporters, but I’m not sure it hit undecideds very well.
And don’t be so sure I’d vote for Blagojevich again–I tried for that voting for the pig in lipstick and it didn’t work well.
Hey, Kay Wojcik resents that pig in lipstick remark.
Lipstick pigs are just selfish hedonists.
I happen to live with a married suburban woman, and she loved the little bit she heard. But then, she was looking forward to it.
Zell was mad, but he did a good job of being specific, calling people wrong rather than bad, and linking national security to personal security. Yes, it was very red meat, but it was well mannered if obviously mad red meat.
And hence it was good red meat to the base, but in primetime the last thing you want is to have a fire breathing speech to reach undecideds–obviously your wife is conservative so she likes it, but in Missouri and Ohio undecided married suburban women appear to be the key–and you don’t attract them with anger.
I think he did well and I think will play well with NASCAR dads and some undecideds…
Why is my wife obviously conservative? I was surprised she wanted to see Zell.
As far as women go, they are more risk averse than men. So if you get mad because somebody is risking their family or their home, they are not repelled by such “righteous” anger. And as I pointed out, while Zell was angry, he kept his manners about him — another big plus.
I happen to know a lot of suburban mothers in Missouri. I chat with them during sporting activities and birthday parties; I volunteer with them for school and child related activities; I go to church and socialize with them — they are not strange exotic creatures but my friends.
Reread the first point about why I pointed them out. I’m sorry, but this is one of the basic demographics that most pollsters are focusing on—especially in the 2 states I mentioned.
No one is claiming they are exotic. Many people are claiming they are a key group of swing voters and they tend to respond poorly to angry rhetoric.
Who’s this “they” you folks are talking about?
Signed, A Suburban Woman Who Is So Risk-Averse She Wouldn’t Dream of Voting For Bush
I’m sorry you missed my point — based on my first hand experience with married suburban women in Missouri, it isn’t anger per say that turns them off — it’s how it is expressed and what it is about.
But, and I think this is what people miss, knowing a lot of them, doesn’t make that representative–while you have a set amount who’ll vote for their party, there is that significant group of swing voters within the group and consistently they respond poorly to both:
A) angry rhetoric
B) Over aggressiveness
Anecdotally, Laura Bush’s making fun of the President about the dead or alive line is a perfect example. Women are turned off by it for a variety of reasons–or at least potential swing voters. Bush made strides in 2000 with married women who are now close to married males, but this kind of thing could turn that around.
If you look at the breakdowns in polls, this is pretty clear–but those breakdowns aren’t easily available on the web and I’m not breaking out Stata on the blog. If you are targeting this group of swing voters, this is a really bad way to do it.
Now, if its for NASCAR dads, maybe not, but I think such a strategy is somewhat futile since Democrats shouldn’t be carrying them–IOW, it might be shoring up the base–some of whom call themselves independent, but are effectively already Republicans.
I don’t think its either angry rhetoric of over aggressivenss by themselves that turns off swinging moms — it’s petty partisan bickering that does it. If you can clearly link what you’re mad about to their concerns and be nice even if angry (i.e. leave name calling out and stick to facts) then most will not ignore you simply for the anger or aggression. If it’s somebody getting mad because of just plain old politics as usual, yeah, they’ll tune it right out.
Are you claiming that a women is going to complain about a man finally opening up and letting his true feelings out?