Monday, September 1, 2014

Approval ratings? Meaningless in a divided state.

This whole approval rating nonsense continues with Pres. Obama’s Labor Day visit to Milwaukee today.

Before Scott Walker instituted his successful strategy to divide and conquer citizens in Wisconsin, the numbers may have meant something. But the extreme separation now makes the whole concept pointless.

When a party barely approves of their opponents leader, we're talking about a mere 4 or 5 percent, what’s the point?
jsonline: Obama’s approval rate is 89% among likely Democratic voters and 4% among likely Republican voters in Marquette’s last poll, taken Aug. 21-24. Walker’s approval rate is 96% among Republicans and 5% among Democrats.  
Republican numbers explained: The “stand with Walker” bunch of rugged take charge individuals have one thing in common; they all have an “employee” state of mind. It’s a Borg-like conformity of thought and policy. A follow the leader, follow the boss kind of life.

Nothing says follower like the criticism conservatives had regarding the recent Scott Walker protests in Madison in the winter of 2011. Wisconsinites were described as thugs, vandals, and enemies of the state for their inconvenient, loud and disruptive protests against their arrogant government. Gee, how un-American. Paul Ryan described it this frightening way:
Ryan: "I would say courage is on the ballot. What governor or state legislator is going to have the courage of addressing the structural problems of their state, if when they do that this is what happens to them. That is really profound."
Or this widely held conservative belief in leaders:
Ryan: "It sounds simple...but if I believe this is counter productive for the very people we're trying to hurt...to help...and will hurt them by doing this, but it's politically popular, what does that say about you as a moral person...leaders have to take positions that may not be popular sometimes if they think they're doing the right thing."
Democratic numbers explained: The “herding cats” party has never agreed on anything except when it comes to Walker's 5% approval rating. When Walker ignored the protests and pushed through his no compromise agenda, Democrats got the uneasy feeling they were witnessing the rise of an autocracy. The return of a king, or as conservatives would describe it, a strong courageous leader, mentioned by Paul Ryan above.  

2 comments:

  1. Well said. Righties goose-step behind their candidates once chosen, because they think it's some kind of sporting event. Too bad they're nowhere near the 40% of the electorate that most polls project them as.

    It's why I think Walker's approval ceiling is a whole lot lower than his disapproval ceiling. And just like Bush, once he falls out of favor, any remaining support he has will collapse.

    Many GOPs know in their heart that this really isn't working, but they still subscribe to the adolescent mentality that admitting error is some kind of weakness. In fact, it's the lack of admission of error that is the weakness.

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  2. You nailed it. They have too much to lose admitting they're wrong, because they have their identities tied in with a failed ideology.

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