I've enjoyed all the diaries here about the inevitable collapse of Bushco because of Hurricane Katrina mismanagement. I just don't believe this will happen. Politics is a soap opera, and just because their hero was a failure in this incident, that fact will not lead them to abandon him in favor of the enemy. The enemy on the Right Wing Soap Opera of America is, of course, us - the Democrats. FoxNews puts Hillary Clinton at the heart of what Democrats stand for, and fair or not, she is hated on their side. Bushco and their Media Minions are still busily building stories to use against us in 2006, downplaying failures in favor of proving that Democrats are out of touch. My
30 Day OReilly Diet showed me exactly how and why we are seen as "out of touch," and no issue is more obviously being ignored by the Left than Jessica's Law.
I want to share a bit of my hard earned insight with you all under the cut -
The end of my
30 Days of Ignorance was swallowed whole by the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. A month of watching what the Right is watching disappeared as our hearts and minds and money went to New Orleans and the rest of the affected Gulf Coast region. The story of Katrina obviously continues, but the storyline is diverging depending on exactly where your news comes from.
Here on the Left, we turn to Reality - facts and figures and accurate time lines rule the day, and Bushco is CLEARLY at the center of the disaster that is ongoing. On the Right, FoxNews has already casually forgiven Bush. Here's Neil Cavuto's spin just minutes ago:
"The President of the US, having toured New Orleans a couple of minutes ago. This is his fifth trip to the region. Many criticized him for being a little bit too slow to respond - he has CERTAINLY made up for that criticism, and indeed a good deal of money committed to the region."
Complete sentences? No. But there you have exactly how this story is being presented to the masses who are watching from the Right or the Middle. FoxWatchers do not like what happened, but have been told that Bush is forgiven. They will NOT come to our side a year from now based on Katrina.
The Right continues the drumbeat that was pervasive during August - Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, do not know what is important to Middle America. The problem is, FoxNews now defines what is to be supported by its viewers and what is to be resisted. Hillary especially is used to demonize any initiative that the Left pushes forward, but there is a secondary, rotating cast of Evil Democrats to fall back on as well. More important to the Right than destroying our initiatives is setting up their own priorities. And we are currently ignoring these priorities at our own peril.
The BIGGEST story for OReilly's Factor in August was the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. This story of a White Alabama teenager disappearing is exactly the type of story which can be easily wrested from the Left, because of the REALITY that nothing can be done. What is there to say? OReilly found a way to continuously present the story, as a Soap Opera with good guys and bad guys, over the course of the month. However, the second most popular story of the month is the one I expect to start hearing more about over the next 12 months. The Jessica Lunsford story.
Take a look at Bill OReilly's Homepage if you dare, and notice that the VERY TOP STORY is his Protecting America's Children US map. This shows where in America that Jessica's Law is being promoted, and where it is being opposed. Jessica's Law in Florida mandates 25 years for anyone convicted of molesting a child under 12 years of age, and lifetime GPS monitoring of ALL Child Sex Offenders. Copycat legislation is being proposed and passed by Republicans nationwide to set them apart from Democrats. Democrats, who are "ignoring the problem" of our children's safety by opposing mandatory minimums. Even Schwartzeneggar is trying to embrace Jessica's Law to gain support within California.
Jessica's Law WILL come back on us in November, and we cannot be unprepared to face the accusations which are building from the Right. We may need to start talking about opposing the legislation due to our belief in Judicial independence, or we may actually need to discuss the idea of accepting increased sentencing guidelines for offenders. Either way, we need to talk about this NOW rather than LATER! It is not a question of whether Jessica's Law will become an issue, it already IS an issue. If we ignore it's developing importance to FoxWatchers, it WILL become a liability to our side, guaranteed.