Monday, July 18, 2011

Adventures in Concern Trolling

Concern trolling, the art of giving "friendly" advice to your political foes, is one of the most ancient, worn out traditions in political punditry. If a GOP strategist is telling Democrats they must, MUST, do something, odds are the Democrats would be best served by doing the exact opposite and telling the strategist to go to hell. The opposite is also true. Republicans don't have Democrat's best interests at heart, and vice-versa (unless you are Joe Lieberman).

Fred Dicker's column in the NY Post is a gem of the concern trolling genre. The column suggests that Governor Cuomo has a better chance of being elected President in 2016 if Obama loses in 2012. The only way to win is to lose, genius. All the hallmarks of concern trolling are here. Republican strategists and politicos, anonymous "Democrats,"hilariously bad logic, rhetorical questions, and of course making friendly suggestions to liberals using right-wing talking points.

Republican strategists, lets make a deal. You promise to refrain from advising the only way for Democrats to be elected is to enact Republican policies or to hope for Republican electoral victories, and I'll promise to refrain from suggesting the only way Republican can win is by not nominating candidates who make Reagan look like a flower child.

No comments:

Post a Comment