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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Finding the Left's Five Million
So Karl Rove did it. He'd been talking for years about the missing four million evangelical Christians; voters who sit naturally in Bush's camp, but did not turn out in 2000. Guess how many millions Bush won the popular vote by? You got it. This is also why "moral issues" showed up as the surprise no. 1 most important topic in exit polls, trumping terrorism, Iraq and the economy. Rove dragged them to the polls with wedge issues (like gay marriage) and outright lies (like the leaflets that hit West Virginia and Arkansas with the claim that Kerry would ban the Bible). This is unabashed, amoral evil on Rove's part, of course, but give him his due. He's a political genius.
Democrats should not walk away too disappointed. They achieved something quite special: the largest vote against any sitting President, ever. This is all good ground-building work for next time. And it would be fair to say Rove's evangelical voter tide has reached its high-water mark. Their numbers have got just one direction to go in at the next election. Put it this way: you can't amend a state Constitution to ban gay marriage twice. And what other evangelical position out there has the support of the majority of voters? Certainly not abortion.
But what the Dems have to realize is that Bob Shrum is no match for Karl Rove. Shrum is, or rather was, Kerry's speechwriter and chief adviser. His campaign experience includes McGovern '72, Kennedy '80, Dukakis '88 -- and no successful presidential campaigns whatsoever. His rhetoric was retro to the point of being meaningless. You could always tell which of Kerry's stock phrases came from Shrum's brain; they would start "we're gonna fight for ..."
No, Shrum didn't have the first clue how to reach voter's emotions like Rove does -- or for that matter, James Carville did. It's all about passion. This is what "values" really means: grabbing them in the gut, being real, passing the smell test. And as my friend Qat was imploring earlier today, Democrats should clean up in this area every year. This is the party that believes in in tangible compassion. With charismatic candidates, and advisers who understand how to connect with voter passions, I'd say the Dems could grab at least an extra five million voters it needs to handily outnumber Rove's evangelical army at its strongest, as well as keep the ones that turned out yesterday (many of whom now know where their polling place is for the first time in their lives).
See, I believe they could have sold gay marriage, educating and shifting the poll numbers on that topic, instead of shying away from the issue every time it was raised. Couldn't you imagine Clinton selling it, talking from his gut about real lives, real partnerships? You don't say you're fighting for people; you make it about people.
is it too early to start talking about 2006?
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