There are 33 days  and change until the November  4 election as I write this.[icopyright one button toolbar]

I will try to keep this brief and to the point — which, Progressives, IS the point.

The Republicans are running on their traditional slander:

College GOP: Democrats Are Like a Bad Wedding Dress
Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal

The College Republican National Committee launched on Wednesday a nearly $1 million digital ad campaign across 16 states, aiming to draw young voters to the GOP with what the group’s chief calls “culturally relevant” ad campaigns…

The Republicans are running against President Obama for the same reasons.

And running so hard that, were he to propose that the sun rose in the East, they would oppose the notion on general principle, create a think tank devoted to Western Sunrise science, argue that the Democrats had secretly switched poles, thus making West East and East West, and Charles Krauthammer would proceed to sneer at the sheer idiocy of the “Eastern Sunrise” proponents. Rush Limbaugh would chime in, and then Glenn Beck would then suggest they were secretly in league with al Qaeda — as were ALL climatologists — and thence down to the bottom of the food chain, wherein Dennis Miller would make polysyllabic japes to mesmerize his duped audience with arabesques of vocabulary prestidigitation leavened with an ever-salty soupçon of contemptuousness with a thick base of conceit.

Remember THIS conditioning meme?  Endless repetition means you do.

So, where were we?

Which is, again, the point.

Squirrel!

Friday night, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter was a featured “semi” journalist on Bill Maher’s Real Time, and the chilling report was immediately ignored by all and sundry:

Voters are angry with Republican actions. Voters hate Republican policies. Voters prefer Democratic policies.

Those selfsame voters are going to vote Republican.

WHAT?

This is NOT Pavlovian Conditioning. It is, at worst, propaganda.

Ditto this.

This, however, IS Pavlovian Conditioning straight up:

You are now in an alpha state. This is where conditioning works well.

From The American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists (who ought to know):

Right now, as you read this, you may be in a beta brain state, unless you have been on the computer for a long time and are starting to feel a little slowed down. That slowed down feeling is the alpha brain wave state, the lightest trance state. Most people get there by watching television. If you find yourself unable to switch off the television because you just don’t want to move, you have definitely moved from the wide awake beta state to the alpha state. Much useful hypnotherapy can be accomplished in the alpha state.

You might remember this from September 19th’s “Propaganda Works“:

Which, when repeated literally 1,100  times (by actual count) on Faux Nooz™, creates this:

And here is the result:

From August, US Highway 26, Dayville, Oregon

Conditioning WORKS, and that is WHY the GOPs will vote Republican Confederate even though they’re against the policies of and angry AT the actions of the Republicans Confederates.

Who?

People who still believe Saddam had WMD. People who believe that Obama is secretly a Muslim. People who believe — nonsensically, since it would make no legal difference in his citizenship, since his mother was a US Citizen, clearly — that Obama was born in Kenya and that the birth record in two Honolulu papers was faked. You see what I mean? Even when stuff is disproven, the amygdala associates the EMOTIONAL CONDITIONING with the event, regardless of the “truth” of the fake history.

THAT is why they agree with the Democrats and then vote Republican Confederate.

Alexandra Pelosi’s report merely confirms my thesis: GOP voters are not reasoned with, or argued into positions: they are conditioned into them, using astonishing repetition and alpha-state trances.

Benghazi? Yup.

IRS? Ditto.

Obamacare? Uh huh.

No taxes? Affirmative.

No government intervention in the recession (except to save banksters?) Yes yes and YES!

I could go on. The point is clear, however, ARGUING works, inasmuch as America agrees with the Democratic Party.

But arguing DOESN’T work in terms of MAKING ANY DIFFERENCE to the conditioned mind.

 Classic Pavlovian Conditioning experiment. Woof.

See if you can spot the Pavlovian conditioning in the College GOPs’ plan:

The trick, says CRNC national chairman Alex Smith, is to start a conversation.

“How do you reach the generation that has their earbuds in and their minds turned off to traditional advertising?” she said. “It’s our goal to start the conversation by presenting ourselves in a culturally relevant way.” […]

“It might appear to be silly on the surface, but there’s absolutely a deeper meaning that will resonate with young voters,” Ms. Smith said. “It’s representative of how Democrats treat young voters – they take them for granted.”

College Republicans have raised more money this year than ever, which Ms. Smith attributes to the group’s ability to show donors that they will get a return on their investment. After the 2012 election, in which young voters backed President Barack Obama by a nearly two-to-one margin, College Republicans crafted a report offering case studies for connecting with college-age voters.  That report showed that people who watched one of the group’s videos targeting 18- to 29-year-olds were far more likely to vote for a generic Republican…

Notice: there is NO argument here. Only conditioning. Here’s a précis of the ad in question:

The first ad, launched Wednesday morning in Florida, is modeled after TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” where brides-to-be look for wedding dresses. In the College Republicans’ version—“Say Yes to the Candidate”—a young girl tries on the “Rick Scott” dress—and loves it. “The Rick Scott is perfect,” she gushes as she admires herself in a mirror.

“Rick Scott is becoming a trusted brand,” she says. “He has new ideas that don’t break your budget.”

But her mother is not so sure. “I like the Charlie Crist,” says her frazzled, somewhat hysterical mother. “It’s expensive and a little outdated, but I know best.” The attendant in the bridal shop then cites a slew of statistics that come with the “Charlie Crist,” including rising tuition, higher taxes and increased debt. Finally, the bride stands up to her mother, saying, “I see a better future with Rick Scott.”

Mr. Crist, a Democrat, is challenging Mr. Scott, the incumbent governor of Florida, in this fall’s election. Polls show a tight race.

the preferred seat of contemporary political debate:
location of amygdala in the human brain,
or a bad new  anime cartoon character

There is superficial argument: but really there is only conditioning — albeit conditioning that screws with the amygdala’s simplistic fight or flight reptile messaging system: Rick Scott = good wedding dress from trusted “brand” while Charlie Crist = expensive outdated fashion?

 Seriously?

Zebra Bustiere Barbie®

But the intention is clear: your BRAINS don’t matter.

Only your consumer conditioning does. And they recycle: Obama conditioning turns into their salivation bell in all local advertising, as GOP candidate after GOP candidate ties their opponent to Obama through straight conditioning, often as ham-handed as the “wedding dress” commercial notion.

And what of Alexandra Pelosi’s mother the House Minority leader?

Somebody’s sick idea of a “Nancy 
Pelosi” action figure. Note the nonsensical
inclusion of a “water board” in furtherance
of the outdated meme that GOP approval
of medieval torture methods wasn’t
torture at all …

This is what she’s (OK, DCCC and her “team Pelosi” amanuenses — I can tell y0u from Democratic Party insider experience that she more than likely has never seen any of these direct mail pleadings)  sending out to the Faithful in a little over a month:

Yeah. The GOP male sex.

FROM: Nancy Pelosi ….[INBOX MESSAGES]

Oct 1
we. fell. short.
No turning back
we. will. fail.
FINAL NOTICE
I’m begging
just talked to the team (bad news
i’m sorry 
Another annoying fundraising email
begging…BEGGING
I’m pleading (again)
we’re BEGGING

Sadly
Smirking in the corner
D e v a s t a t i n g
we keep emailing
Sep 27
Starred with “red-star”
D A N G E R – , Team Pelosi
I’m sooo sorry –
bad news for Democrats
This is a fundraising email
Sep 22

oh noeeeees!

We’ve got nothing left
Them vs. Us – day.
we’re going home
[BREAKING] NPR: Devastating Report
D e v a s t a t i n g
Thank you, thank you!
we’re IMPLORING you
I’m pleading

Sep 18
Republicans support Citizens United
— warning —
Petition: No More Shutdowns
please don’t say no
44,000 Koch ads
BREAKING: Republicans protect Citizens United
DISGUSTED
DISGUSTED – I’m disgusted.
We need you
Government shutdown is coming
Shutdowns and wasting money
PETITION: I’m sick of Boehner’s political games
Will you share this for President Obama?
Sep 4
Why we need your support
Petition: End Citizens United
we’ve NEVER failed like this

Aug 31
everything just failed
help: we’re short.*
[* This has proven no handicap to Paul Simon or Tom Cruise.]
sadly
Tea Party “success” = middle class failure – !
I’m begging
We’ve got nothing left 
Tea Party RIDICULOUS attack
Aug 29
ACCEPT DEFEAT
disappointed
We can’t let McConnell win
no time. just read:
Aug 27

Antietam

To quote from the musical Tony-Award® musical “1776”:

Col. Thomas McKean: Surely, we have managed to promote the gloomiest man on this continent to the head of our troops! Those dispatches are the most deprrrr-essing accumulation of disaster, doom and despair in the entire annals of military history! And furthermore…

John Hancock: Colonel McKean, *please!*

Col. Thomas McKean: What?

John Hancock: It’s too hot.

Seriously?  Our motivation is anger over Citizens United? (For politicians, perhaps, but what about cutting food stamps and denying kids Medicaid? What about cutting the deficit in half, about the long, uninterrupted streak of job creation? About the shutdown? About the record number of filibusters? What about the Man That Filibustered Himself? Good lord!)

AND we’re losing, failing, doomed, sorry, begging, disgusted, d i s g u s t e d, etc.?

Antietam

Think of what message THAT is sending.

How about sending ANY message? Focus. K.I.S.S. The mere magickal invocation of “Koch” is not a magical talisman, nor is it a policy panacea. WHAT does that mean?

But worse, that’s just about the ONLY message Democratic politicians seem to be sending:

Koch Brothers + Republican Confederate Candidate = Victory.

Which is JUST as asinine as the GOP’s

Obama + Democratic Candidate = Victory.

With one very significant difference.

The Democrats do not have the advantage of six SEVEN (count ’em) years of Pavlovian Conditioning to despise Obama, many of them spent in Alpha State trance.

And neither approach speaks to what the COUNTRY is upset about at all. Every incumbent runs a ‘safe’ campaign never explaining WHY Obama or the Koch Brothers are wrong. Or what the issues are.

This OUGHT to be the OJ Simpson trial as competent prosecution would have managed it: laying out the endless exhibits that pointed to O.J.s guilt, INCLUDING THE DAMNED BRONCO CHASE.

Good grief.

Courage.

NOTE: The irony that this report of political reptilian-brain conditioning was produced by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal is not lost on this correspondent. There was no hilarious place in the body of the post that could be found, however, to stick it.

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 Mr. Williams has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.