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Most conservatives in America seem to live in an echo chamber. They wake up in the morning and watch Fox News while they get ready for work. On the way to work they listen to Rush/Beck/some conservative radio hack, and all day at work they peruse the Wall St. Journal, National Review, Townhall, etc. for news. Then they listen to conservative radio on the way home and watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity before bed. It creates this echo chamber and it doesn't help that most conservative media people seem content to lie to their viewers/readers/listeners and tell them what they want to hear.
My mother in law is pretty much the person I described above and she was SHOCKED that Obama won. Most people at work live in the echo chamber and they couldn't believe Obama was reelected. They live in this bubble that never allowed for any possibility except a Reagan-esque landslide into the WH by their candidate.
My M-I-L is exactly the same.
She too was completely and totally convinced that Romney would win. She likes to drop snarky little comments about the President all the time (which I know she is parroting from Fox News because that is the ONLY news channel she watches) - when I suggest any kind of alternative viewpoint she goes into epic sulks.
I find it extremely difficult to stay tuned into Fox for longer than a few minutes. Because I read and go to various sources for current events and information, Fox's brand of spinning is hard to listen to in its extreme bias and rewriting of the facts. My jaw drops when they insist on conveying something that has already been debunked. For instance, last night creepy Coulter said and I paraphrase, "We all know that the economy is not improving, blah, blah, blah". No Ms. Coulter, the economy is improving, the indicators prove it and the only ones that don't know that, are the ones that listen to you and tune into Fox. What is it that makes people stick with Fox for info? You can tell by these threads and posts by the right wing that they are relying on the propaganda to educate themselves.
Most conservatives? Do you have any proof that this describes the day of most conservatives? Or are you simply lying? I think we both know the answer to that don't we?
Were we living in a bubble two years ago when the Republicans absolutely slaughtered the Democrats in the mid-term elections?
Were we living in a bubble 5 months ago when Public Union Busting Republican Scott Walker slaughtered his Democratic rival in the highly anticipated Wisconsin recall election?
Don't embarrass yourself by trying to answer these questions.
Yes you were living a bubble and you continue to persist in that bubble. At the national level the GOP has been routed twice and this election was never going to be all that close yet many conservatives were convinced it was going to be very close because their media told them so. And as election day neared, despite the rather obvious evidence to the contrary, the right wing started to predict with great glee a Reagan-esque landslide for Romney. This was an election were the incumbent normally loses or just barely squeaks by yet the election was called for Obama by 11 PM EST.
Yes you "slaughtered the Democrats" in the mid-term elections but all that means is that red states got more red and you hold all of, or almost all of, the Representatives from the deep south, and states like Texas, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, North and South Dakota, Indiana, West Virgina, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc. or the the Republican base states. As it is holding on the House is probably the least impressive showing for a party if they're trying to claim national dominance. Yet to hear Republicans talk leading up the election you would have thought they had over 400 seats in the House and they were reading to get a super Majority in the Senate and usher in Romney like he was Reagan circa 1980.
There are many things working against the GOP but most Republicans, and many conservatives, are blind to it because the echo chamber keeps assuring them that nothing is wrong with them, it's the "47%" who have the problem. Yet the demographics of the country are turning against the GOP, the country is becoming more socially liberal, the country is becoming less religious, and people are tiring of the War Machine, etc.
I think this video aptly demonstrates what kind of bubble the conservative media have put their viewers in...Especially loved how the woman in the video talked about integrity, wonder if she even knows what that means. Maybe if Romney stuck to his principles from way back when he was a governor, he probably wouldn't be the loser right now. But no, he made his bed with the teabaggers and he can lie in it.
Not surprising. It is all a big positive feedback loop. Low intelligence and lack of curiosity tends to steer people to nonchallenging media, where the whole thing is set up to make them FEEL smart, rather than to challenge and inform them. Then, the media itself keeps ratings up by turning current events into a big football game and they are the cheer leaders. I hate this explosion of partisan media. It is a terrible thing for our country.
Interesting to me was the fact the the Fox polls were really not very bad. They frequently charted the race just fine. However, all the braying asses just could not accept the reality without spinning it for Romney.
This was exactly what happened with MSNBC during the Wisconsin Recall. For weeks it was nothing but "When Walker is kicked out" and "When the Dems take back the Wisconsin House". To say that this opinion was shared by the liberal loonies on this board would be a gross understatement. The look of shock on the faces of Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, et al when the returns came in was hoot.
Of course the Atlantic didn't feel the need to write an article about that one.
The difference is: Fox has how many times as many viewers? I'm fully aware that MSNBC is just a mirror image of Fox on the liberal side. However, I know very few liberals who watch take MSNBC serously. MSNBC and Fox are basically politics as team sports "horay for my team!" Fox News isn't even trying to hide it anymore..every person on the air uses the term "we" to refer to the GOP now, even the guys who are supposed to be the "journalists". The problem is that many GOP supporters actually BELIEVE that Fox is "Fair and Balanced". It's hard to believe, but true. That's why their worlds are being rocked by this result.
I know far more liberals who follow a combination of NPR, Pacifica, and other news sources.
It's pretty simple, if your shocked at the results of the current election your sipping to much of the hannity, rush, dick Morris, kool aid.
It shouldn't have come as any surprise
Yep, according to Nate Silver, the final rankings mirror what they were back in June. The summer, with the 47%, conventions, and debates, Sandy,etc. added some great drama, but numbers reverted back to the mean.
Problem with many conservatives is they are delusional. It's one thing to hope for a narrow victory, it's quite another to deny reality to the extent that many were predicting a Romney landslide. Do they not understand math? But then again, what do you expect from people who ignore math and science, who deny climate change, evolution, etc?
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