The New Politics
September 5, 2011 - by
Carter was mistaken when he wrote (“A Call From 60 Minutes,” below) that Bob Harris’ authorship of the “where do you stand, Jim” ads in 1984 “has been lost to history.” Actually, I wrote about that in my Hunt book, and Carter was my source.
But that’s not the reason for this post. Nor is that why I’m doing this blog’s third mention of Keep Conservatives United, the superPAC run by Harris and Luther Snyder, TAP’s webmaster. (I’m for anything that divides and disrupts Republicans! But you guys do owe me.)
Here’s the point: What Bob and Luther are doing shows you exactly how politics has changed since 1984.
In 1984, Bob had an idea for an ad. He had to take it to Carter. Carter had to sell the rest of the campaign on it. Only then did it go on the air.
Today – thanks to new media and new campaign-finance laws – Bob can have an idea and put it on the air himself. And have an immediate impact on the campaign: The New York Times has mentioned his anti-Rick Perry ad at least twice, Huffington Post had two posts on it and the Perry campaign attacked the ad, which gave Bob and Luther another fundraising opportunity.
This is democracy in action. Anybody with an idea and a computer can affect American politics.
The New Politics
September 5, 2011/
Carter was mistaken when he wrote (“A Call From 60 Minutes,” below) that Bob Harris’ authorship of the “where do you stand, Jim” ads in 1984 “has been lost to history.” Actually, I wrote about that in my Hunt book, and Carter was my source.
But that’s not the reason for this post. Nor is that why I’m doing this blog’s third mention of Keep Conservatives United, the superPAC run by Harris and Luther Snyder, TAP’s webmaster. (I’m for anything that divides and disrupts Republicans! But you guys do owe me.)
Here’s the point: What Bob and Luther are doing shows you exactly how politics has changed since 1984.
In 1984, Bob had an idea for an ad. He had to take it to Carter. Carter had to sell the rest of the campaign on it. Only then did it go on the air.
Today – thanks to new media and new campaign-finance laws – Bob can have an idea and put it on the air himself. And have an immediate impact on the campaign: The New York Times has mentioned his anti-Rick Perry ad at least twice, Huffington Post had two posts on it and the Perry campaign attacked the ad, which gave Bob and Luther another fundraising opportunity.
This is democracy in action. Anybody with an idea and a computer can affect American politics.