Posted by
JTD on Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:26:03 PM
In his November 1st Town Hall column, "The Spiral of Silence", Wynton Hall improperly defines the Bradley Effect.
( http://townhall.com/columnists/WyntonHall/2008/10/31/obamas_spiral_of_silence)
Since we are going to hear endless prattling from the media about the BE after Obama's vote count falls drastically short of his poll numbers and McCain sweeps to victory, it is important that we get this definition correct.
Named after democrat Los Angeles Mayor Thomas Bradley who lost his race for California governor in 1982 (and again in 1986) after leading comfortably in the polls prior to the election, the BE was the result of people's fear of being characterized as "racist" if they indicated to a pollster that they were intending to vote for Bradley's opponent. Bradley, the minority candidate's, poll numbers were inflated because of the sheer number of undecided or Republican voters who told pollsters they were voting for Bradley rather than risk being judge a racist.
Hall erroneously indicates in his column that the Bradley Effect is the result of actual, latent racism. Again, since the fevered minds of the radical left are going to be screaming "racism" endlessly and vociferously after Obama loses, we simply cannot afford to let the dems define the Bradley Effect.
I predict that the BE in 2008 is going to be far greater than it was in 1982. Today's political climate has been racially hypercharged
by the supposedly post-racial candidate, Obama. Let's not forget that the left has never been faster on the draw when it comes to pulling the racisim trigger than they are today. Recall that Hillary's tears after one of the democrat primaries, were called racist by the Obama camp. Most recently, a liberal loon opined in his column that the word "socialism" was a code word for "Black." Therefore, to call BHO economic policies socialist was racism, pure and simple.
In a campaign where anything and everything can be deemed a "code word" for some other nefarious epithet that must never be uttered in public or private, the fear of being unfairly deemed a racist is greater than ever. Undecided in your vote? Just tell the pollster you're voting Obama, get the clown off the phone and get back to dinner. Leaning toward McCain? Uhoh, do you really want to tell that to this cipher with the clipboard. Just say, "I like Obama" and get on with your shopping. Can't be too careful, nowadays.
So Obama leads in the polls. Big deal. We are going to find out that McCain is ahead in the hearts and minds of the electorate.
Sorry, Barry, old buddy, old pal.......It's not your year. By the way, 2012 is not going to be your year either, my duplicitous friend. By then -- even if you haven't been indicted in the Rezko affair -- all of your carefully hidden little secrets will be public domain, and your carefully crafted simulacrum of substance will be the stuff of farce. You will be nothing more than a bizarre historical footnote! How Sweet It Is!
THE MAELSTROM QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to spend their time looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau