New Memes in the Echo Chamber

I ran into an interesting meme from some colleagues at the office. They were upset about how "wrong" it is for Obama to give his acceptance speech at Denver's Mile High Stadium. Unseemly. It should be inside the convention hall and only be open to the delegates.

What the heck?

How in the world do otherwise sensible people develop sense-free opinions like that?

Here's a clue ... they think the smartest two people in the world are Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

Right wing radio sucks the IQ right out of people.

If enough people hear the same nonsense repeated enough it begins to have the ring of truth. Thus the son of a single mother who attended school on scholarships and student loans that he only finished paying off a few years ago is an "elitist" while the multi-millionaire in $500 Ferragamos and a private jet who can't remember how many homes he has is a working class hero.

What next?

Watch for a meme to develop that paints Obama as reckless and impulsive.

Even though Obama's history is clearly of a man who is calm and cool, studied and intelligent, who makes decisions very deliberately and with unusual accuracy.

The classic right wing (Rovian) tactic is to slime your opponent with your own shortcomings and attack their strengths. Thus McCain's well documented short temper, tendency to speak before thinking, and knee jerk reactions will be framed as Obama's faults by the right wing echo chamber. It makes no sense whatsoever, but it will resonate with enough repetition.

UPDATE

As it turns out I was wrong about the new meme - although there have been some attempts to paint the new president as reckless and impulsive, the new meme being pushed is that he is "Other" than normal Americans, in fact he may not even really be an American.