MEMORY RULES! | 2004-03-13
Politicians don't lie to other big-league politicians because they are dealing with adults. They will treat the public with contempt as long as the public keeps up its political amnesia.
And the proof of the pudding is that we keep electing them.
That's why the titles of so many WhitakerOnline articles start with "A Man With A Memory Looks at ...."
If you are sending frantic e-mails out about Iraq or the Ten Commandments or homosexual marriage or how Kerry's feet stink, you don't matter. Those issues were were settled many years ago in quiet little precedents that were set while you were frantically forwarding e-mails about the Clinton scandals or whatever the big thing was at the moment.
Iraq may be as big a deal to you today as Vietnam was to conservatives in 1968. But the war that counts is not in Iraq and the issue that counts today is not the sellout in Iraq. The sellout in Iraq was being set up while conservatives were trying to show that Bill Clinton was a meanie and his feet stank.
Lots of people vote but very few matter. You would be astonished to learn who they are. They are the people with a memory. By the time conservatives start sending out their frantic e-mails, the pros have already set the precedents and moved on.
I know. Setting those precedents was my specialty. When I needed them to help me with these critical matters, all those conservative activists were frantically talking about whatever the buzz was at the moment.
My little first book alone, which only sold one or two thousand copies, had more long-term effect on public policy than most professional politicians have in their lifetimes. Within a month after it came out, the head of the staff of the Speaker of the House was placing bets based on it with the staff heads for the Republicans.
My first book got recommendations from the Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus and others. These left-wingers recommended that people buy and read it despite the fact that it was a worst seller.
Why on earth would the flagship publications of the left-wing publishing industry give so much attention to a hard right book that didn't sell? They did it because they are professionals. This book was important. What sounds to you like Bob Whitaker bragging was something they recognized instantly as a fact of real life in big-league politics.
I dedicated my life to having a real influence on public policy, not to fame or money or book sales. That book was an accomplishment. My new book is in the same vein. Help me a little on that and it will go a long way.
I personally saved the Hubble Telescope while other people were worrying about The Issue of the Day in 1977.
I have a memory. That makes me a power player.
If you don't have a memory, you are just one more baby rattle.