Those of you that read my occasional diaries know one thing: I usually spot trends way ahead of others (my advice to get out of the Stock Market in December of 2007, when the Dow was above 14,000, is a good example of this).
I've spotted a new trend. It's how the [f]right[ened] wing is trying to stop people from wanting to donate to Rob Miller.
Claim it's just throwing good money after bad.
All the links, below the fold.
First of all, the psychology: if the opposition convince the side you're on that your cause is a lost cause, it throws up mental roadblocks. It's not the major route of attack, but it is one method of many to dissuade many from giving. It's a turn on The Ultimatum Game, where people are shown not to be rational when it comes to extrapolating whether giving money is a good or a bad thing. In this case, we've got concrete proof that Joe Wilson screamed "you lie" at something that wasn't a lie. So donations pour in to Miller. but what if you're told that Miller will just use that money to pay a previous debt? What if you're told that it won't go to battle Wilson at all, but will just pay off a failed past battle?
Now you see the psychology.
The first proof shows that this FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) tactic comes right from the top. From the head of the Republican Party himself...
11:13 pm September 11, 2009
VirginiaJeff wrote:
Looks like Limbaugh’s guarentee that Wilson would get more contributions than Miller turned out to be … as wrong as everything else he says. Wilson’s up to $750,000 — but Miller has cruised right on over the $1 million mark. Limbaugh was wrong about something else: the contributions to Miller’s campaign have done MUCH more than merely retire Miller’s debt. Congratulations to a veteran of the Iraq War.
Rush Limbaugh. On 9/11. Said that Rob Miller was in debt. So how much is this 'debt' that Google has absolutely no record of? Here's where the digging starts.
Soon after Limbaugh's show ended, the smear started.
enoxo 2009-09-11 04:37:59 PM
The guy was over $400,000 in debt from the last failed campaign.
Good job retiring his debt!
So the current total, more than double that, would eliminate any question of this 'debt' that only [f]right[ened] wingers seem to know about. To today's Fark, where a [f]right[ened] winger posts this as Miller's donations now total nearly $900,000...
SkinnyHead 2009-09-12 01:19:42 AM
Isn't Miller 1.3 million dollars in debt? Is the money he's getting from libs going to be used against Wilson, or is it going to retire Miller's massive debt?
The Republican Party and its supporters are so bankrupt in debate, so starved for ideas of their own, their only hope is to lie to defend their lie.
What pathetic assholes. So what can you do to combat this?
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO MILLER'S CAMPAIGN. Break the million dollar mark.
I tried calling Rob Miller on his 843 area code number, but it's always busy. Can someone get the word to him, so he can incorporate this into his arsenal? If he has scared the [f]right[ened] wing so much that Rush and his Dittoheads are spreading these lies about him, we must be doing something right.
UPDATE - thanks to the early commenters that pointed us all in the direction of how much Miller's 2008 campaign debt was. Here's the link.