Lakhota
Diamond Member
By Amanda Marcotte
In the two years between the 2008 election and the 2010 election, it seemed that the American right--especially the paranoid far right--really owned the moment. The invention of the Tea Party, the escalating influence of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, the Republican electoral sweeps of 2010: it all seemed like the rights decades-long project of amassing power had reached new heights.
But now, less than a year after the 2010 elections, the right-wing is losing its ability to dominate the media's attention. Hardline conservatives struggle to find a candidate to go up against Barack Obama in 2012. Sarah Palin gets booed in public. Tea Party numbers are dwindling and now the group is ranking amongst the least popular groups in the country. Meanwhile, Occupy Wall Street has surged forward both in public consciousness and in popularity. The right-wing response to Occupy Wall St. has been limp and incoherent, mainly centered around spreading urban legends about dirty hippies and avoiding any substantive engagement.
How did the right-wing lose hold of the narrative? Here are four reasons it has been unsuccessful (so far) in steering and reframing the discourse surrounding OWS and the movement's focus on the injustice of the 1%'s dominance of our economy and politics.
More: 4 Reasons the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine Has Failed to Destroy OWS | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet