First, I completely agree with your point about McCain being reckless and risky in his decision making. Palin is a perfect example. Discussions about her should focus on what her selection implies about his stability. In general though, attacking her is a slippery slope that causes problems for Obama. He should really avoid the subject and get back to his message. McCain represents a third term of Bush's failed policies. Americans have lost access to jobs, money, education, and health care under these policies. We need a change.
Its important to stay on message. Marketing professionals say that, “when you are tired of saying something, the message is just starting to get through.”
Its also important to remember that while to individuals can have a dialog about logical complexities. There are a lot of reasons why median voters seem shallow and fickle.
As a collective, we lose the ability to see the subtleties you outline. It can even be argued that median and undecided voters in particular are not less decisive. They are simply less informed (willfully or accidentally). My favorite example of an undecided voter is a nun I talked to. She strongly favors democrats on social issues, but strongly opposes democrats on abortion. All other issues were of low importance to her. In the end, In the end, everything important is a tie and the tie will be called by a coin toss or a feeling.
Bill Maher said, “The people are too stupid to be governed … How do you explain complex situations? … The public is like a dog. It can only understand inflection. It cannot understand any rational argument.”
Given these things, it’s a mistake to underestimate the median voter’s likelihood to miss the subtleties you outline.
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