Quote of the Day

“Earlier today Herman Cain rejected calls that he should withdraw from the race. He said, ‘It ain’t gonna happen!’ That’s what he said. Ironically, that’s what women say to him when he’d put his hand up their skirt.” –Jay Leno

The Success of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street has concentrated far more on calling attention to the record degree of income inequality in recent years and how the system is rigged to promote the interests of the ultra-wealthy. When viewed from the perspective as to accomplishing this goal, Ben Smith demonstrates that they have been successful:

Whatever the objectives of protesters involved in Occupy Wall Street, they have succeeded in engaging the country in a conversation about income inequality.

A quick search of the news–including print articles, web stories and broadcast transcripts–via Nexis reveals a significant rise in the use of the term “income inequality,” from less than 91 instances in the week before the occupation started to almost 500 instances last week.

The significance of this is enhanced by the fact that a conservative media outlet such as Politico is pointing this out. (This is one of the ways in which the more legitimate conservative media outlets differ from Fox, which goes beyond just having ideological leanings to more consistently distorting the news to promote their ideological goals.)

They have been successful in raising the issue, and changing the economic debate from based solely on spending cuts. It remains to be seen whether Occupy Wall Street will have any impact on promoting policies or influencing elections–goals which so far they have shown no interest in pursuing.