Sunday, August 20, 2006
Morally Correct
"A good story beats dull dry facts," says Republican poll-master Frank Luntz. Despite the Journal's insistence, Bruce Whalen owes no apology to Congresswoman Herseth.
The reality is that the public loves a negative campaign, and dirty tricks are necessary to win.
Tactics linked to Karl Rove have spread to SD: whether alleging a pregnancy (love child), race-bating, biased "polling", potential voter fraud, or the manipulation of legitimate media via paid staff using internet blogs and fake news services and biased "friendly" print sources, this is indeed what it takes to succeed regardless of whether it is a race for dog catcher or significantly higher office.
Political consultants are not hired to be nice, they are hired to win. Whether it's "destroying Daschle's credibility" as Robert Regier threatened, Republican prostitute Jeff Gannon working "alongside" the Thune campaign (who are so charming when they swear in public), or the mysterious "Vote for Daschle and Vote for Sodomy" bumper stickers sent to "friendly" churches.
Even if the Whalen campaign planned to be caught in their craven reprehensible rumor mongering, they subsequently gained greater name recognition via manufactured controversy. It's a winning situation either way. That's how a "moral" campaign has to run.
"A good story beats dull dry facts," says Republican poll-master Frank Luntz. Despite the Journal's insistence, Bruce Whalen owes no apology to Congresswoman Herseth.
The reality is that the public loves a negative campaign, and dirty tricks are necessary to win.
Tactics linked to Karl Rove have spread to SD: whether alleging a pregnancy (love child), race-bating, biased "polling", potential voter fraud, or the manipulation of legitimate media via paid staff using internet blogs and fake news services and biased "friendly" print sources, this is indeed what it takes to succeed regardless of whether it is a race for dog catcher or significantly higher office.
Political consultants are not hired to be nice, they are hired to win. Whether it's "destroying Daschle's credibility" as Robert Regier threatened, Republican prostitute Jeff Gannon working "alongside" the Thune campaign (who are so charming when they swear in public), or the mysterious "Vote for Daschle and Vote for Sodomy" bumper stickers sent to "friendly" churches.
Even if the Whalen campaign planned to be caught in their craven reprehensible rumor mongering, they subsequently gained greater name recognition via manufactured controversy. It's a winning situation either way. That's how a "moral" campaign has to run.
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