Hold on to your light-sabers, young Jedi apprentices
By Jim Dallas
Political Wire reminds us that negative campaigning requires some skill and wisdom:
Ask these questions before launching a political attack:
1. Have you established enough credibility?
2. Is your candidate guilty of the same thing?
3. Can you confirm the accusation?
4. Is it believable?
5. Will anyone care?
6. Do you know why your opponent did it?
7. Was the evidence obtained legally?
I recently had a conversation with some Britons about the terribly-genteel quality of their politics, and got dinged about a certain rumor you may or may not have heard (::cough::) on the Burnt Orange Report some time ago. Apparently we broke one of the rules listed above (without even trying, since we were reporting, not campaigning.)
The smear, it seems, is a weapon to be used by the ninja, not the kamikaze.
Posted by Jim Dallas at May 7, 2005 08:09 AM
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These are valid rules, but they are hardly ever obeyed in contemporary campaigns, especially "end justifies means" Republican campaigns.
Two examples: the Swift Boat from Hell attacks on John Kerry in 2004; the Perry 2002 attack ad on Tony Sanchez accusing Sanchez of having a role in the murder of a DEA agent.
Neither were true. Neither were, in the end, believable. But they leave a negative emotional residue that is very effective in demoralizing on-the-fense support of the attackee.
Press backlash, when it happens, is always ineffective because paid advertising is so much more persuasive to a mass audience that barely-read newspaper "truth tests" of the ad.
