Arianna Mocks GOP Fearmongering Strategy

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It was as strange a sight as one could imagine: Liberal internet publisher Arianna Huffington from the stage of the Beverly Hills Hotel described the marketing tactics John McCain should use in his quest to defeat Barack Obama. The surreal performance was part of a larger session at this week's Madison & Vine conference that explored the campaign advertising strategies of the presidential candidates.

Watch the video here or by clicking the link below.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[schicklett3]

You can bet your bottom dollar that John McCain will use Miss Huffingtons words in his next speech. LOL

[DRaymond]

If I remember it correctly in Al Gore's book The Assault on Reason, he describes that Faith, Fear, and Reason are the Rock, Paper, Scissors of thought. Fear caused people to abandon Reason, Reason questions Faith, and Faith gives comfort against Fear. That does not necessarily mean a religious faith, it can also mean a faith in the goodness of the american people, or a faith in the checks and balances in the constitution.

That is why the fear-based campaigns of the Bush/Rove team have also made a point of assaulting public opinion in the courts (activist judges) and rendering congress into a deadlocked body. It sets up the premise that the executive, him, was the only real protector of the country.

[richardgordon]

That was pretty frightening. Adrianna certainly hit the nail on the head. You can see that the Republicans are doing exactly what she describes. The problem is that there are a lot of dimwitted people who will believe this crap. And yes, the only antidote to this type of negative campaign is to have a campaign with such positive and uplifting message that it makes the Karl Roves look utterly foolish. Which makes me realize what an extraordinary candidate Barrack Obama truly is. There are not many political candidates that can pull off that feat.

[watchingthings]

Such a small percentage of the money blown on Iraq could have done so much to improve infrastructure at home and to provide descent jobs at the same time. In the near future when the power "brownouts" start, I wonder how the Repub's will spin it to make it look like somehow the Democrats are to blame. What about the crumbling bridges?

[danoj]

Sorry to say, but fearmongering, race baiting, and class warfare are tools of both political parties.

[phughez]

Brilliant performance. The problem with the truth is that it has to be negotiated, agreed upon. We may call Karl Rove's tactics "lies, " but until a majority agree, the lies pass for the truth. Rather than argue what he isn't, Obama must continue to argue what he is.

[emstrem]

Kudo's to her. I just hope Obama's strategists take a hint, otherwise it may be Johnny boy as president. It worked for Geo Bush, the American public are sheep, they eat this fear shia up....

[Krikkit]

That's SOOOO 2004, Arianna! Rove never does what is expected he will do.

If I were Karl Rove, I would keep drawing comparisons between Obama and Bush. I would moderate Bush's policies to seem like they favor Obama's positions, and I would take every opportunity through bait-and-switch tactics to make it seem like Obama will continue Bush's policies once he's in the White House. I would undermine the hope message by making it seem to be just the pretty wrapping over top of a neocon core.

Wait! That is EXACTLY what they are doing.

[armadillious2002]

Negotiating with Iran - a time frame for withdrawel from Iraq - A push for biofuels and solar. These are all Obama policies and Rove is stealing them before Obama's policies are widely known so as to neuter his change message. We can still beat rove but we're gonna have to get up and hunt.

[AzRealProgressive]

Orwellian ! Yes, I believe you have the formula.

[cunuck]

Rove is a true Machiavellian - in the full sense of the word.

[drolleen]

Arianna

According to the video the solution is ONLY an inspirational campaign (I am not sure if this was your full answer. The video was cut short).

The Obama campaign and all of his supporters should counter those idiotic fear mongering arguments on every occasion, especially on Fox NEWS!!!! There are too many people in this country that only listen to Fox News.

Where are all those Obama supporters? Busy slamming Obama for not being god. That smells like racism to me.

Instead let Nancy Pellosi, Harry Reid, Hillary and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter do something! They have been too quiet with regards to the continuing slander in Fox News! The other networks may be subtly anti-Obama (see the ABC/ Washington Post poll story), but none are part of the campaign machine that Fox News is.

If Obama supporters don't do that, then, who do we want to decide the fate of the American election campaign? Rupert? An Australian millionaire waco?

[UnbiasView]

The Democrats are above fearmondering (Global Warming) and they would never think of doing anything like that (Globak Warming).

[RatgurlSD]

God forbid they do something so edgy as exploit scientific FACTS!

[UnbiasView]

Really? Watch the movie again and let me know a couple of things:

#1 Does he skew the facts to make it look like this is going to happen a lot faster and a lot more violent than any scientists agree with

#2 Does he use CGI footage from the Hollywood disaster movie "A Day After Tomorrow"

[lovethesinner]

Arriana, darling, you are a genius. You are absolutely correct, the best counter strategy for Obama is INSPIRATION.

Emmet Fox said, "Life is a state of consciousness. Everything in our outer world is a reflection of our inner world."

That's why the McCain campaign is struggling so hard (to the point of being absurd) to paint Obama's trip to Europe as "politics" because they know that when American's here at home see an American being greeted WARMLY, it will be INSPIRATIONAL.

When Americans make the comparison to the images of Bush being mocked in the press, (Daily Mirror headline, "How could so many Americans be so dumb?")

http://www.slate.com/id/2109242/

the game is over. McCain will have only one chance, and fear monger is not really the right word. The word is:

MORAL PANIC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic

But, the problem is, little boy Karl cried wolf so much to get Bush elected in 2004, people are just sick of it. If they stage an event in Iraq, or Afghanistan, the county will suspect its a trick.

Can we keep our EYES ON THE PRIZE, this time. Yes, we can. Because it's OUR time. And, WE are the ones we have been waiting for.

[AzRealProgressive]

Just a thought, since Obama has three news anchors with him, the Brandenburg gate area as a backdrop, and all of the media on his side. With all of this help,

What happens if he loses in November?

How would that be explained?

[cunuck]

Simple. More American stupidity........

[MNCurler]

She was right on- not about the campaign strategy, but rather how Obama really is.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

I expect everything you "know" is coincidentally everything "they" tell you.

[cunuck]

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

The national anthem of the United States of America no longer seems fitting.

The neocons usurped the Republican Executive Branch (mainly due to having a bobble-head as POTUS) then proceeded to instill fear in the people.

What was the majority response? Go shopping on credit and allow King George II to pillage the country and trash your freedoms.

America needs another Oliver Wendell Holmes who added this verse during the Civil War:

When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

[martinchill]

i still watch and enjoy the ol' dave letterman... you folks remember dave letterman?

anyway, i notice that letterman will say to the audience in his monologue, "you folks know john mccain, right? you folks like john mccain?" and then he'll make a joke about mccain's age and move on.

(sorry, no pun intended)

and what i've noticed is that the audience does like mccain. and i think that his audience is fairly representative. tourists from everywhere.

arianna is right - they will be spending a lot of money telling the country that obama is a boogeyman - pun definitely intended.

[milo9]

Madam Arriana, you're hot, I'm hot, we're the same vintage, lets get together!

[orangepetal]

Fearmongering as in we have real enemies as opposed to imagined ones.
PUMA

[RaraAvis17]

We can thank Boosh for that...over and over we can thank Boosh for that.

[cunuck]

Since when is irrational fear the proper response to an enemy?

BTW, the greatest enemy to America comes from within the country itself.

Here is the "sleeper cell" that you have all been warned of by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

This is the neocon endgame for America:
http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/BBC_Why_We_Fight_339_2006.php