You Can't Fool All the People All the Time
Truth appears to be on an extended holiday, but with about fifty days left in this election cycle, this isn't the time for handwringing.
What's the best strategy when your opponent lies? It's not a simple question. The obvious move is to call them on it, but analyses of viewers reveals that "he said, she said" arguments leave observers confused and apathetic. "There they go again," seems to be the reaction, and they tune out the substance of the debate. This hurts us a lot more than them, because we need the electorate to focus on substance; they need them to focus on nonsense.
It helps if there's a referee to cry foul when the lies are proffered, but the media has been inconsistent at best, compelled to feign "balance" even when doing so means implicitly endorsing the lies.
Like this Wednesday AM, when I made the mistake of turning on CNN, where I witnessed a series of intense arguments and interviews about lipstick-gate, including the clip from the speech in which Obama made the lipstick comment, with not a hint, of course, of what the speech was about.
Let's just pause for a moment here and look at this moment under a microscope. It is one of the best examples of Rovian politics I've ever witnessed. This is the sentence in question--the one that ended with the "lipstick on a pig" comment:
"John McCain says he's about change too. And so I guess his whole angle is: 'Watch out, George Bush. Except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics, we're really going to shake things up in Washington!'"
Now, it's clear that the McCain strategy has shifted from stressing "experience" and "country first"--both causalities of his choice of Palin for his running mate--to the old Rovian move of hitting your opponent where he's strongest, in this case co-opting Obama's message of change (re Kerry, they swift-boated his military cred, which should have been his critical advantage over GW Bush's chicken-hawk military "career").
Of course, the McCain agenda unequivocally contradicts their new message, which was Obama's point, but the opposition managed to completely avoid that part of the debate, while their dupes in the news media amplified their message by focusing exclusively on the lipstick smear. They took a potent attack on the hypocrisy of their agenda--McCain/Palin's plans on the war and the economy are, if anything, Bush on steroids (more war, no timetables, far more tax cuts for the wealthiest than even Bush has dared to propose)--and turned it to their advantage.
So how do you beat these folks? At times it seems like we're fighting the bad guys in a science fiction movie: "resistance is futile." But I don't think it is. In fact, I think they've exposed a weak flank, and while it's a race against time, the stakes are so high that we've got no choice but to devote all of our energies to establishing this simple meme:
They're telling lies, and liars make fatal leaders. I don't just mean fatal in terms of fiscal recklessness and more economic failure. I mean fatal in terms of decisions that could cost people their lives. Sound familiar?
It may also sound over the top, and there are caveats that I'll stress in a moment, but it's true. Krugman had this exactly right the other day:
"...the deceptive and dishonest 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign provided an all-too-revealing preview of things to come. In fact, my early suspicion that we were being misled about the threat from Iraq came from the way the political tactics being used to sell the war resembled the tactics that had earlier been used to sell the Bush tax cuts.
And now the team that hopes to form the next administration is running a campaign that makes Bush-Cheney 2000 look like something out of a civics class..."
Palin didn't say "thanks, but no thanks" re the bridge to nowhere. Her state got and spent the federal money. On this point, the media's been pretty good, but she keeps repeating her mantra. Obama's tax plan provides a larger break to the middle class than McCain's--about $1,100 vs. $300--the polar opposite of what the McCain folks keep saying. Obama didn't promote sex-ed for kindergarteners. McCain's campaign is run by the very lobbyists he consistently inveighs against; Palin's aggressively and effectively pursued Congressional earmarks.
We all know presidential politics are a nasty business, but they've taken it to another level. The untruths we're used to are conceptual, fuzzier, more ambiguous, stuff you can't easily prove or disprove, like, "we'll pay for our tax cuts by cutting spending (and don't worry, we'll only cut the wasteful stuff that nobody outside of a few crooks really wants)." Or "by cutting taxes on the wealthy, we will free the invisible hand and unleash untold riches that will trickle down to all." Or the stuff about victory in Iraq, whatever that is.
The McCain squad touts this stuff too, of course, and we can and do have good arguments over their validity. But the lies they're telling now are different. As Krugman said, they're "making assertions that anyone with an Internet connection can disprove in a minute, and repeating these assertions over and over again."
(The caveat I mentioned is that they're not all lying. Doug Holtz-Eakin, a leading McCain economic advisor and an acquaintance/fellow traveler for whom I've always had great respect, has a history of speaking truth to power. I suspect he's not too comfortable with a lot of the stuff he has to sell these days...see here for an example of what I mean.)
So why is resistance not futile? Because the lies could form their campaign and candidates' persona, and that could hurt them big-time. It's becoming a negative, mainstream theme. Jay Leno's making fun of it. The mainstream media is starting to come around. Obama's team is hitting back harder. You really can't fool all the people all the time.
The lying persona could become their 'Dukakis in the tank,' Papa Bush at the scanner, Kerry's "I voted for it before I voted against it"--the meme that defines a deep and fundamental weakness that reaches voters in their guts and just gives them a bad feeling about this ticket.
And given the last eight years, that may be enough to tip the scales. Not, of course, with the evangelicals allegedly charged up by the Palin pick, but with the independents in the swing states who will likely decide the outcome. They may be unfamiliar with someone like Obama, or too familiar with someone like Biden, or unable to sort through the fog of misinformation to assess with any clarity the campaigns' positions on the issues that matter to them. But if the truth about these naked lies is out there in a palatable way, they'll know they're being lied to, and they won't like it.
And then, they can honestly use that phrase that's been so misleading repeated over the last couple of weeks:
McCain/Palin? Thanks, But No Thanks.
Hey, that might be a neat bumper sticker, no?
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
McCain has made a calculate decision about the mainstream media, which has paid off for him thus far.
see
http://kou
maybe we all need to remember this quote from Abraham Lincoln
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
Old Honest Abe never watched TV or met Karl Rove.....
True, he didn't. On the other hand, I never expected to see Karl Rove tell anyone ELSE they'd "gone too far." It may have been meant more as a reproach for telling sloppy lies than for lying in general. But it was a telling moment. I mean, the crown prince of sleazy liars is reproaching the Republican candidate for president he's dishonest! That's gotta be a breach in the Republican code of protecting their own!
All the attention now being paid to the McCain ads and their distortions does give me heart. The sight of a McCain staffer having their feet held to the fire on FOX NEWS of all places, is also encouraging. And I LOVED watching McCain get nailed on The View last Friday. I pray the tide is turning back against McCain/Palin. They would make 2001-08 look like "The Good Old Days."
I think history has proven, particularly in regards to presidential politics, that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time.
and the lies will continue. Palin is sounding like a Democrat during her speeches today. UGH! She does not look as comfortable as she did during her debut.
Problem is you can fool most of the people most of the time.
And you can fool 29% of them 100% of the time -- the percentage that STILL sees Bush as having some competence. McCain figures the bar is sitting on the ground -- hence his selection of Sarah Palin.
What does this say about our education system? REALLY, I would like to know! How can so many people believe McCain/Palin's line of crap? How can so many of the so called poor, white, low information voters - VOTE against their own interest? How ignorant is that? I just want to shake them & yes I'm getting to the point of wanting to knock some sense into them! But alas I won't because I don't want to sink to their level, but it doesn't hurt thinking about does it?
On Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times published a letter from one of John McCain's cousins. It read, in part:
"A part of me is made very sad to write this article. As I've said, my family has followed John's life and career with no absence of pride. If there ever were a Republican we might consider voting for, it would have been my cousin John.
"But, as he continually demonstrates in this campaign, my cousin John is long gone. "Straight talk" has been replaced with "flip-flop
"My parents, John, need some help after the economic destruction Bush has wrought in the last eight years, but it's clear you're not the one who'll give it to us. America's working families no longer recognize you, nor does your own."
it was signed by Adam Vaulx Boles
BUSH ON STEROIDS should be the new sound bite of the Obama campaign:
"McCain/Palin's plans on the war and the economy are, if anything, Bush on steroids (more war, no timetables, far more tax cuts for the wealthiest than even Bush has dared to propose)..
McCain put politics ahead of country when he choose a know nothing woman to be his vice president. After all her extent of foreign policy is that she can see Russia from Alaska. She wants to overturn Roe vs Wade, she stole from the US people when she accepted the money for the road to nowhere rather than do the right thing and return it to the government to be used for something more important. Look at our economy???? How made can it get.....I guess we will see if McCain/Palin's lies are believed by the American people. I too blame the press, the radio talk shows almost all which are owned by conservative corporations. They are letting the lies go on and on. All I can say is God will have to bless America if McCain and Palin are elected. Four more years of lies and deception are just what we need to further destroy what's left of our economy and woman's rights. America,,,wake up.
Fool me once......
yeah... thats it.... Bush gets all mad when he cant figure out the saying.... like You cant fool me! twice.
... but its that first time thats significan
Besides doesnt it only take like a laser pen to distract him and make him chase it?
FAUXED OUT NEWS is the most b!ased and unfa!r and rac!al channel that ever existed. CBS is closely in 2nd place...
ABC has been running all those "Two Mavericks" pro McCain/Palin ads during the evening newscasts for the past two weeks.
But YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME, and therein lies the real dilemma.
The way to stand up to bullies, liars and narcissists is to IGNORE THEM, WALK AWAY FROM THEM, DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY ATTENTION! Narcissists thrive on attention. They are notorious liars. They are also adept at hardball as they will do anything to WIN. They are in domination mode 24/7. The only way to deal with them is to laugh and scoff at their ideas.....
Another way to deal with bullies is to, in the words of my father, pop 'em in the nose. Once they see blood, they'll go home crying to their abusive parents.
how about:
WHAT OBAMA SAID:
PIG = CONTINUE BUSH POLICIES
LIPSTICK = CALLING CONTINUATION OF BUSH POLICIES "CHANGE"
TRUTH: YOU'VE BEEN LIED TO A LOT IN THE LAST 7 1/2 YEARS. DON'T GIVE UP!
MSNBC is now stating that Obama lie when he stated that McCain wanted our soliders to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but it's true McCain said it:
http://www
HOW MANY LIVES HAVE TO BE LOST AT THE HANDS OF THE REPUBLICANS?
it's Monday. Has the left figured out yet that the attacks and smears on Palin do not help them? It seems a little calmed down today., focusing on the economy.
McCain 50%, Obama 47& Rasmussen over the weekend.
RealClearPolitics has it McCAin by 2 and trending down slightly..
Wow! So McCain's lead shrunk! Yippee! What kinds of smears are you referring to? Nothing (aside from Republican trolls and rumormongers) Barack and Joe have said about McCain/Palin can be refuted.
Tell us about that bridge again MPCarr.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
