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?

Comments

[Nofuzzydreams]

Looking at the RCP electoral college map, all McCain has to do is to win NV, CO, OH and VA with NH to spare. Chances are much better than 50-50 that he will win those because Obama has peaked in all these places. There you have it!! Country saved from a wealth-distributing, inexperienced snake-oil salesman!!

[LeftRight]

And destroyed by a wealth distributing (in the OTHER direction!) inexperienced snake-oil salesman!

[mairs]

Wealth has been redistributed for 8 years. Even though our productivity has increased, the income of the middle class has decreased while the income of the 1% has increased many-fold. So I take it you want to continue the erosion of middle class income? You talk about Obama redistributing wealth, but it's been going for years now.

[LeftRight]

It's been going on for FAR longer than 8 years. In the 50s-60s there was a slight redistribution of wealth from the wealthy to the poor. in the 80s, there was a MASSIVE redistribution from the poor to the wealthy. In the 90s it was pretty slowly towards the poor. and now it's back to the wealthy, only at a larger rate than under raygun!

[ebanks84]

We need people to use their COMMON SENSE, that's all. We have been "dumbed down" by our government for so many years that we are at the point of being able to accept anything, no matter how low it goes.

Lying doesn't seem to have any effect on people anymore. We don't seem to give it the proper status it deserves. Lying today is almost like saying "Ok, so he lied", and that attitude has lowered our moral authority.

We should be thoroughly outraged at a presidential candidate lying to us, period. And we're not! We should be thoroughly appalled at the idea that a Vice Presidential candidate is NOT smarter than the average Joe. And we're not!

That's telling us that we have lowered our standards for the highest office in the country to a point where a bum off the street could be president if he can get people to believe him. The candidacy seems to have lost some respect and value by most people because we have been brainwashed into thinking it's not that important to be intelligent any longer. You should just have a "winning" personality, a great look, and a grade from college that is not failing.

That's all it takes people. Anybody can do it, according to what the republicans are telling us. But, let's wake up and realize that lies should not be in our White House. It's time for a thorough house cleaning to get the old stale lies completely out!

[whit4brains]

You have to have common sense to actually use it. I believe that is the problem.

[GOOSEY2]

we all know now what a notorious liar mccain is. remember all of his lies about flight training, POW days,marital affairs etc. he has a very good reason for his love affair with the viet nam government. he has agood reason for rebuffing POW families. lying and deception is not a new skill for him. Un fortunately the chummy reporters and media types have been covering for him for many years.

[Ged2012]

The problem is that there are millions of Americans out there who want to be fooled, who do not want to know the truth. They are in high spirits, very much like the Rapture they frequently talk about. Every scrutiny against Palin is shut out of their system. They'd rather believe in their own version of truth. And they are willing to sacrifice this country for their hard-core beliefs.

[Nofuzzydreams]

We all believe in our version of the truth and so do you. Tell me your version whatever it is and I will poke 100 holes in it. The only people who think they know the truth are eliti*ts who think they know it all or com*uni*ts who think they can use the absolute truth to dictate policy through central planning.

[pacodog]

Truth is not a right or left issue. If you stick with ideaology only, i.e I will only vote for one party despite the facts that tell me that they will hurt me, you end up with the worst common denominator. Did you ever ask yourself how Germany ended up with a Hitler? If facts do not matter to you and you only want to believe a party's propanganda machine, then you would also love China.

[LeftRight]

Or those who claim to know the truth about certain things, such as that sarah moose-olini was for the bridge to nowhere until Congress cut funding for it. Or the fact that mcbush has lied in EVERY single commercial he's come out with in the last month. Or the fact that your "truth" is based on nothing more than opinion, whereas our "truth" is based on fact!!!

The truth of the matter is that mcbush and moose-olini would be DISASTROUS for this country, unless you're in the upper 1%, and eventually even THEY will suffer from the destruction of the country!

Truth doesn't mean anything, huh?

[waverly]

The Republican party caters to the true elitists (power and wealth) who own 98% of the wealth in USA. Voting them back in is voting against your future, your family's future and the future of the USA. We are a democracy not a plutocracy. You are creating a plutocracy by voting Republican. Do your research.

[LiberalProfessor]

I know all to well. Sadly, I have one as a father-in-law. The other day, when asked what it would take for him to vote against the Repub. ticket, he said he "cannot be reformed."

It is just that kind of (non) thinking that is the problem, "my ideology matters more than facts." So, given his income, he is willing to borrow money and bankrupt the country for his tax cut, but a tax cut for his daughter and granddaughter... that can wait.

There are lots of them. I never in my life thought I would have one so close. And for them, really, there is no hope.

The only thing we can do is vote in higher numbers, and wait for them to die off.

[sunny4]

I remember when Bush had privatizing social security in mind, I remember the McCain -kennedy bill last year, when McCain pushed harder for amnesty than Kennedy. So if the republicans get in, guess whos goinhg to have to pay for all this in money and in jobs. He also stated in his convention speech, this is for all the states whose jobs have left, more free trade, do you people not understand or what!

[WFV]

My bumper sticker would just say 'no thanks'. There is nothing on this earth that would make me cast a vote for this vile duo.

[momof3inGA]

Love the idea of the bumper sticker!

The Obama Campaign is doing a terrific job lately of allowing their top spokeswomen to speak on the campaign's behalf during media interviews and press releases. Anita Dunn's press release after the fake lipstick controversy was the strongest and most succinct I've ever seen from the campaign.

Linda Douglas always does such a terrific job on GMA.

Interesting how cable news rarely invites female surrogates from the campaign to speak. Normally, they hand-pick weak "Democratic Strategists". Lame MSM.

[PumaAnn]

The problem is that I saw the headline in AP that Pal was going to war with Russia and then watched the entire clip, with all of the truly relevant answer left on the editing floor.

Then, I hear the O surrogates backing the edited, wrong version.

And then I hear O saying that they are lying.

And I see that Dem surrogates are lying.

Frankly, voters aren't as stupid as the politicians think we are.

[GrainOSand]

You do not like Mr. Obama, do you? Has he done anything in his miserable life that is worthy of acknowledgement. I know he is an empty suit that wants to put America in the poor house just as soon as we leave the outhouse of George Bush's policies.

What will you do if he wins? I hope you are not emotionally invested because that could prove unhealthy as well as unwise. I respect your dissent but I do not understand it. I read your comments and it is as if you are talking about someone else other than Mr. Obama. He is not a messiah or in any way perfect but he is a far cry from inept, which we have now, and he is miles away from maniacal, which is what a John McCain presidency promises.

Best of luck to whomever you back. I say the best of luck to America should that person win and they are not named Obama.


As for voter stupidity, look at the numbers for FOX News and come again.

[avraamjack]

Jared,
.
I am surprised that I have not seen any comment on the inadequacy of Obama'a ads.
.
The problem is that Obama is not spelling it out.
.
Obama should label his opponents as the "WAR, RECESSION and BANKRUPTCY" party.
.
Many people still sort of like Bush on a personal level so calling McCain another Bush does not hurt that much. Most Americans do not really understand the lobbyist problem so that attack has a limited advantage.
.
You have to spell it out.
.
Democrats are the PEACE , PROSPERITY and SAFETY party. Republicans are the WAR, RECESSION, BANKRUPTCY and JAIL YOUR DAUGHTER FOR GETTING AN ABORTION party. That is the choice which must be presented.
.
Failing to control the terms of the debate means failing the debate.
.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:26 PM on 09/14/2008

[daddysboy]

This is totally wishful thinking. The lies have become bolder and bolder because as the waters are tested it has become even clearer that the American people are not paying attention whatsoever. Look for these lies to increase in intensity and in their lack of any connection to reality. Look for the American people to buy them hook, line and sinker and vote for mccain in the end. bush and company have been nothing but lies from the very beginning and the American people have had 7-8 long years to figure this out. That many still have not says everything about what will happen in the fall.

[LiberalProfessor]

Good point...

If a woman stays in an abusive relationship for 8 years... what makes any one of the neighbors think that "this time" when she gets hit, it will be "the time" she finally calls it quits and tells the cops.

Sadly, Republicans have the mentality of abused wives. they don't even know, or care, that they are being lied to and their country looted. Are the gays in the back of the bus? Is there a WAR ON!? ... Then we still look tough, and everything's cool.

And nevermind the forclosures...

[kentuck]

To be honest, they don't care what you think. They have said as much. They are running to "win". So, how best to counter that strategy?

It is not good enough to simply call your opponent a liar when they tell their supporters that it is you that are lying. What must be done is to change the debate. John McCain and Barack must be challenged to talk about issues that are important to the American people. We all know what those are.

Then, if either refuses, then that is what they must be called out on - not the lying - but the refusal to talk about the issues. Each should be given three strikes to get in line. Otherwise, the story will be about how they refused to discuss what was important and made the decision to stay negative. That is the story that voters will need to hear. That is a different debate than simply saying, "he s lyiing".

[GrainOSand]

Vote your conscience vote your race
Vote your gender make your case
However, do not surrender to what is base
A storm is rising we have not time to waste

John McCain is Americas’ future face
Idiocy causing loyalties to be misplaced

Vote your conscience vote your race
Vote your gender make your case
However, do not surrender to what is base
A storm is rising we have not time to waste

Gimmick, sideshow, bigots and sexists exposed
From the south a warm wind blows and water rises
VP choices in the dark may bring October surprises
Process of VP selection revealing who is wisest

Vote your conscience vote your race
Vote your gender make your case
However, do not surrender to what is base
A storm is rising we have not time to waste

Deep investment, emotion all tied up in it
You say your candidate must and will win it
Watch the frantic headlong trek to the finish

Dogs will try to eat dog but that is how big bad dogs fall
Chasing tails and catching hell watch as the tail wags the dog
Hounds of divide, oh how they connive, oh how they bawl
Canine lies, blood on fangs, fleas and mange, and bloody claws
No honor, no pride, attacks meant to deride, reveal moral flaws

Vote your conscience vote your race
Vote your gender make your case
However, do not surrender to what is base
A storm is rising we have not time to waste

[GoodDay]

What Obama needs, and needs quickly, is a high-level spokeswoman. Can't the Huffington Post communicate this to Obama? Without a female spokesperson, the Obama campaign is sunk.

[ebanks84]

Yeah, because the ones he have at present are too weak to make a concerned point.

[Blivet]

Good strategy, but it has to be one without a lot of excess baggage.

[sunny4]

This could work, a spokesperson, female or whatever the corrrect term is used these days. It is up to the American people.Everyone knows Obama has run a superb campaign, with over 500.000 new registered voters in the last 30 days. The people, and I hope they are financially secure, who are voting for McCain look stupid, period. They are willing to sacrifice our country for their own warped sense of patriotism to the Republican party, loose their jobs, sacrifice our soldiers lives in 2 wars, disrupt the economy, lessen our security to foreign nations to vote for a rich fool, who was forced into choosing a VP he did not want. I feel sorry for McCain. Now that its what you call a "maverick". Sarah Palin may very well be a terrific person and mother, but anyone with half a brain would not jeopardize our country with a person who can not even give an interview, without being coached. As for me, I will be just fine financialy, but I am thinking about other people and their lives who are not well to do and living from paycheck to paycheck.

[SmartDude]

How do you respond to lies? It depends. For Senator John McCain who champions himself as the "candidate of the highest character and honor", you simply call him a liar and that his character and honor, which he so highly flaunts, and takes great pride in, are worth less than a roadkill on the Washington Beltway. All kidding aside, attack Senator John McCains's character and honor. Call him on it.

[gulfcoaster]

McCain's apparent disregard for the truth is reminiscent of days gone by when the Keating scandal was front and center. Looks like the guy didn't really learn his lesson. We, the people, need to be reminded of it.

[ully]

who fool who??? just open more about the past fo Obama,we will shock!! too many people fool by Obama!!

[Femi]

If there was anything more, it would be out by now. trust me.

[AlexVallas]

Those who speak without knowledge through their mouth, speak through their A@@.

[DragonMama]

Your lack of ability to grasp English syntax/grammar calls into question your ability to vote.

And you forgot the B at the start of your username.

[newhouse1]

Jesus. Back, back, back in your cage. Right now... back. and don't come out again!

[Blivet]

What language is this? I thought Pidgen English was extinct.

[LeftRight]

Okay, I'd like to respond to this post, but it doesn't make enough sense to get a single idea out of....

[ully]

jarred: are you fooling us?? who fool who?? Obama also liar,more worse than we know! american people should know that Obama more dangerous than we thing!! tell now!!

[smit9187]

Sincve you're so informed, tell us!

[Blivet]

ully
Why don't you make a statement that makes sense?