“When you sling mud, you lose ground.”—Attributed to Illinois governor and unsuccessful Presidential candidate Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900-1965)
If that were true, mudslinging would have been retired as a practice after the election of 1800, when supporters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson retailed the worst kinds of rumors about the two friends-turned-Presidential rivals.
If that were true, mudslinging would have been retired as a practice after the election of 1800, when supporters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson retailed the worst kinds of rumors about the two friends-turned-Presidential rivals.
No, mudslinging still exists today because, used carefully, it works. Now, they simply call it “opposition research”--the same principle, only dressed up in a white collar.
What doesn’t work is using your own filthy-rich campaign funds to assault the airwaves. Voters don’t mind the subtly planted false rumor that can take on a life of its own (the electorate loves hearing preposterous stuff that helps them exercise their imaginations).
But they really object to hearing the same darn thing 10 million times a day. That might explain why we’re not hearing more, the day after the election, from the likes of Carl Palladino, Meg Whitman, etc.
What doesn’t work is using your own filthy-rich campaign funds to assault the airwaves. Voters don’t mind the subtly planted false rumor that can take on a life of its own (the electorate loves hearing preposterous stuff that helps them exercise their imaginations).
But they really object to hearing the same darn thing 10 million times a day. That might explain why we’re not hearing more, the day after the election, from the likes of Carl Palladino, Meg Whitman, etc.
