I Just Learned Why The Republican Strategy Is Brilliant.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

This whole Jason Leopold/Rove issue just made me reflect a little. Posters are now bringing up the concept of swiftboating, and something occurred to me: Swiftboating is an amazingly effective strategy.

Firstly, I want to offer the disclaimer that the cynicism and dissent about the T.O. article is not necessarily swiftboating. But it is still the same difference within the context I'll provide.

The reason I'm reflecting is because as many of you know, I was 100% confident in the T.O. story and defended its integrity wholeheartedly. But tonight an itty bitty amount of doubt has actually come over me now. I'm still firmly in the 'I trust truthout and believe the story' camp, but I can't say I'm 100% anymore (probably 90% now).

All it took was the barage of negativity and doubt from other sources (including a relative in the heart of the news biz) in the last few hours, and my trust has been shaken, though very slightly.

Then it hit me: That's why 'swiftboating' is so effective. It plays upon one of the most primitive instinctual ideals of the human race. It is always easier to doubt than it is to trust, and when presented with doubt it will almost always win out. That is just human nature on a lot of levels.

As strong as I stand in my convictions, and as much as I trust William, Jason and T.O., I still couldn't help letting a little doubt enter my heart. And even Will Pitt himself can understand. Though I was only a lurker then, I remember well the Andy Stephenson fundraising efforts, and how swiftboated they were. When the swiftboating became prevalent enough, even Will, who had trusted Andy 100%, got some doubts (though in the end Andy was truthful, as always). And when the repubs swiftboated Kerry like they did, I remember seeing acquaintces by the dozens that supported him all of a sudden doubting him for President.

So swiftboating works, and works magnificently. Problem is, most of the time it entails deceit and as a democrat I do not condone such tactics.

But we need to win, and we need to adopt some form of it. But it is not the deceit that matters, it is the concept. The concept is that it is always easier to convince someone to doubt then to convince them to trust. So that is now what I consider to be the #1 priority for the dems in this campaign season. Make sure enough is done to gain trust, but make sure exponentially more is done to engrain in americans minds why to doubt the republican's ability to continue to lead this nation, or that they will turn it in the right direction. We don't need to use deceit, just use facts. We must keep up a barrage of reasons why they should be doubted, and that should be priority over why we should be trusted.

I believe that now. Yesterday I believed standing on our principles and agenda would be enough, and battling to prove we are trustworthy was enough. Not anymore. I think, based on what I wrote above, that the key to Congress is getting Americans to DOUBT the republicans.

I'm off to bed, but wanted to share my newly found insight.

God bless DU and all those fighting our cause. May tuesday bring us the news we await.

Goodnight all.

[robbedvoter]

1. No brilliance. Bullies are not brilliant. Just ruthless.

[Ringo84]

2. To OPERATIONMINDCRIME

I agree, but I still think that we should stand on principle. Then, go for the jugular and, like you said, make people doubt Republicans.

Considering current poll numbers, that may not be too hard.
Ringo

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. Yes, We Must Still Stand On Principle, Always. It's The Strategy I'm

tweaking.

From trust us, we're the better party and trust us, we'll do this that and the other thing, to one of "they're not going to do this, don't believe them when they say that, look what they've done before, they aren't capable of bringing us together etc..."

Tonight it occurred to me that the concept of doubt is almost impossible to overcome once prevalant enough in common people. It is an incredibly powerful tool and we need it in our arsenal fully loaded.

[Ringo84]

8. To OPERATIONMINDCRIME

I agree.
Ringo

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Politics and policy are different things

I'm firmly in the "whatever it takes" category. I'd be less sure of the merit of that viewpoint if the opposition hadn't been handing us our heads on platters for the last 25 years with exactly that amoral set of tactics.

Win ugly, then govern responsibly. I'm down with that. The alternative is to lose ugly while they govern irresponsibly.

Creating doubt about the other guy is the essence of negative campaigning. There's nothing wrong with it - it sure as hell ain't unfair - as long as it works.

We act as if our campaigns need to be run for our benefit. To paraphrase Julia Roberts "we're a sure thing". The voters respond to swiftboating. The voters respond to Willie Horton.

Just once I want rightwingers whining that our winning tactics were unfair and below the belt.

[havocmom]

3. By Jove, you've got it

Sleep well. We fight the good fight again at sun up.

It is not dissent we need to squealch, but rather the viruses which invade and make us less strong. Rove knows the power of the virus.

[DireStrike]

4. Disagree. Bush was smattered with negativity from day one.

Doubt doesn't always win out over trust. It might, but it's very close to 50/50. It all depends on how much media coverage you get (and the quality of that coverage.)

And when we have so few sources of news (and all of them are owned by rich greedy fucks) it is hard to get your message covered.

[Ringo84]

6. To DireStrike

Right! Trust was a major issue in 2004. That's one of the main reasons why we lost the White House - people just didn't trust Kerry.

But then again, the RWingers sowed a lot of doubt about Kerry with the "flip-flopper" thing. They really used their smear machine efficiently in '04.
Ringo

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. He Really Wasn't Though

Not in the right ways. And Gore did win, remember?

And yes, the media took part in the swiftboating, as they did for Dean too. It needs to be a barrage to be affective. But a barrage of doubts thrown at one mind will almost certainly cause that mind to doubt, if even a little.

[DireStrike]

10. Gore and Kerry both won, IMO

Although neither won by enough... unless the voting companies' crimes are bigger than I feel like allowing just now.

It all goes back to the message. How else could they lie so blatantly about so many things and get away with it? They have the media, in a very slimy way that is hard to point out to skeptics. They also have lots of churches and megachurches, and their smarmy mailing tactics. We have... the internet. Which is discredited by all of the above, and could be choked off! And when even people like Dean can't keep on message... (and I don't mean to bash dean here, I'm just using it as an example. Accident or whatever, it still wasn't good.)

[upi402]

23. Neocons pulled the Dan Rather thing after all

They could have set up Wilson yet again, with Leopold. It works. Just look at Dan Rather. He didn't falsify a story, like the Whitehouse does -paying shill "journalists" and supplying quasi-news tapes to the TV news.

It could easily be true that Wilson and others heard the same thing, and were intentionally mislead. I wonder who the real confirming source(s) is/are.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. I agree with you - just look at the Bush National Guard story

Whether or not the documents of Dan Rather regarding preferential treatment received by Bush from Colonel Killian were genuine, there was a great deal of corroborating evidence. The legitimacy of Bush's National Guard service was brought into significant doubt, including by the former secretary of Colonel Killian and by the genuine and unquestioned document suspending Bush from flying for failure to appear at a medical examination. Why were some people ready to doubt the doubt (and assume that the records were fabricated)? I prefer to think that in America, the public and the media usually side with authority. We live in a highly authoritarian society, for all the lip service some people give to freedom and liberty. We live in a society where the people would be easily swayed by the statements and opinions of a totalitarian government, in fact, if it were draped in the flag and Christian slogans and led by gray-haired power elites.

[pinto]

9. I disagree on one point. Trust is more basic than doubt. But once

it's broken, it's broken.

Bushco may be hearing that message from their base 'fore long...thay've turned a lot of blind eyes to the real workings of this Administration for quite a while.

[Hidden Stillness]

11. When You Doubt This Way, You Feel at Least You Aren't Getting Fooled

This explains poll results showing that people hate negative advertising and smear campaigns, hate "dirty politics," etc.--but that it works. It doesn't work because "people like it after all," or even that they agree with the tactic. It works because once you plant that seed of doubt, once you introduce what seems to be proof that someone has done something wrong, then people don't know what to think, and don't know what to believe. If they aren't sure whether or not somebody is getting away with a crime, or etc., then they will distrust that person just to be safe because they don't know what else to do--and so it worked. It is not "brilliant," it is just so very ordinary; but people don't know what else to do until they get real information, but, generally under these circumstances, they never do.

[Erika]

12. Americans do not trust Bush and hate the Bushbots

who helped him destroy this once great country.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. Hence His Polls At 29%. They've Been Pounded By Doubt And Now

view him with cynicism as well.

[Maddy McCall]

16. If it were that simple.

It's not merely doubt, it's $3/gallon gas, rising cost of living, trillion dollar deficit, seeing their boys and girls come home in a coffin because he put us in an avoidable quagmire, prospects of a three-front war, Katrina victims STILL living in tents 9 months later, nepotism, cronyism, corruption....

[Maddy McCall]

14. LOL. You say it's a "Republican Strategy," but that you're not pointing...

fingers at DUers who doubted the article, but it's the "same difference." No, it's not the "same difference."

You're blaming people who asked for more proof, and to have the vague parts of the article clarified before jumping on the bandwagon, for you not being 100% trustful of the article? But then you also started a thread saying that you talked to a relative at a news desk who said that they can't verify anything.

If I caused you to start asking questions, all I have to say is "GOOD!" I teach my history students to apply critical thought when doing research. I'm elated when they do. I'm glad that you are doing the same now.

It is never easier to doubt than to trust. All that trust requires is blind faith. Doubt occurs because one has considered the news, considered the source, and considered the references, and has asked questions, and feels that some part of that equation is not panning out. That's work. Hard work. :)

[sheelz]

19. And I thank you and all the professors like you

for a that damn hard work! It's often maddening and yet it's beautiful.

Oh, do you have any suggestions on how to turn it off--I could use some rest.

Peace

[upi402]

18. Republican slime tactics do work.

That's why I say Dems should not be taking the "high ground". They should say the word REPUBLICAN, make a simple negative point about them, and finish with the word REPUBLICAN.

We need middle America, not the moderate left/ new Democrats. We need the folks who watch celebrity train wreck TV and falls from grace with zeal -most of America. People are simple and easy to fool and persuade. It works! And we damn well better work it, lest ot works US again.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. The non troll DUers all want Rove to be indicted and out of political

affairs. However, I guess I just don't understand what's to be gained by giving up our natural skepticism until we hear further. Skepticism seems normal and healthy to me at this point. I'm not sure I understand what valuable thing is lost by not immediately believing this story right away. A few extra days of feeling good and drinking champagne? I'm not saying I disbelieve it either. Just skeptical.

If the story turns out to be true, it will reflect great credit on Jason Leopold and truthout.org, since they will have gotten this news out by at least days in front of the whole media.

On the other hand, if no indictment of Rove has occurred or is announced, then no matter how many sources get "outed" as having lied, the authors of a story whose title says that Rove has already been indicted will have no credibility henceforth. That's just the way it works.

[dalaigh lllama]

21. Yes, but

swiftboating = lying. I can't see how convincing Americans to doubt Republicans would be dishonest in any way, shape, or form. I can do that with a completely clear conscience.

[brentspeak]

22. Your analogy is misplaced

The Smear Vets tried to cast public doubt on the known and established facts of John Kerry's military decorations; DUers skeptical of Leopold's as-yet unproven story are simply asking for him and truthout to 'put up or shut up' -- just as they would from FOX News, ABC News, or the World Weekly News.

Why on earth should anyone with even an iota of common sense blindly accept as truth an unproven story? Will it magically increase the chances for the story to turn out true if one preemptively accepts it to be true? Should a baseball team that begins its first game of the World Series pop champagne corks before the series even ends?

[applegrove]

24. How is saying the Leopold may have been played swiftboating?

We all do not doubt his veracity and integrity. We just need confirmation of the story. In the past when a story breaks on a Friday, within a few hours all the other blogs work their sources and say "we are working on a story - stay tuned for it - it will be posted in an hour". Ignore the MSM. This story is on a strange pattern as the WWW goes.

In this case, many worked their sources and could not confirm what Leopold was told. Huff post and others mentioned it when it broke. They have now taken any mention off their sites.

Nobody on the DU is doubting the importance of truthout or Jason. We just see that this story doesn't follow the pattern of any other breaking story. We all believe his sources told him exactly what he says they told him. We just dont' like the way the story cannot be confirmed.

And lucky for us - the story will be confirmed or denied in the next week. ON NPR Leopold even said that if it turns out he was played - he will out the sources who played him. So he too has doubts. And he too is waiting for confirmation.

If you mean that Leopold is being swiftboated by being given faulty information by the WH to make him look bad.. again.. we do not know. We have to wait until confirmation next week.

This isn't a case where the noise machine took a man's life and tried to deny him respect and love as it ended. There was ample proof that Andy was sick. Some evil GOP spread rumours that that was a lie and that is swiftboating. And that is sick. Was meant to cause trouble and infighting and to cause great pain to Andy and his family and his friends. It worked.

Let us not let the swiftboating of Truthout (if Jason was in fact lied to in a coordinated manner by his WH sources) separate us.

It is exhausting to feel that peace or justice is on the way only to be disappointed. It creates apathy. So some of us want caution to be the word of the day and wait until there is confirmation before we come to any conclusions or get into any fights.

[Hutzpa]

25. What makes KKKarl Rove more effective is his

swiftboating style administration....so all ways remember that, once you get the head....well the rest of the body is no problem then.