What Remains In The Campaign
I've been meaning to write a post about this for a few weeks, but I've just been too lazy. What finally motivated me was the following, which has been fairly widely reported on the last few days:
They are, of course, pretending that this is a sudden change of tactics necessitated by Democratic behavior:
Those of us in Democratic States will be spared a lot of this garbage, but please don't forget that in Republican and swing States, the public is going to be fed a continuous diet of the most disgusting lies between now and election day, and there is every reason to think that this tactic will work, as it has so many times in the past.
This is the reason that I have very little faith in the predictions of all the poll aggregators. And sad to say, this ugly campaign, in my opinion, is likely to break against the Democrats, swinging many of the swing seats to the Republicans.
"Kochs take off mask, plan direct attacks on Democrats...The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity has ended its "issue" ads phase in key Senate races, the generic attack ads that allow them to keep some of its spending secret. Now they'll be spending directly and openly with direct attacks and with a field operation that will include tactics like the bogus voter registrations it sent out to hundreds of thousands of North Carolina voters."
They are, of course, pretending that this is a sudden change of tactics necessitated by Democratic behavior:
"Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, said the group was making the change "reluctantly."Of course, this is a lie. It has been the standard Republican tactic for decades to hold off on their really malignant campaign ads until the second week or so of October, when it is too late for Democrats to adequately respond to their vicious smears. Now, in a classic specimen of blaming the victim, they are claiming that the Democrats just forced them to resort to this sort of underhanded tactic.
"Over the past 10 years, our focus has always been on free-market issues, and urging lawmakers to be responsive to the public," Mr. Phillips said. "But many Democrat politicians have made it abundantly clear that they are working for Harry Reid and President Obama–not the people they represent. Their policies are wreaking havoc on the lives of millions, and it's time for them to go."
Those of us in Democratic States will be spared a lot of this garbage, but please don't forget that in Republican and swing States, the public is going to be fed a continuous diet of the most disgusting lies between now and election day, and there is every reason to think that this tactic will work, as it has so many times in the past.
This is the reason that I have very little faith in the predictions of all the poll aggregators. And sad to say, this ugly campaign, in my opinion, is likely to break against the Democrats, swinging many of the swing seats to the Republicans.
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