I think we can win big with a direct attack on the systematic lying by the McCain campaign. A successful attack would change the game in this election and begin to make lying shameful and unacceptable again. This would be a greater transformation in American politics than any other I can imagine.
Being blunt about lying is on the table. Obama has already used the dread L word, saying that "they know they're lying about what my energy plan is." How could the campaign take this further?
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UPDATE (8 Sept. 08): The latest Obama ad.
In big text: "A NAKED LIE". I like it.
(And here's yesterday's revised version of this diary.)
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First some words from Rachel Maddow: "They are lying...!" (with thanks to PLS)
Here's what a strategy might look like --
Objectives:
-- Collapse the credibility of the McCain campaign
-- Links and revitalize multiple scandals
-- De-legitimize a tactic that has debased American politics
-- Reinforce a message of hope: Yes, we can and will change how politics works in America.
Approach:
-- Start with a collection of clear-cut, publicly documented examples of their lies about themselves.
Examples: Palin's lies about having opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (a documented falsehood). The McCain campaign's lie they had the FBI do a background check on Palin (the FBI flatly denies it). Expand this list of clear-cut publicly documented lies to a half dozen.
-- Remind people that they wouldn't trust someone who lied to their face again and again.
Get people's thinking out of the sick, anything-goes political frame and into the world of decent human life, where people don't put up with lying, cheating scum.
-- Hammer on these clear-cut lies and show that lying is their systematic policy.
This immediately makes their ("alleged") lies into a first-rank campaign issue and a media firestorm. It is a deadly attack on character and credibility. Calling out the lies will revitalize multiple scandals and undercut their defenses: "Hey, if the facts were on their side, why would they have to lie about it?" I like Obama's phrasing "They know they're lying about..."
-- Don't bring up lies about Obama or Democratic policies in the first round.
Save these for later! It's tempting to fight back immediately, but that would be playing defense: This strategy must be about playing offense. Make it all about them and their lying defenses before anything else.
-- Remind people of what "lying" means -- and what it doesn't mean.
"Lying" means deceiving people with a false picture of reality. ("Lying" does not include misspeaking or being wrong about something, and even a broken promise doesn't show that anyone lied.)
-- Broaden the attack to include questions of direct national importance.
After presenting a collection of clear-cut lies to prove the pattern of lying, point to a huge, rancid pile of lies that are almost as clear-cut, and are about policy questions of national importance. Use this to elevate systematic lying itself to an issue of national importance.
-- Link systematic lying to corruption, the war, environmental policy....
You know how we got to where we are, and it wasn't by the Bush campaign or administration telling the truth.
-- Ignore squabbles about details and weasel words.
Brush them aside and let the record speak for itself -- but push the facts hard. If they start whining about one accusation, hit them with three more. If they start lying about what "lying" means, hit them hard again. If they say we're lying, demand that they prove one significant case in this campaign. (I'm assuming that Obama is sparkling clean here; the reality may be messier.)
-- In all this, don't attack the media!
Let people draw their own conclusions about past media irresponsibility. Don't fight people we need as allies; invite them to join the cause. There will be lots of juicy stories -- great for ratings!
This sequence might be spread over one or two speeches, or over one or two talking-point cycles.
In conclusion:
If they can't succeed through systematic lying, politics itself will be transformed. And as for step one -- collecting a set of clear-cut lies that meet the above criteria -- I'll bet that readers of this diary can do the job this evening. And help rework the concept, too.
(By the way, I don't claim to know what the Obama campaign should be doing; the above is simply a rough draft of a case for an option that I think is worth considering. The idea needs further inputs of criticism and creativity to make it more than half-baked.)