McCain’s strategists have modeled his campaign on the very same propaganda methods used so successfully by the Nazi’s 60 years ago, and by radical Islamic factions today.
The centerpiece of the McCain campaign so far has been hate. The purpose of nearly every speech and ad has not been to showcase the talents and skills of the McCain-Palin team, but to inspire fear and loathing of Barack Obama. Don’t trust "that one." McCain’s strategists have modeled his campaign on the very same propaganda methods used so successfully by the Nazi’s 60 years ago, and by radical Islamic factions today. They have employed techniques nearly identical to those described in Jeffrey Herft’s 2006 book, The Jewish Hatred, a study of the power of propaganda against a specific group.
Technique 1: Believe absolutely in your side’s exclusive claim to truth, justice, and the right [in this case, American] way. Then reinforce it by developing a narrative that paints the other guy as a threat to those principles - even if you have to make stuff up. Claiming absolutely that their blueprint offers the only solution to the problems we face, McCain’s handlers have invented vicious fictions designed to show their opponent’s alleged hidden anti-American agenda. The McCain campaign has used the thinnest threads of association by proximity to stitch together imaginary scenarios of Obama and Ayers or Obama and Rev. Wright. The conservative talk shows have used their imaginations to extend these "stories," and encourage potential voters to draw their own conclusions.
Technique 2: Portray your side as the victim. By encouraging their conservative base to see themselves as victims of the liberal left, the McCain disciples have turned the race from a mere political contest into a struggle of the preyed upon against the predator. This position completely legitimizes their "anything goes" tactics. At the same time, they have blamed all their past failures on constant victimization by their adversaries. For example, they have condemned the current Democratic-controlled congress for preventing them from acting in the interests of the American people, heading off the financial crisis, and addressing energy needs - when in fact, the Republicans have controlled the legislature for ten of the last twelve years, and have had a Republican president for six of those ten.
Technique 3: Dehumanize and demonize your enemy. Portraying Obama as the best buddy of a "terrorist" works well. Saying he doesn’t see "America as you see America" and that he "just doesn’t understand regular people," helps too. Asserting that his character is suspect because he "didn’t get up and leave" when his pastor said "appalling things" about the country, goes a long way. Accusing him of "bad judgment," "blind ambition," calling him "risky," "dangerous," "radical," and charging him with "assaulting [your] supporters," all contribute to making him seem not only different, but deadly.
Unfortunately for the McCain campaign, we Americans are big on believing – but not in the things they are trying to sell us. We believe in guardian angels, even those of us who aren’t particularly religious. We believe that good should triumph over evil, and we believe that the best is yet to come. But most of all, we believe in ourselves.
Obama’s campaign has hit us where we live, right from the get-go. It’s been all about empowerment, hope, and the ability of ordinary people to improve the human condition.
That’s why McCain’s campaign will not win him the Presidency. We will elect Barack Obama despite the best efforts of the McCain campaign to convince us he is a bad person. We’ll select Obama because he inspires us, while McCain embitters us. Because he is authentic where McCain is apocryphal. Because Obama has shown that he is one of us, while McCain remains one of "them." The McCain campaign is right about one thing, and one thing only - there is a person who does not view America the way we view America. He is the McCain campaign manager who convinced John McCain that Americans could be convinced to choose hate over hope.