Yesterday I took a walk back on memory lane circa 2006 to read some of the memes that were being thrown around. I had totally forgotten some of the crap that had entered into the national debate about Obama. For example, does anyone remember Larry Sinclair? You know, the crack head who said he smoked crack with Obama? Or how all of Obama’s critics accused his supporters of thinking he was the “messiah” or our “savior”? The irony, or course, is that these memes were a better fit for George W. Bush who allegedly was snuffing blow instead of reporting for duty, and who was literally depicted by his followers with a halo around his head.
That’s the Rovian strategy — attack your opponent on your own worst weaknesses. The best example is the swift boating of John Kerry by a candidate who never saw combat.
When Bush was president, there were 13 embassy attacks resulting in 60 deaths, so of course Benghazi!! Bush extensively used the RNC email server to orchestrate the firing of U.S. Attorneys General in violation of the Hatch act, with 5 million emails deleted, and hence we get the rabid interest in Hillary’s emails.
The best Rovian memes this time around have been that since Republicans all want to slash taxes for their base, they attack Democrats of wanting free stuff. Corporate tax cuts and the continued decline in upper bracket taxes has funneled money to the top 1%, so they accuse Democrats of wanting a redistribution of wealth.
Bernie has already begun to address this last falsehood. We already have a redistribution of wealth and it’s away from people like you and me.
So it got me brainstorming about the possible attacks on our side. Would it be an effective strategy to predict the next Rovian meme and try to get ahead of it? I’ll pass up the civil war primary and focus on the general.
What are Trump’s biggest faults? He’s a narcissist. He’s out of touch. He has no concrete plan. He’s racist. He’s an Oligarch. He’s a failure in business despite what he says he’s worth. His supporters can not be shaken no matter how outrageous his statements become.
Ted Cruz? According to Politifact, 56% of his public statements have been falsehoods. He replaces substance with passion. He’s a Republican outsider. His personality is so abrasive that no one wants to work with him. Despite his anti-immigration stance, he hasn’t been able to come up with a plan for the undocumented immigrants currently in the states. He blatantly lied about liquidating his net worth and putting it into the campaign when he actually got a loan from Goldman Sachs. He’s a narcissist.
So to attack the Democrats, one could say they are vanity candidates (already have). They’re not trustworthy. They’re abrasive. Nobody would want to work with them. They don’t have a plan. Their supporters think they can do no wrong. They have been career failures.
What others can you come up with?