WP: In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal

[kskiska]

Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats

Sunday, September 10, 2006; A01

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html

[AX10]

1. See this:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/9/124753/8755

"The diary entry I'm posting today is not my own but a public domain essay written by an anonymous writer who describes himself as a "high powered Madison Ave. advertising executive." He uses the alias "Coty Jarrett" because many of his clients are Republican politicians and opinion leaders. His motive for writing the essay is simple: he's sympathetic to the Democrats and wants to pass on privileged information on how Republicans win elections. He conveys it in the form of an open letter to all Democratic candidates and campaign managers in elections this fall.

I first saw it on the Huffington blog and saved it because it was a brilliant but cynical essay on the deployment of power in the manner of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. I'm not sure if Coty Jarrett's Rules of Perception has ever been posted on the Daily Kos, but I searched the tagging index and came up empty handed. Even if it's been posted and discussed on the Daily Kos previously, I think it's worth revisiting."

[Just-plain-Kathy]

5. AX10...

You posted a great link. Thank you. Maybe you should start a thread with it, but wait until after the smoke clears with Path to 9-11.

[AX10]

8. Another post was already started on this earlier. I will wait until...

Monday or Tuesday to post another one.

[calimary]

19. Holy COW! "Great link" doesn't do it justice. This is THE link. The

ONLY link. The ONLY LINK THAT MATTERS. Here, let me repeat it:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/9/124753/8755

We should do as this guy says at the bottom - put a copy of this under our pillows every night. Then we should read it anew every morning - and several times every day until the next bedtime. It IS all about perception. My dad was in advertising and knew this. Reality is WHAT YOU SAY IT IS.

And I LOVED the passage urging people to stop playing by the Marquess of Queensbury rules. The enemy isn't. Why should we? They're the ones with the ball and determining the rules. It's their game board. It's like learning to speak another person's language so you better communicate with them. You can't expect someone who doesn't speak your language to understand you. So you go to THEIRS. If this is how the game is played, anything else is a guaranteed loss. Hint: ask any of the insurgents or other guerrilla fighters either in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter if THEY'RE playing by Marquess of Queensbury rules. Those involved in the civil war over there, the street fighters, the suicide bombers, the roadside bombers and snipers, NONE of them is fighting by any rules - except maybe ONE: the "Whatever It Takes" rule. That's why they're cleaning our clocks over there.

It's basic human nature we have to understand here. People SAY they don't like negative campaigns. But they fall for 'em every time. Negative campaigns, dirty politics, and the rest of the shit - it WORKS. It sticks. People SAY they don't like messy stuff, and that they're above such things, but they're also the first to slow down and oggle the four-car carnage by the side of the freeway, first to watch the goriest and most over-the-top movies (why did characters like Freddie Krueger and filmmakers like Sam Peckinpah do so well at the box office?), they'll hang on every crash at the car races (why so many people go, in the first place, hoping they'll see some big crash there); it's why demolition derbies and big wheels orgies do so well, why boxing and wrestling draws such crowds, why people laugh when the guy slips on a banana peel, why people hang on all coverage of the running of the bulls at Pamplona (can't wait to see some stupid putz get gored), why car chases dominate local TV news (people are eager to see wrecks, crashes, blood, blazes of gunfire - why do these get on TV so often, and for so long? Because they get big ratings), why the dominant theory of TV news coverage still "if it bleeds, it leads." There is still a lizard brain buried deep in our supposedly highly-evolved human brain, regardless how we prefer to flatter ourselves about our superiority on the evolutionary scale. And kkkarl rove knows this. THAT'S what he's appealing to, because he knows how powerful and basic the synapses are, deep down in there. And it has always been thus. The crowds streaming into the Colisseum, once upon a time, weren't packing in like so many sardines to watch tea parties. They wanted blood. They wanted carnage and death and destruction. They wanted to see bodies torn apart by hungry beasts. They wanted to see fights, wreckage, mayhem. It's why the WWF is so frickin' popular today, why it sells out everywhere, and why Vince McMahon is a VERY rich man. kkkarl knows this. We still have a baser nature, and it can be won over rather easily especially when fed or tempted with raw meat.

And I, like the writer here, this mysterious Coty Jarrett, must say the next time I hear anybody say - "we can't fight dirty because that makes us just like them" that I will probably want to throw up on them directly. This is not the refined, gentile parlor game in the palace. This IS WWF. This IS Smackdown versus Raw. THIS is how the game is played now, and if we can't do it, or our fastidiously delicate sensibilities prevent us from doing it, or any of our consciences bother us too much about doing it, then we need to get out of the business and let some ruthless roughnecks take our places. You take the high road and it takes you straight over a cliff. Donna Brazile and Mary Beth Cahill should be able to tell you that by now (assuming they're willing to admit it).

To hell with the idea that we can't go there because it makes us just like them. As I've said here before, I WANT to be like them. Absolutely. With all my heart and every fiber of my being. Because they WIN.

Thanks to DUer AX10 for posting the original link.

[elehhhhna]

21. Read this. It was a hot thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2091379&mesg_id=2091379

[MichiganVote]

2. A BJ in every pot?

[glitch]

3. Trash - it's all they've got, all they know.

They have no good record of their own to stand on. Just bring opponents down to their level and let the voting machines cover their failures.

[grytpype]

4. Repugs to spend millions in the next 60 days to smear every Dem candidate.

It's the only thing they have left.

[Monkeyman]

7. Its already started in mail outs

Vote for Democrat lose your Country
Vote for Democrat raise your taxs
Vote for Democrat they will impeach the President
Vote for Democrat its a vote for Terrorism

Thats only four on the mail outs that went out

Recon is here and on it keep you posted on more

[grytpype]

10. Someone should start a collection of these.

So we know what the Repug scum is putting out there.

One bright spot in this article: Rahm made sure the Dems did their own preemptive oppo research on their own candidates, so it's likely the Dems know what's coming and are prepared for it. The Repugs don't have anything new, so it's predictable what they will do.

[elehhhhna]

23. WE SALUTE YOU! Thanks!

[elehhhhna]

22. One can only cover himself w/ so much shit before he has to start throwing

it.

[jedr]

6. The GOP stands to lose much more than just political power;

If they lose these seats in the House and Senate. Impeachment, jail terms and destruction of the necon's power hold on government has this a no holes barred battle for survival. I hope the Dem's' are up for the battle.

[DeSwiss]

9. Considering all the fallout...

... from Duke Cunningham, Abramoff (and a cast of 1000s), Delay, Noe, Stevens, Halliburton, etc, etc, etc, etc (ad infinitum).... I wouldn't think the Repukes would want to stir up any issues drawing attention to the personal/ethical behavior of elected officials.

They have much, much more to answer for. And to lose...

[brentspeak]

11. It's already started in NJ

With Bush-appointed U.S. attorney for NJ, Christopher Christie launching a federal investigation into Robert Menendez' financial dealings two months before Election Day. At issue is an obscure real estate deal which occured three years ago. Christie's office made sure to leak this information to the press yesterday.

[Renew Deal]

15. Aren't these fights common in NJ.

I remember campaigns in NJ being extremely personal in the past.

[brentspeak]

18. NJ campaigns don't usually involve carpet-bagging dirty tricksters

The trend began six years ago, when The Club For Growth sponsored attack ads on behalf of GOP RWer Scott Garrett against GOP moderate incumbent Marge Roukema. The Club For Growth's $250,000 wasn't enough to unseat Roukema in the 2000 5th Congressional district Republican primary, but she retired in 2002, and Garrett's masters spent about the same amount of money that year to spam anonymous, automated -- basically harrassing -- phone calls to households in the 5th district, which attacked the Democratic candidate for Congress. Garrett won that contest, and is still in office.

With the exception of two notorious U.S. Senate contests which pitted Frank Lautenberg against Republican challengers -- Pete Dawkins in 1988 and Chuck Haytaian in '94 -- home-grown NJ campaigns are relatively dirt-free. (Lautenberg is one of the few modern Democrats who knows how to hit hard and counterattack effectively against GOP lowdown attacks.)

[SoCalDem]

12. This is NEW?? They have always done this...and when a dem DARES

to respond in kind, they get their panties in a wad and scream "politics of personal destruction"..:eyes:

[0007]

16. Case in point was "Whitewater" Get rid of the Bill Clinton at any cost!

Whitewater was seen by Democrats as a Republican led investigation to pursue Clinton for political reasons at a cost of $80 million dollars to the public. Newt Gingrich noted the investigation was helpful to the Republican elections because Clinton would be "weaker" in the polls. Political motivations were attributed to Kenneth Starr, a Republican attorney, who spoke "at a law school founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, and maintains] private clients with interests opposed to the Clinton Administration, have given his critics ammunition."

[Raine]

13. Since when haven't they

gotten personal??? :shrug: Nothing new about this ask Max Cleland or Kerry or Ross Perrot or even John MaCain and probably hundreds of others they slimed. :mad:

[sidpleasant]

14. Dem candidates: don't be suckers, stick to the real issue - BUSH

Democratic candidates should ignore the Repukes' sleazy attacks and stick to the one issue the GOP is terrified of: George Bush. Do everything possible to tie your opponents to Bush. Use every picture you can find of your opponent with Bush. Remind your constituents that a vote for any Republican is a vote for more Bush failures and no oversight.

[WhiteTara]

17. I met Donnie Deutsch

at the state convention in April and I agree, he should be in charge of our PR. Smart, smart and politcally savvy and knows what he's doing. I hope Howard will follow this point. We do need to get our message out fast.

[robbedvoter]

20. Yeah, cuz in "non-pivotal years" they are real pussycats

yet another effort by WaPo to justify inexcusable behavior which is in the GOP's DNA.
There's a joke with a scorpio and crossing a river that comes to mind.

[RangerSmith]

24. it's only going to hurt them more than

the self inflicted wounds they are hemorrhaging from right now.

[NashVegas]

25. "Desperate" Is the Only Response

Every Dem that gets one of these attack ads needs to hit back with a commercial about how desperate their opponent it, how desperate the Republican party is to hide its HUGE scew-ups.

[NashVegas]

26. kick

..

[rodeodance]

27. In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal (pay to dig up dirt on Dems)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html
In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal

Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats

By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 10, 2006; Page A01

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.
"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents........

[Monkeyman]

28. They are dirty themselfs

They want a War lets give it to them Research here on The DU is far better then theirs go get them

[samsingh]

29. hopefully our leaders are ready tor this strategy

[beyurslf]

30. Hopefully our leaders are doing the same thing

[samsingh]

33. i hope so

[Monkeyman]

31. Here's a email tell them

[e-mail]

[karynnj]

32. And why is this different than any other year?

This has been what they always do.

[trotsky]

34. Absolutely correct.

When was the last time a RepubliCON ever won an election on the issues?

[Triana]

35. When have they ever done otherwise?

They CANNOT WIN on policy or on issues. They ONLY ever win by smearing their opponent personally. That's how Repiglicans fight.

Like PIGS.

[DoYouEverWonder]

36. From what I've seen they are going after the DEMS tax records

They are looking into whether or not DEMS have paid their property taxes and income taxes on time or not. If they find anything at all, it is turned into a hit piece mailer.

[MasonJar]

37. We can play that game, since they are the crooks.

[jab105]

38. Why bother digging up dirt when you can just make shit up?

n/t