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Edited on Tue Sep-27-05 08:34 PM by calimary
just getting into politics, according to what I've heard about his early days coming out of Texas politics into the national arena. Apparently, his opponent for congress was ahead with the election just a few days away. LBJ, who was a beginner at this, reportedly roared to his underlings about the necessity to accuse the opponent, publicly, of doing something REALLY and OUTLANDISHLY nasty like having sex with a pig. His people told him - this is nuts - nobody will believe it, too out there. LBJ reportedly replied: Do it ANYWAY. Make him deny it.
The point being - you plant the seed. Say it's an icky seed. Plant it anyway. Make the enemy deny it. By doing so, you've cemented it into the buiding blocks of that campaign season. It becomes an issue, true or false. Because it is now OUT THERE IN THE PUBLIC ARENA. PERIOD. And for the opponent to have to comment on it one way or another, even the "no comment" or "I refuse to dignify that remark with a comment" - even THAT is still forcing him/her to involve with it, even if it's technically a "near miss." It gets people talking, gossiping, buzz-buzz-buzzing, and then the one being accused is basically sunk. As was LBJ's previously-ahead opponent. From the legend, that's how LBJ won his first election to Washington.
Also, another reason why this is effective is the very airwaves themselves. NEVER underestimate the power of something halfway heard, from someone who wasn't paying attention at first, until some salacious word or phrase or partial word or phrase instantly hooks them. That's why there's so much repetition on the radio, why songs get played again and again and again, sometimes seemingly way too much. That's because programmers have always counted on an automatic tune-in/tune-out factor of people turning on their radios for short periods and then turning them off again. Especially in cars. Short listening periods - about the length of a commute or errand somewhere. It is not at all uncommon, with human behavior being what it is, for someone in one of those short car trip periods to tune in late, or disconnect in the middle of somebody's sentence or word. Many reasons. You got there, parked and turned off the engine without thinking and off goes the radio. Or your kid is next to you or elsewhere in the car where there are other controls, and the station changes 'cause they're really not listening. Or it's AM which fades under bridges and tunnels, so a news break or a vent or call or something might be rendered full of holes. Same thing for TV assuming there are those in the audience who are doing something else while "watching" TV. By the time something hits you and you perk up and say "WHAAA??" it's gone and all you're left with is this quick-hit, drive-by word or image and that's what starts to seep in like fine moisturizer melting into dry skin.
The point is - to GET IT OUT THERE, whatever "it" happens to be. Nancy Reagan once admonished her then-nemesis, then-Chief-of-Staff Donald Regan, that he'd better shape up because "people are talking." THAT is all you need. Certainly didn't help his case - he wound up having to resign. You want people talking. You want it out there where people have heard it or heard about it. 'Cause then they're apt to chit-chat about it with somebody else. And rumors start and so does gossip. And at that point, it's hard to contain. And it's seeping in. It's like "when did you stop beating your wife?" Answer: never beat her! BUT: even so, the thought's been put out there and it'll always be there nagging in the back of the mind somewhere. And that's what you want. That's why it is VERY important to see a public discussion start about bush's likely drinking again. Not only because we want there to be an unignorable groundswell of calls for his impeachment and removal from office, but I'd defy ANYBODY to say they actually did WANT a dry-drunk and cocaine freak with unfinished business issues and potentially serious alcohol-related mental impairments - RUNNING THE COUNTRY, with his finger on "the button." Democrat OR republi-CON OR Republican or anything else.
YOIKS! Sorry this went on so long...
BTW - Welcome to DU!
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