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see if any of this fits into the rhetoric we heard during the last election. Then there's the long-standing technique of creating a "bogey man" to be afraid of, and presenting themselves as the party that will protect you from said bogey man. For years the bogey man was communists. Then later it became terrorists. Now apparently part of the bogey man is immigrants. Whatever the actual bogey man is, the Rs represent themselves as the only party that will protect you from the bogey man. And moreover, that the Democrats not only won't protect you, they're actually friends with the bogeyman. They claimed JFK was "soft on Commies." Didn't Palin say Obama "pals around with terrorists?" And so forth. They just use the current fear of the day (and if there isn't one, use the media to create a fear) and then portray themselves as the solution to that fear, and portray the Democrats as enablers of the thing to fear.
And if that's still not enough, there's always the tried-and-true smear campaign. Since actual assassination with a bullet is not legal, Republicans have become precise masters at character assassination. Even if the crap they make up about a Democratic candidate isn't true or even plausible, they are still skilled enough, subtle enough and sophisticated enough to do it effectively. Just as John Kerry about the whole Swift Boat thing. The whole thing is designed to cast enough doubt in the voter's mind that they will vote for the Republican just because of the lingering doubts left by the smear campaign.
And if that's not enough, there are always dirty tricks such as phone jamming during campaign telethons, dirty electioneering such as scaring people away from the polls with phony rules and regulations, deleting voters from lists (ask Katherine Harris about that), harrassment of potential voters, inadequate voting facilities at precincts likely to vote Democratic while Republican-leaning precincts are almost luxury day spas, and so forth. Republicans are also very aggressive with watching the public poll lists posted at precincts on election day and calling voters registered as Rs who haven't voted yet that day, sometimes even offering rides to the polls.
hmmm an the organization most responsible for this kinda tactic enjoys tax free status in maine!
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