"Amnesty, Abortion and Acid" and the 800 Pound Gorilla
The beauty of a politician new to the national scene---he or she can be anything you want them to be. A fresh slate is so welcome when the political climate is unfavorable to the status quo, as it is now. Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama proved that Democrats and then Americans will vote for change, without paying much attention to the details. When you hate your life, feel alienated from your country and are close to despair that you live in the new Roman Empire, change sounds good.
But there is a flip side to everything. When you nominate a new candidate, one who is not well defined in the eyes of the general public, you run the risk that your party's opposition---in this case, the RNC, will use its virtual control of the mainstream media to paint your candidate in an unflattering or even scary light.
Just look at what they did to poor old McGovern. Straight shooting, war hero McGovern. By election day, 1972, America knew that he was the candidate of Amnesty, Abortion and Acid, to paraphrase a quote by Bob Novak, which Novak probably invented himself, but then attributed to an unnamed Democrat (he later smeared Thomas Eagleton, who could not defend himself) in order to paint a picture of a man who was too extreme even for the Dems. And any man too extreme for the Dems must be-----a frigging communist. Or, at the very least, a socialist.
So, what was it that freaked out America over the phrase "Amnesty, Abortion and Acid"? What was so damned scary about letting the boys come home from Canada, giving women the right to choose and decriminalizing drugs? Nothing, if you were a left leaning Democrat. But to the proudly apolitical "independent" vote that wins elections in this country, "Amnesty" meant Privilege---as in "my son/neighbor/husband" was drafted and died and now you want to give some other mother's son a free pass? It also meant Fear, as in "Who will defend us from the violence that we see on TV and in the streets?" What about "Abortion"? Abortion meant run away mothers, women burning their bras in the street, a world in which men were being told that they were the "enemy" simply because they had a Y chromosome. And "Acid'? Acid was the Manson Family, an evil that could turn all-American boys and girls into monsters. Acid was bikers. Acid was your son or daughter hurling himself or herself from a roof. Acid was "chromosome damage" (a lie) that would bring the human race to a dead standstill if it ever caught on. Acid was the road to hell on earth. Even the name, "acid" was scary---acid does not heal, it destroys.
Nixon taught us a valuable lesson in 1972. He had the election in the bag, but his desire to (over)compensate for his narrow win in 1968 led him to pull out all the stops. Tactics which were more or less commonplace (attributing slurs against one Dem to another Dem, interfering in primary politics) were combined with some that were downright illegal (break ins) in a way that made usually apathetic Americans angry---because Americans do not like to be taken for fools, even if many of them vote foolishly.
What else do Americas dislike? Mean spirited politicians. Political dirty tricks----
By the way, has anyone else noticed the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the one that no one talks about? Why is no one talking about it? Let's make an educated guess based upon some recent history. Sen. Sanders has a political weakness, one that will be almost as tough to overcome as being Black was for our current president and being a woman will be for Clinton. Hint: what religion do 7 out of 10 Americans believe in according to the most recent Pew Polls?
So, here is my prediction for the Dirty Trick of Choice in the 2016 Democratic Primary. As much as the RNC would like to see a Jewish, Socialist Anti-American (because he makes no bones about thinking the Western European way is the better way and for most Americans New England is just a hop, skip and a jump from the real England) as the Democratic nominee so that they can have one of their paid media tools call him a Blank, Blank, Blank (and attribute the quote to a Democrat, preferably a Clinton supporter), it ain't gonna happen. Because Dems got burned in 1972, and our political memory is much longer than that of the so called Apolitical Independents. We will never forget "Amnesty, Abortion and Acid." No, we will nominate our first round draft choice, the one that beats all the Republicans by double digits---and then, in the middle of the primary, we will see a replay of the really dirty trick of the 2008 primary season, the one called the Race Memo. The one that almost certainly came from the RNC and was fed to a gullible Obama staffer. Except this time, it will be the Religion Memo. We will see media pundits tell us how the Evil Witch Hillary Clinton is using her opponent's religion to "crib death" his campaign. We will be told "She can't win fair and square so she is going to use poor, honest Bernie's Jewish heritage against him. That b-word!"
It is gonna happen. It is more or less inevitable. Unless we acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room now. So, I propose that we have a frank discussion of religion in the primary. Yes, I know that Democrats do not give two flips about their candidates' religion. If we care at all, we prefer that they not be too religious. But if we are going to discuss gender (which Clinton has going for her in the primary and against her in the general) then we should also discuss religion (which Sanders has going for him in the primary and against him in the general). Not discussing it will not make the issue go away---it will just allow the RNC to frame the national debate in whatever way suits them best based upon the delegate count in January 2016. If Clinton is ahead, she will be the antisemitic she-demon who stole the election from an honest Democrat. If Sanders is ahead, he will be "out of touch with mainstream America" (that's how the mainstream media will put it, along with a nudge, nudge, wink wink.) And either way, Democrats get divided and conquered---and the Apolitical Independents say "Ooo. Dirty politics. This is why I don't vote." And you know which party does better with a low turnout.
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