Rove: Projecting Bush's weaknesses onto Kerry and then attacking

[gristy]

This link was posted in another thread: www.digbysblog.blogspot.com Nails Rove's approach to campaigning.


This theory about Karl Rove's wily and bold strategy of going after rivals' strengths instead of their weaknesses is Rove's own self-serving analysis and frankly, I think it's bullshit:

"Look, I don't attack people on their weaknesses," he once told reporters in Texas during a campaign. "That usually doesn't get the job done. Voters already perceive weaknesses. You've got to go after the other guy's strengths. That's how you win."

That's not what he does at all. In fact, it's something quite different all together. Rove has developed a campaign of projection in which he tars his opponents with his own candidates' weaknesses and then attacks them.

He attacks Kerry for phony heroism thirty years ago when just last year his own candidate had himself filmed in a little costume prancing around on an aircraft carrier pretending he'd won a war that had only begun. But, by tarring Kerry with using war as a PR stunt for his own personal gain, people can process the uncomfortable feelings they are experiencing about Iraq as not really being caused by Junior, but by his rival who is the real shallow opportunist who only pretends to be a man of proven leadership and experience.

[NEOBuckeye]

1. Rove is total slime

Forget Bush. Why can't/doesn't Kerry take issue with the man behind the curtain?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. It doesn't do any good to attack Rove

it's Bush's negatives that you want to drive up.

[LisaL]

4. Because most people don't know

Rove even exist?
It's like fighting the shadow, what's good is that going to do?

[A_Possum]

3. So I guess we can assume...

That Bush is a lying, cowardly, document-falsifying, do-nothing, liberal flip-flopper?

You might have something there.

I'm trying to work around the "liberal" ;)

[emulatorloo]

15. switch liberal w conservative - BUSH IS OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM

EOM

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. *

[physioex]

6. Same tired old strategies from Walrus....

We are on to you fatso and it's going to fail miserable this time....

[smirkymonkey]

7. Herr Doktor Roverer needs to be dragged out into

public and examined under the light of truth.

Exposing him and his dirty tricks is important if we want to win this election. People need to know they are being manipulated and see the ugly underbelly of the Bush* administration.

[seabeyond]

8. also they listen to what kerry says, then say it themselves

kerry says they are afraid to talk issues, they have nothing to run on, bushco come out saying it later. i have watched they do it with everything. it null and voids what kerry has said

[Jade Fox]

12. Yes, they've been totally following Kerry's lead for awhile now....

Witness the whole "sensitive" thing. Yesterday there was a post on DU
about Bush describing himself as crying, laughing, and hugging. Oh. So
now he's Mr. Sensitive Guy. Used to be all he did was clear brush from his
ranch and hang tough when confronted with Evil Doers.

[rocktivity]

9. And Rove expected to get away with it indefinitely because...?

The Smear-Boat Liars For Bush scam would have been Rove's crowning glory if they hadn't all LIED, and if there weren't illegal ties between them and the Bush camp. Anything negative that Bush does from now on is going to look like just another scam--VERY bad news with the GOP convention roughly 36 hours away!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Erika]

10. Where was Bush and Bros during Nam?

No one knows but they do know it was stateside.

[yardwork]

11. I've noticed this exact same thing!

Rove has done this for years.

It's extremely difficult to defend against projection.

Interestingly, projection is a common characteristic of people with personality disorders. It's common in abusive relationships, also.

[Blue_Roses]

19. he did this to Ann Richards years ago

tried to label her as a drunk when ironically all the while they were hiding dubya's DWI record.

[fob]

13. So taking this a step further we can look at past races and glean some of

bush*s personal info.

bush* v Ann Richards - smeared Ann with lesbian charges = bush* is gay?

bush* v McCain - smeared John with "black baby" and "not mentally fit" and "abandoned his country in Hanoi Hilton" = bush* has fathered an illegitimate child, crazy and went AWOL/Deserted?

bush* v Gore - smeared Al with "serial liar" and "uncomfortable in own skin" = bush* is a constant liar and to quote bush* himsself "I'm basically a media creation"?

bush* v Kerry - smeared John with "lied about Vietnam service", "unfit tot serve" = bush* is hiding/lying about HIS TANG service and is incompetent?

Well that checks out 100%!! I'd say yes on all 4 accounts. (Clarification on Edit: If you work backwards from today to Ann Richards race, it matches perfectly, so while I don't have evidence that bush* is gay (not that there's anything wrong with that), the pattern is too soslid NOT to think that there's nothing there, so I'll call it confirmed through circumstantial evidence)

[0rganism]

14. It's his own version of a "doctrine of pre-emption"

and he does it because it works.

It's low, it's shitty, it's despicable, and the American people eat it up like a cat licking a puddle of anti-freeze.

[emulatorloo]

16. My favorite is when Halliburton Cheney said Kerry lacks convictions

about right and wrong.

http://www.kctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2160173



I have thought this for a long time - they project their worst qualities on thier opponents and attack attack attack. Thanks for posting the link, it articulates it better than I ever have

[0rganism]

17. and to have Unca Dick say this is a masterpiece of irony

It could have been any of them, from McLellan to Card to Ashcroft, but they got Dick to say it. Man, that takes some nards of steel.

[citizen]

18. Why aren't we condemning Bush's Carrier lies in Political Ads

You are right on about Rove's tactics. The most damnable images and lies of the Bush administration were delivered as a part of his military masquerade. I don't understand why the Dems are not capitalizing on those images and lies in political ads.

When the DNC ran their ad competition prior to the convention, I submitted this ad (Warning - it's a big file - high speed access only):



While this is hardly the scathing inditement that I would have liked to submit, the party mantra prior to the Convention was not to 'go negative'. The ads that were selected as finalists (by none other than CNN's Paul Begala) were so weak it was pathetic!

It's obvious that we have to go negative, and that Bush has given us plenty of ammunition to go negative about without having to resort, as he did, to hiring a band of liars.

I'm in Ohio, and the only negative ads I see are attacking Kerry. Why are the Dems not blasting Bush in political ads? Clearly, the 'liberal media' is not going to tell the whole truth so we have to.

[randr]

20. This is exactly the Rove approach!

A little of their own medicine would work just fine:
Bush is an elitist.
Bush can not make up his own mind.
In the 60's we had the "draft dodger" name calling.
We need to start to call the Bushites "tax dodgers"!

[citizen]

21. Tax Dodgers!

I love the idea of referring to Bush and his cronies as Tax Dodgers!

They have mastered the art of avoiding any "tax", whether paid in dollars, in service, or in fundamental responsibility to humanity.

Great concept! I will use it....