Al Ries and Jack Trout were marketing pioneers; we all now know about “positioning” and “branding”. Their premise is that, for instance, it doesn’t matter if “Pillsbury’s Best” flour is better than “Gold Medal”; it only matters that the customer thinks its better. Their mantra is marketing is not a battle of product – it’s a battle of perception.
What I’ve seen is the GOP taking this theory, and applying it to politics: it doesn’t matter if the policy is any good; it only matters that the voter thinks it’s good. As a result, we’ve ended up with policies like the “Clear Skies” initiative, that allows more pollution – not less, and “Healthy Forests” which is really healthy if you own a lumber company.
The GOP does this over and over and over. Today, we’re seeing it again, and today’s version is the Swiftboating of Al Franken. The GOP is throwing slime at Al Franken’s greatest strength, and they don’t care if it’s true or not; they only care that voters think it’s true.
I just got back from a long road trip to play a whole bunch of golf. The highlight was a memorial tournament for an old boss of mine. Keeping in the nostalgia mood, I brought along a copy of Al Franken’s “Lies – And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them” for a re-read. A couple of thoughts hit me as I went through the book; one of which is the more things change the more they stay the same.
In Al’s chapter called “Who Created The Tone?”, Franken discusses how candidate Bush talked about changing the tone in Washington, D.C.; about being a uniter and not a divider. Meanwhile, GOPer surrogates were providing plenty of nasty tone. For instance, they were providing the push-polling used against John McCain in South Carolina – it doesn’t get much nastier than that. Fast-forward to today, and Norm Coleman is saying “We need uniters, not dividers” while his surrogates are doing everything they can to divide, and as divisively as they can.
Later, in Al’s Chapter called “I Grow Discouraged About The Tone”, Al discusses how divided – partisan, if you will – Washington, D.C. had become. And we all know it has become and not just in Washington, D.C.; for instance, a high school friend accused me of being a “TRAITOR!” for opposing Iraq. I had to remind him that I was the one that had enlisted for service; not him. Is anyone reading this actually encouraged about the tone in politics, today?
Later in the book, Al discussed the Wellstone-Coleman campaign of 2002, and how the GOP went extremely negative. Coleman tried to position himself above the fray; distancing himself from his surrogate’s dirty work. Sound familiar?
Throughout the book, Al clearly demonstrates the mendacity, the lies, that are so coldly and calculatedly tossed out by the GOP. In the beginning, Al lays out a pathology of the smearing of Al Gore. Today, they’re smearing Al.
And it is a Swiftboating; Al’s well-know for his honesty. So, they attack his strength. That’s the essence of a Swiftboating; attack the strength with reckless disregard for the truth. Honesty is out the window in today’s GOP, as their operatives only care that the voter thinks the smears are true. It’s wrong; it must be stopped – and the only way to stop it is at the ballot box. This latest attack on Al Franken has only steeled my resolve to beat Norm Coleman.
(this post originally published at MnBlue.com)
Two Putt Tommy 