Reply #8: It's basic PR work. [View All]

The Republicans manipulate the media until everyone "knows" that Clinton is unelectable, just as they "knew" that Gore was a delusional liar.

She's quite electable. As you say, she's intelligent, likable, humorous, and everything else you could want in a candidate.

But the Republicans have one basic strategy, taken straight from Sun Tsu: Turn your opponent's strength into their greatest weakness. With Bill Clinton, his greatest strength was his competence, so they created the "slick" meme, to make people think that the competence was fake. With Gore, his tremendous record of foresight and achievement were turned into jokes about him "inventing the Internet" and "discovering Love Canal." With Kerry, his war heroism was turned into selfish opportunism. The Republicans create false personas for their opponents, so that whenever their opponent tries to play up their greatest strength, the people laugh and think of it as a weakness.

They are doing the same thing to Clinton, and it's being bought not just by mainstream America, but by the very liberals who should be her core supporters. If she pours on the charm, they make people think she is disingenuous. If she shows reason and experience on an issue, they make people think she is "triangulating." If she takes a liberal position, they make people think she is just trying to fool liberals since she is really a conservative.

She's very electable. That's why they work so hard on creating the "unelectable" meme. And people will fall for it, as they fell for the lies about Gore and Kerry and Bill Clinton and Ann Richards and Ralph Yarborough (1970), and Ron Kirk (Texas candidate for Senate), and Max Cleland... Funny thing is, after the Democrats are defeated, everyone can see it. If Clinton loses, she will again become a liberal hero and martyr, as Gore and Kerry did. But until then, the Republican memes will shape even Democratic opinions of her.

It's frustrating to watch. It's like watching America be lied into a second war with Iraq, after watching them get lied into the first war with Iraq. Once you see it happening, it's obvious, and it's even more infuriating that others don't understand.