from OurFuture.org:
The Chotiner Effect (2)Submitted by Rick Perlstein on September 7, 2007 - 3:34pm.
It's very important for progressives to understand the right's rhetorical bag of tricks, so important that I wish every one of our officeholders could be strapped down and forced to absorb a concise five minute lesson. Really, five minutes, that's all it would take, because the tricks are quite simple and consistent (and yet, as I've noted, previous few of them grasp even the basics). I note below the fifty-year-old Chotiner trick: "when you answer
, do so with an attack of your own against the opposition for having launched it in the first place."
Rudy Giuliani's quick on the case. Brave New Films just released devastating video of the mayor's own emergency response manager explaining, patiently and calmly, with irrefutable proof, how Giuliani lied about placing of his emergency command center in exactly the place his experts insisted it shouldn't be. The AP did a story on the video, which originally said the campaign had no comment.
Then, apparently, they watched it. Pants were soiled. Phone calls were made. The AP story was updated to include the following response was the campaign:
"It's unfortunate that a conspiracy theorist so disconnected from reality would launch a politically motivated hit video to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," said Mike McKeon, a Giuliani spokesman."
This is really smart stuff, lizard-brain stuff: yoking the neutral notion "Giuliani critic" to the noxious notion "9/11 conspiracy theorist." Aimed at many other a progressive organization, I'd fear its reckless disregard for the truth might prove paralyzing. Unfortunately for the Giulianistas, Robert Greenwald is pretty smart, too. This is a fight I look forward to watching. May I suggest a video sequel: "The Real Rudy: 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist"?
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/chotiner_effect_2?tx=3
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