[The Montreal Gazette,
Canada]
Kommersant,
Russia
The Politics of
Smear in America
"It's been a long time since we witnessed such a fascinating
presidential campaign on the United States …
The American election is a unique mixture of drama and soap opera, a
mudslinging-struggle over ideals, well edited truths and even more carefully
constructed lies."
By Nikolay
Zlobin*
Translated By Igor
Medvedev
October 7, 2008
Russia - Kommersant -
Original Article (Russian)
It's been a long time since we witnessed such a
fascinating presidential campaign in the United States. An African American has
never been so close to leading the world’s top power - and it's the last time a
hero of the Vietnam War - which has had
such a monumental impact on the American psyche - will run. The era of
"Vietnam" is passing, and only John McCain can extend it. Neither has
an American woman - never mind a former first lady - been able to win the
support of 19 million voters. Moreover, never in the United States has a woman
been so close to the Vice President's chair. The current election is a unique
mixture of drama and soap opera, a mudslinging-struggle over ideals, well
edited truths and even more carefully constructed lies.
As they say in America,
victors don't win elections, the other aspirants lose them. And that's one area
in which these elections are no exception. It has to be won on TV screens by
undermining the competitor with compromising information and by forcing him
into fighting to preserve his reputation. The task isn't to prove the
truthfulness of your statements as it is to knock the wind out of your
opponent.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
A McCain-Palin supporter shows her colors.
To do this, it's
more desirable to be elegant, subtle. Stupid charges of say, money laundering
or old romantic indiscretions aren't enough. I recall the furor Bush Jr. created in 2000 when during an election
debate, he brought up the issue of Russian corruption and dropped the name of
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin [1992-1998 
]. His
Democratic opponent, Albert Gore, took some time to recover before he continued
the dialog. In doing so, Gore decided not to raise the issue of Russia again.
This despite the fact that Gore and Chernomyrdin were co-chairs of the famous
Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission. By dropping the name of Chernomyrdin at the right
time, Bush - who had only traveled abroad twice - convinced Americans that he
had a better grasp of global affairs than Gore, who had visited dozens of
countries during his eight years as vice president. [This is the debate in
which Bush decries the idea of 'nation-building. He brings up Russian
corruption at 00:39:09 - WATCH 
].
The same happened
four years later, when John Kerry accused Bush of secretly owning a lumber
mill. This sounded so silly that even the most ardent opponents of George W.
Bush left the subject alone. It had become clear that Kerry had already lost
and that this was his political death thrall. However, Bill Clinton’s answer to
the accusation that he smoked marijuana in his youth was one for the history
books. Everyone knew this was true and were ready to pounce on him for lying.
But Clinton outwitted them all. "Of course," he said, "I smoked
marijuana. But I didn’t inhale." And he became president of the United
States.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Candidates don’t
need to convince their supporters. They have to convince those who want to vote
for your opponent and the undecided. The latter comprise about 20 to 30 percent
of the electorate. It's for their benefit that smear campaigns are waged. This
is a war in which months of high ratings can be wiped out in an instant.
Because elections aren’t won in August, September or October, but on the first
Tuesday in November of every leap year.
*Nikolay Zlobin, director of the
Russia and Eurasia Project, World Security Institute.
CLICK HERE FOR RUSSIAN
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US October 7, 4:36pm]
