Then Eli said this:
I think there will come a point sometime soon when there’s enough of a critical mass of media lie-noting, or calling out of untruths on McCain’s part, that the Obama campaign has an opportunity to work that up into a list of indictments, a sort of bill of particulars. And to say, “Lying about this, lying about that, lying about the Bridge to Nowhere, lying about their experience… Sound familiar? It’s like the lies that the Bush administration told you for the last eight years. It’s like the lies about Iraq…”
That, I think, could be a very heavy anchor to wrap around the necks of Palin and McCain—and, it doesn’t fall prey to any of the cultural shields about sexism and so on. This is about an issue [lying] that everyone can grasp. It doesn’t have anything to do with gender or identity.
It makes sense. My fear? The cynical part of me that believes the American public doesn't want bad news, and will swallow every greasy explanation the Republicans feed them. I fear that Republicans are so good at the "perception is more relevant than truth" game, that as long as someone says it, it's out there, and people believe it in spite of the truth being presented, because the truth comes later.
John Kerry is a coward. Al Gore is an environmentalist nutcase. Obama is a secret Muslim. Obama wants to raise taxes on middle-income families. Obama wants to teach 5 year olds sex ed. Obama is a celebrity with no policy positions. All of these statements are fucking lies, but it doesn't matter because people heard it. At the least, there's doubt in the minds of people who don't look deeper, and doubt is all it takes to draw votes and support.
It's so disappointing. Anyways, I hope Eli is right. [UPDATE: maybe this link shows the beginning of that very thing beginning to happen?] It would dovetail nicely with my belief that the Obama campaign needs to play a similar game - put doubts in the minds of the voters, instead of spending all their time correcting lies. They need to do both, really.
