The Column They Wouldn't Run!

In addition to freelance writing, I am a staff columnist for the local paper in Jerseyville, Illinois, and have been for the past four years. As an independent/liberal I often bump up politically against the owner and publisher, who are conservative. For the past few months, the paper has published an steady stream of columns and letters by the local Tea Party and 9/12 groups, with no balance from other parties or interests. So, in response, I wrote the following column. The owner refused to publish it. So, here it is:

Dodge trucks are…

By Stephanie Abbajay

Repeat after me: Obama is a Muslim. Obama is a socialist. Obama is not an American citizen. Say it over and over again. Hmmm. Still not true. Say it again, and louder this time. Still not true. Well, It doesn’t matter, because in many quarters of American politics, truth is beside the point.

This tactic has been used for decades. Why? Because it works. I first learned this back in 1987, when I was fresh out of college and living in Washington, D.C. The presidential primaries were in full swing, and my roommates and I were in the thick of it: I was working for one of the most conservative Republican political consultants in town (he had been Jessie Helms’ foreign policy advisor); one of my roommates worked on the Bush-Quayle campaign; and the other worked for the great Republican political consulting firm Black Manafort Stone and Kelly, which ran all the big Republican campaigns.

To train its young operatives, several of the Republican consultants ran a campaign college. The first day of class, the teacher walked in and said simply, “Dodge trucks are.” Then he waited. He said it again. “Dodge trucks are.” A few people sheepishly replied, “Ram tough?” The instructor smiled broadly and, in an encouraging voice, said, “Dodge trucks are?” and the class responded, “Ram tough!” Again and again the instructor said it and again and again the class responded until people were screaming in unison, “Dodge trucks are ram tough! Dodge trucks are ram tough!”

The instructor quieted the room. He then said in a serious voice, “Are Dodge trucks ram tough? Who knows? Who cares? Doesn’t matter. If you say it enough, it’s true.” Class had begun.

From that starting point, students were taught the consultants’ cardinal rules of campaigns and politics: First, you win by destroying your opponent. Second, appeal to the base, and play on their fears and emotions. Third, if you say it enough times, it becomes true. Fourth, speak in platitudes and don’t worry about details.

Now, this is no secret. These are tried and true tactics. Any student of politics knows that you have to play hardball. Politics is a contact sport, where all’s fair. But right now, the shrill and ignorant rhetoric of several of the parties, candidates and talking heads has reached a deafening crescendo. I have never heard anything like it, and it has gotten to the point where I am actually uncomfortable. For example, when I hear people say that our president is a socialist or a Muslim or not an American citizen, I am just embarrassed for them. Really? You honestly believe that?

As much as I am disturbed by this, I am, at the same time, impressed with how well these political groups know their base and cater to its deepest and darkest fears. These operatives know that in order to win they have to motivate their base. And in order to do that, they have to create a monster so scary, so anathema to their base’s sense of self that they will ignore all reason, all truth, all evidence to the contrary. That monster is a black socialist Kenyan Muslim indoctrinated at an al-Qaeda funded Indonesian madrassa who wants to raise their taxes and reach into their wallets so he can give free health care to the illegal immigrants who are taking all their jobs. 


And the base took the bait, hook, line and sinker. People actually believe this stuff. It’s impressive in a really, really scary way.

But as impressive as it is from a politically operational standpoint, at some point, someone has to stand up and say, come on, enough is enough. Obama himself has repeatedly said enough is enough, but no one listens to him because he’s the president and that’s yesterday’s news. Plus he’s an illegal Muslim socialist immigrant, and who listens to them?

But hark! Suddenly, two sane voices rise above this chorus of insanity to urge calm and civil discourse. Who are they? The country’s most popular comedians, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

With their Oct. 30 “Rally to Restore Sanity,” Stewart says, “We're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point.”

It says a lot about the state of a country’s political dialogue when the comedians are the ones calling for measured discourse. They’d never graduate from campaign college with that attitude, that’s for sure.

Stephanie Abbajay is not a socialist or a Muslim. And she was born in Toledo. And that’s Ohio, not Spain.