Surprise For NYT: BERNIE IS ELECTABLE!

[MFrohike]

134. Pure comedy

The Clinton team went negative early and often. If Paul Tsongas was alive, you could ask him. I do believe he held a grudge against the Clintons to the day he died for their attacks on his health.

As for Clinton's perceived electability during the primary season, you're wrong. He was seen as a young upstart who needed more seasoning before he made a serious bid. Tsongas, Brown, and Kerrey were seen as the adults in the room. Clinton outworked everybody and his native charisma kept him in play in New Hampshire. After that, he kept outworking everybody and kept charming everybody and managed to get the nomination. It had nothing to do with perceived electability. It had everything to do with work and charm. If you honestly think he was seen as electable before New Hampshire, then maybe you can explain why he labeled himself the Comeback Kid after coming in second. The electable guy wouldn't need to do that.

Willie Horton was arguing in favor of public safety? At the risk of making such a "common" charge, you're lying and you know it.

You shouldn't cite 2010 because it only hurts you. Turnout was far higher in that midterm than is common. Democrats had substantially elevated turnout and Republicans had ridiculous turnout. The GOP voters were most definitely motivated by negative advertising, whether through traditional commercials or Fox News. It's just stupid to argue that somehow their failures in the senate validate your milquetoast idea that negative campaigning doesn't work when their participation rates in that election topped 50%. 50% in a midterm. 82.5 million voted in 2010. Let's not pretend that happened because people caught a sudden case of civic virtue.

If Americans have more tolerance for negative campaigning at the Congressional level than the Presidential level, somebody should tell the Swiftboaters. Or they could tell Lee Atwater, the original Karl Rove. Or maybe they could tell Karl Rove himself, the source of the McCain had a black baby rumor in South Carolina in 2000. Or they could tell Tricky Dick and the boys from CREEP who were busy tearing down Eagleton over mental health issues. Maybe they could tell John Kennedy and Al Smith, who both had to deal with rumormongering that each was going to install the Pope into the White House. Given all that, even with the Kennedy win, it's ridiculously naive at best to claim negative campaigning doesn't work. The trick is plausible deniability, not failing to go negative.