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Saturday, February 14, 2004
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"LET'S MAKE THE BASTARD DENY IT!"
During one of his early congressional campaigns, Lyndon Johnson was running against a man who had made his fortune in pig farming. Johnson urged his aides to plant a story in the Texas media suggesting that the opponent had enjoyed carnal relations with his livestock.
"We can't do that, Lyndon!", the aides complained. "It's wrong and it's not true."
"I don't care!", responded Johnson, "Let's make the bastard deny it."
Cut to today.
 
What Lyndon Johnson knew back in the 1940's is still true today. The denial is just as damaging as the accusation. Even if the accusation is false, responding to it (and a modern candidate must respond to it) is an acknowledgement of it. And God help you if the denial is false. You can ask Bill Clinton about that.
The Kerry/intern story is building nicely, despite his denial. The story is moving along a perfect trajectory, from the Internet, to the British media, to the American tabloids (tabloids meaning the format, ie the New York Post as opposed to the National Enquirer.) Within the next couple of days, you can expect the cable news networks to pile on and then, and only then, will the broadsheet press cover the story. Once that happens, whether the allegations are true or not, Kerry is doomed. The campaign will be consumed with the precise location of the candidate's gentitallia at every moment over the last three years. Kerry will be terminally off message.
Gary Hart remembers this well. He was a front runner once, too. I think he's pumping gas in suburban Denver now.
On the other hand, the politically pure of you can take solace in the knowledge that American politics isn't as nasty as it gets. You have to go to Russia for that.Just imagine for a moment that John Kerry disappeared for the better part of a week and then reappeared in a foreign country with a tale that he had been drugged, kidnapped and forced to make gay porn.
You might not need to imagine it for long. Karl Rove might be taking notes.
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