~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL
About a week ago we posted a story in the Past Week summary about a “smear campaign” coming from a Downing Street official against Conservative leader David Cameron (See: The Past Week: April 5-April 11, 2009 (”President Panytwaist”; A Split Among Progressives over War Spending Plan?; Smear Campaign in Britain; “Sageism”).
According to the piece quoted at the time:
Damian McBride, the PM’s ex-political press officer, quit after the messages were picked up by a Westminster blog.
In them, Mr McBride made obscene and unfounded claims about the personal lives of party leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne.
Well, there are some new developments for Labour as a result of this episode.
Labour set to face polls backlash
4:59am Sunday 19th April 2009
© Press Association 2009Labour is facing new allegations about the “Smeargate” affair as polls revealed how much the row has damaged Gordon Brown’s re-election hopes – with support for the party plummeting.
SNIP
At the same time, polls showed support for Labour slumping dramatically in the wake of the affair, allowing the Tories to extend their lead to up to 19 percentage points.
They showed that trust in the Government had been damaged by the smears disclosures, which have engulfed Labour since they appeared last weekend.
The latest claims were made in the News of the World, which said it had obtained an email proving that Mr Collins chaired a crucial meeting on December 1.
It was also attended by Charlie Whelan, Mr Brown’s former spin chief and the political director of the Unite trade union, whose Westminster offices were used for the meeting.
MORE
This saga going on in the UK brings a question to mind: with all the Chicago-machine hardball being played in Washington these days, not to mention during the primaries, the Presidential campaign and before that, during the Bush Administration…don’t you wonder why this sort of thing doesn’t get any rise out of the electorate here?
Nothing seems to offend people these days unless it’s taxes and bailouts…but in terms of the “politics of personal destruction,” apparently nobody bats an eye anymore here in the U.S.
I don’t know if all began during the Clinton era, but wouldn’t it be a real sea change if smear tactics used here could actually deflate politicians like Obama (who poked around sealed divorce records in Illinois, for example while running for Senate) with the same effectiveness that it seems to have in the UK? And wouldn’t you like to see the “spin chiefs” like Karl Rove and David Axelrod get a good comeuppance?
Filed under: Current Politics | Tagged: "politics of personal destruction", Bush Administration, Chicago-machine hadball politics, Clinton Adminstration, Damian McBride, David Axelrod, Downing Street, former spin chief Charlie Whelan, Karl Rove, Prime Minster Gordon Brown, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, Smeargate, UK Conservative leader David Cameron, UK Labour Party, UK Tories, Unite trade union |
InsightAnalytical -- Watching Our World 
I would love to see the tactics of Rove and Axelrod subjected to a backlash but I don’t see that happening here.
With all that kind of dirt that has been going on in this country the only thing people seem to find objectionable is when it is used against “their” guy or gal.
The tactics by the left are no better than the tactics by the right. Both would rather discuss a candidate’s sex life than their issues or policies. Neither parties followers seems at all interested in holding their people to the same standards they insist the other side must adhere too. Double-standards abound.
I lost hope when I saw many on the PUMA blogs, some blogs, not all, go after the Tea Party folks. What’s with that ❓
After being subjected to the same kind of insults they attacked Tea Parties in the same way and suggested that those people were uninformed or just “Republicans” as if that meant that their concerns of right to protest didn’t matter? What’s with that ❓
Or how about the Obamamedia cretins over at MSNBC who spend days on vile jokes, innuendo and double-entendres. On the Daily Howler bothered to skewer them as they deserved.What’s with that ❓
Having been accused of having dusty-dry nether parts you would think PUMAs would be the first and foremost to find the tea-bagging jokes objectionable. But evidently not. After all, it’s just Republicans and ignorant ones at that. Guess it’s all right then. What’s with that ❓
Marge, you have hit on something important here. I too was shocked at the lack of support for the Tea Parties on PUMA sites, and it raises the larger question of how many of us are in this because we’re pissed off that our country has been hijacked and how many of us are just spewing sour grapes because “our girl” was trampled?
If it is going to survive , the PUMA movement needs to be about the salvation of the US Constitution and the return to the principles of the Founders. We need to remember our rallying cry of “Country before party”, and mean it! There were many, many PUMAs at the protests, and to demean the Tea Parties is to demean your fellow PUMAs.
Time for us to walk our talk!
Abso-damn-lutely Grail! I think that many PUMAs are still just pissed off because of what happened to Hillary Clinton. As they should be. It was disgraceful. Are they as disgusted by what happen to Sarah Palin? Are they as disgusted with a dishonest and dysfunctional media? Are they concerned about the fact that neither party is loyal to the oath they took to uphold and support the Constitution?
Presidents, Senators, Congress People take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. An oldie but a goodie. They do not take an oath to support the Republican or Democratic Party. If they do not honor that oath they should be thrown out of office. Somehow, since I perceive nearly all of them as party loyalists before Americans I don’t see that happening. Is that just me being cynical again ❓
All I can say is that, while the UK has more spy cameras looking at people than just about anywhere, they do have a vibrant press..and radio. The quality of the radio programming is far superior to what’s we’ve go here…as in, every station full of Limbaugh, etc. on the dial. I still believe Europeans, in general, have a less myopic view/knowledge of the world, no matter how crummy their governments are.
Frankly, I think this country will never change. It’s not set up to change. The two-party (one party) system we have is not working and the echo chamber of the media is down to about the 5th grade level.
After reading the smear job that was done on Hillary and Sarah Palin…even going so far as smearing her infant son and her daughters, I can only say that the days of journalistic integrity is gone. The more that is revealed, the more rabid the bloggers become, IMO. I have never been so disgusted as I was when I read blogs of people that I thought I knew, who were smearing Palin’s kids. The most disgusting smear was about her infant son being called a child of infant alcohol syndromel (I did a post about it at the time).
What really kills me is the unbelievable amount of hypocrisy coming from the politicians in Illinois who couldn’t wait to put Gov. Blago away (even though I think he deserves it), and most who voted for his impeachment are up to their eyeballs in corruption and political favors.
Now, we see these same tactics being used in the UK. Maybe I’m naive and this is the way it’s always been…but for some reason, it seems more brutal than ever.
Marge, the cretins over at MSNBC, having crossed the Rubcon, have no where else to go.
They know that those of us who value our Constitution have written them off, so they keep pitchng their wares to the far left and the obots because without them they would have no audience at all.
Like Julius Caesar before them, the die is cast, and they can’t go back. So they will continue their vile jokes that would have gotten anyone else censored before this. They are tolerated because that is the way TPTB want it for now.
We might also wonder why, with all his proven dishonesty as regards Fannie Mae, Countrywide, etc., Obama chooses to bolster Chris Dodd’s re-election efforts. To have him come out so strongly for Dodd this early makes me wonder what Dodd knows that we don’t? He didn’t feel this loyalty towards his fellow Chicogan, Oblago. Knowing that Obama is not a loyal fellow, it makes me wonder. What is there that would cause him to act so out of character? Not simply, as he puts it, because Dodd is having a bad patch. I don’t buy that for one minute.