Attack Politics 101

Republicans who are ready to throw the wildest accusations at President Obama should take some advice on the art of the political attack from Tony Blair.

Republicans who are ready and eager to throw the wildest accusations or insults at President Obama should take some advice on the art of the political attack from Tony Blair.

In his new memoir, A Journey, Blair writes of how he handled his Conservative Party opponents:

So I defined Major as weak; Hague as better at jokes than judgment; Howard as an opportunist; Cameron as a flip-flop, not knowing where he wanted to go. ... Expressed like that, these attacks seem flat, rather mundane almost, and not exactly inspiring—but that’s their appeal. Any one of those charges, if it comes to be believed, is actually fatal. Yes, it’s not like calling your opponent a liar, or a fraud, or a villain or a hypocrite, but the middle-ground floating voter kind of shrugs their shoulders at those claims. They don’t chime. They’re too over the top, too heavy, and they represent an insult, not an argument. Whereas the lesser charge, because it’s more accurate and precisely because it’s more low-key, can stick. And if it does, that’s that. Because in each case, it means they’re not a good leader. So game over.