To paraphrase Dickens in the immortal classic A Christmas Carol: “The Duke” was politically dead: to begin with. There is no whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. The Republicans signed it: and the Republicans name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put their hand to. “The Old Duke” was dead as a door-nail”.
And so it would seem: the man was passed. It appeared a surety. It was witnessed and attested to and even bespoken as a fact. There was nothing to change the facts: but…
Though seen to be a surety, the attestation is called into question and that which has been spoken shall now be set aside because the phantasm of the one becomes the Oracle of the other. What is thought gone miraculously appears and what is thought real becomes surreal.
“The Duke” was a mere specter of himself on his initial passing. He was borne across the great sea to haunt the caverns and subterranean grottoes noted for strange and ugly thinking by strange and ugly men and women sharing one unique strange and ugly, soulless existence directed by self-hatred extended outward toward others.
But, as is the case with all ghost stories, “The Duke” is back in the form of a pre-cursor of sorts, a spectral harbinger sent to warn the Republican Party attested to his passing and having sent him off with little fanfare of recognition for what he represented and what he accomplished in life. Now, with his reemergence as a Ghost of Campaigns past, we see the depth of horrors Republicans may come to know.
* RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
* RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
* RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
* RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
* RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management’s wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
* RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
So I’d suggest you look at the field of battle in Scalise’s case and decide for yourself if this argumentative little revelation is a distraction a la Alinsky; or, is it real and therefore worthy of spending your time considering.
This is Scalise’s Ghost of Campaigns past. You can’t prevent all criticism, but you can point out what’s spurious and false: then shut up and move on.
Thanks for listening