A political tale of 60 years ago pertains today
July 10th, 2008 at 02:08pm Pat Cunningham
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This story, which I’ve run across in several places on the Internet, represents a harbinger of our current presidential campaign season:
In 1948, during his first race for the U.S. Senate, Lyndon Johnson was running about 10 points behind, with only nine days to go. He was sunk in despair. He was desperate. And it was just before noon on a Monday, they say, when he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference for just before lunch on a slow news day and accuse his high-riding opponent, a pig farmer, of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children.
His campaign manager was shocked. “We can’t say that, Lyndon,” he supposedly said. “You know it’s not true.”
“Of course it’s not true!” Johnson barked at him. “But let’s make the bastard deny it!”
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4 Comments Add your own
1. Menlo Bob | July 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ha, Johnson was a piece of work. Here’s another one, this time involving your heart-throb and Lyndon Johnson syncophant Bill Moyers.
“Only a few weeks before the 1964 election, a powerful presidential assistant, Walter Jenkins, was arrested in a men’s room in Washington. Evidently, the president was concerned that Barry Goldwater would use that against him in the election. Another assistant, Bill Moyers, was tasked to direct Hoover to do an investigation of Goldwater’s staff to find similar evidence of homosexual activity. Mr. Moyers’ memo to the FBI was in one of the files.”
2. Henry | July 10th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I have no idea what your post means. But if, by chance, you are referring to dirty tricks, we can talk about Richard Nixon. There is plenty to talk about there.
3. redrover | July 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
The Founding Finaglers knew all about this sort of tactic:
SEE:
The Founding Mudslingers
By Edward J. Larson
The Washington Post, Friday, July 4, 2008; Page A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070302452.html
So did Machiavelli.
SEE:
Worse than Mud
By Danielle Allen
The Washington Post, Thursday, July 10, 2008; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901937.html
4. Milton Waddams | July 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
The difference is now the candidates rely on 527s to do their mudslinging, so they can remain on the “high road”.
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