GOP Coordinated Negative Campaign Tactics

It's difficult to explain how Republicans use a strategy of coordinated negative tactics to suppress turn out for the opposition and inspire turn out of their own base.  Each tactic they use doesn't look all that bad by itself but each one reinforces the other and in combination, has a much more powerful effect.  This way, if they are caught doing one thing, it doesn't really look quite as bad as the overall campaign of dirty tricks.

Essentially, Republicans start by "Narrow Casting" voters. Which means they gather all the data they can on voters like voting history, fishing licenses, gun and hunting licenses, magazine subscriptions, credit/debit card buying patterns, Internet surfing etc.  Most of this data is actually free or has a minimal service charge (driver's license, voter registration, voting history, fishing licenses, gun and hunting licenses are all free or cheap).  They analyze and sort the data according to demographics and political profiling and then target each group with specific persuasion tactics.

For example, they target Democrats and liberals with voter suppression using smears and whisper campaigns.  They target swing voters with persuasion and they target their own base with fear and hate mongering to rile them up and get them to volunteer and turn out the vote on Election Day.

To simplify or paraphrase, they may begin with phony automated telephone calls (robo-calls) from Nancy Peolosi, which claim to be supporting their opposition but actually lays out a platform of "Tax and Spend," "Pro-Abortion," "Pro-Gay Marriage," "Pro-Gun Control," "Pro-Banning the Bible" etc.  They follow that up with push polling which claim to be independent surveys that ask voters would they be more or less likely to vote for a candidate if they support raising taxes, legal abortions, gay marriage, gun control, banning the bible etc.  They begin whisper and smear campaigns on talk radio, news paper articles/editorials FOX News, email etc.  They follow up with targeted and specific direct mailings and negative TV ads that reinforce all the evil things people have been hearing about the Democratic candidate.

If the Democratic candidate isn't burned at the stake by Election day, they are sadly disappointed to find their own base didn't show up as much as they had expected, swing voters didn't swing and radical conservatives showed up to preserve their right to pray in public, which Jesus specifically told us not to do in Matthew 6:5:

Matthew 6:5 (Jesus speaking to his disciples) "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

And that is basically how lying, crooked hypocrites win elections.  It's actually more complicated and subtle.  For example Republicans spend a great deal of time and effort creating and installing "frames" in the public consciousness.  These "frames" are manufactured on a wholesale basis to be used by local Republican candidates to paint their opponents into prefabricated negative frames and paint themselves into positive frames.  Examples of negative frames used by Republicans include: "Flip Flopper," "Tax and Spend," "Death Tax," and "Activist Judges" Positive Republican frames include: "Tax Reform," "Fiscal Responsibility" "Pro-Life," "Smaller Government" and "Family Values"

Republicans use these frames despite the fact they actually deliver bigger government, the worst debt in human history, tax cuts they steal from our children, an expanded tax code, worse abortion rates, corruption and war profiteering.  They don't try to deliver the opposite of what they promise.  It's just that's what we end up with because most Republicans are lying, crooked hypocrites and that's why they have no hesitation just telling people what they want to here to get elected.

The best way to combat this has been debated all over the place and there are many wonderful sounding ideas that will never happen because they are not practical.  What it all boils down to is we have to inform and educate as many people as possible with what the Republicans are doing.  We have to fight back with conviction and never give up.  So please, pass this information on to as many people as you can.

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