By Kevin Foley
“Remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
— George Costanza, 'Seinfeld'
So it is the Republican Party leaders have adopted the ethos of one of television’s biggest goofballs in deciding to go all in on a communications strategy of deceptive and deceitful race-baiting.
It was a shocking departure for this once great political party that gave America towering figures like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower – all men of dignity, wisdom and integrity.
The astonishing spectacle of one national GOP leader after another taking the stage in Tampa to deliver lies and disgraceful distortions about the current administration offered Americans a frightening look at just how low the Romney campaign is prepared to go to win this election.
It’s also an ominous harbinger of what Americans can expect from Romney if he’s elected.
Where is a guy as smart as Romney going with this? All these lies and distortions are easily debunked, so who is he trying to fool?
Low information voters, that’s who.
We’re talking about LIVs who, for any number of reasons, aren’t paying close attention to what’s going on in this election cycle; people working two blue-collar jobs, or single moms with several kids to worry about, or a young bachelor chasing girls, or seniors who just don’t care.
These are folks who might or might not vote in November, or who think the political system isn’t relevant in their lives, or who will have to see if they can get the time off from work to vote, or who live in assisted living and need a ride to the polling place if they remember to ask for one.
The margin for victory is going to be razor thin in November, with the 15 to 20 percent in the middle, the undecided’s and independents, undoubtedly making the difference for one party or the other. Among this electorate are many LIVs and Romney knows it.
That’s why, absent any real policy ideas, he’s pushing his Obama-abolished-work-requirements-for-welfare canard in an ad running in all the swing states.
The spot hopes to anger working class whites including retirees – many of them LIVs – by suggesting in no uncertain terms that “lazy blacks on welfare” are getting a “free handout” from a black president in exchange for their votes. It dredges up Ronald Reagan’s shameful “welfare queen” and the “young buck” waiting in line for his welfare check imagery.
Can “Willie Horton” be far behind?
In fact, Obama responded in the affirmative to requests from Republican governors seeking to loosen welfare restrictions in their states.
Set up? Maybe.
In any event, the ad’s bogus claims have been upended by every fact checker as a cold-blooded, racially tinged lie. Nevertheless it was repeated by vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in his acceptance speech, one of seven lies Ryan told as confirmed by Associated Press.
So the racial Rubicon has been crossed by the Romney campaign. Expect more and worse deceptive and deceitful race baiting in the weeks ahead as the Republican party moves to make the color of the president’s skin its primary target.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. |