Responses Quotes

This quotation is the root of a great dilemma for all politicians who are attacked on a personal level. Most slanders are soon forgotten. The politician who reacts and publicly counters the slander inevitably does two things. More people become aware of the slanderous charges then there is a public battle over it, and the media tend to report the contest and hence the slanderous charge for a longer period of time than if it were uncontested. However sometimes the undefended charge is perceived as being true especially if it is a major charge. If the politician does not defend, the charge can get accepted and damage the politician’s standing. In the Kerry-Bush Prudential campaign, Kerry had the edge until the so-called Swiftboat Veterans made up a fictitious tale of Kerry, a decorated war hero, being a coward in the Vietnam war. Kerry thought the charge so preposterous that he didn’t bother to defend it. His lack of reaction was taken by much of the public as his admission of the charge. Kerry’s hero image was destroyed by a large enough proportion of the electorate that the electoral votes shifted to Bush, even though Kerry had the most votes by far. For each politician, the decision must be made for each charge and there is no clear way to know in advance which is the better strategy when a false charge is made.

Jabotinsky was a strong advocate of the Jewish Zionist movement not concerning itself with moral lapses and excessive zeal as many of the idealistic Zionists did, looking for a kind of Jewish Utopia. He argued that the British had done awful things when their national interest was threatened and the Arabs were far worse than almost any group of peoples. Therefore, the Zionists were entitled to use the methods of the other nations and Jews should not be the only people on earth that should be castigated for conquering a land and people. He particularly thought that even the United States which was better than almost all other nations had killed the Indian and driven him out of his own land. Why not the Jews? There has always, since he wrote this, been a minority of Zionists and Israelis who agree with the Jabotinsky view, but his view has never become a majority position of policy of Zionism or Israel.

This famous quotation illustrates the perfect political reply to a personal attack. In one short sentence, Lincoln denied the charge, obtained the sympathy of the audience, demonstrated that he was not stuck-up, entertained the crowd, and gave everyone there a story to tell about him afterward—the perfect oratorical response.

Taft was a jurist whose tendency was to respond to each point his opponent made and argue it logically and then to on to the next point much as in a formal debate. However, Bryan was a very dynamic speaker who was a populist and demagogue. Roosevelt who could debate logically or thunder like a demagogue was of the opinion that you should not let a demagogue control the agenda in a campaign. Trying to answer was futile. Instead attack the demagogue where he is weak and stay on the attack. This was hard for Taft to do as he was not the skilled speaker or politician that TR was. Taft won, but Roosevelt was actively campaigning for him and attacking Bryan. The notion of attack, as Theodore Roosevelt used it was NOT negative campaigning. Roosevelt did not attack Bryan personally or make ad hominum arguments. What he advocated was that when Bryan made a speech and criticized a policy that Taft supported, instead of answering him point by point, as one would do in a debating society (at which Taft excelled) attack some of the worst policies that Bryan was advocating or had advocated. Control the agenda so that Bryan would have to answer Taft’s criticism, not the other way around.