How politics is done: demonization

Interesting article from Politico:

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.

Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.

This is politics. Find out through polling that a particular constituency doesn't like someone that disagrees with you. Demonize him and make him the face of your opponents, painting them with the same broad brush. From Jefferson and Hamilton (who were not saints) to Carville and Greenberg (and Ann Coulter, who does a lot of this as well)--my how far we've come.

Also, how many Democrats wanted Bush to "fail" just like Limbaugh wants Obama to fail? I guarantee you Carville and Greenberg did. At least Limbaugh is transparent about it rather than sneaking around with focus groups and polls, hatching "enemies list" style plans from inside the White House.

In some ways, I hope Obama fails too. I hope he fails in this attempt to transfer wealth from the younger generation to the older through outrageous deficits. I hope he fails to undermine charities, who do the yeoman's work of compassion in this country, by taking away the charitable tax deduction for those earning more than $250K/year. I hope he fails to reward those who made irresponsible financial decisions with the hard earned money of those who didn't. I hope he fails to increase capital gains taxes and thereby drive investment out of the country. I hope he fails to sell out missile defense in exchange for empty promises from Putin (a former KGB officer, invader of Georgia, and who regards the breakup of the USSR as the most catostrophic event of the last century).

And I would submit that this is exactly what Limbaugh meant, and people like Carville know it. But they also know that they can "win" by demonization because voters don't look that deep (and Rush helps them by being provocative). Hopefully, you will not be fooled by this when it happens, regardless of what camp it comes from.