The Republican Primaries: Mudslinging

The battle waged by GOP candidates during the campaign for the South Carolina caucus, and which continues in Florida, is just the beginning. Of what? The political assassination of the rival. Bring out the firing squad.

After biting the dust in previous primaries, look at how Newt Gingrich defeated — more than defeated — Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s favored candidate. He won by focusing his energy and money on disparaging and smearing Romney: The same Romney who made a fortune butchering enterprises when he was head of investment funds at Bain Capital, who is too moderate to govern the United States, whose ideals are more in line with the Democrats’ than those held by militant Republicans, and finally the same Romney who is a tiny bit socialist, demonstrated by the health insurance plan he put in place when he was governor of Massachusetts. In short, Gingrich defeated his opponent by firing at him from all sides.

In order not to be outdone, and since all candidates have already clashed in Florida, Romney launched a counter-offensive in line with Gingrich’s in South Carolina. OK then, if we must be dirty let’s do it right: Gingrich is possessed with destructive forces as evidenced by his past as leader of the Republicans in Congress in the ‘90s, he abandoned his first two wives when they were battling illness and he was a consultant for Freddie Mac in the subprime mortgage crisis. He is not disciplined enough to observe the duties that such a long campaign requires. He is so fickle that he produces an idea a minute but remains incapable of integrating them and still less of applying them.

The recent unfolding of this battle illustrates a somewhat unhealthy political culture. It’s a culture that Karl Rove deployed as senior adviser to George W. Bush during his run for Texas governor in the mid-‘90s. To put it plainly, Rove’s strategy consisted of misinforming Texas voters by telling lies and making up stories 48 hours before voting day to beat then-governor Ann Richards. During the 2000 primaries Rove struck again, this time targeting John McCain. Each time, this political perversity proved profitable.

Not long ago, in an article that appeared in the New York Times, the author highlighted recent political campaign studies that confirm it’s easier to smear the opponent than to, say, exchange ideas. We know that smear tactics have always been around, but in the last 16 years their use has rarely reached the level seen in the United States over the last week. Romney, Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have exchanged more accusations than ideas on how to recover economic activity. They have spent more time hurling insults at each other than they have on discussing foreign policy. They have conducted more witch-hunts than they have held talks about environmental or other issues. In fact, they are throwing such low blows that they have transformed the political arena into pitiful theater.