On weekends I like to watch Bill Moyers Journal and NOW on PBS.
“Dirty Politics 2008” was this week’s NOW topic. I have heard about
smear campaigns before, but this program really opened up my eyes (as
the saying goes) to what has been going on for many years. Just imagine
– there are people whose job it is to come up with and spread lies about
opposing candidates running in elections! This is so disgusting!
Here is a quotation about “Dirty Politics 2008” from PBS/NOW’s
website:
"In South Carolina, we know how to run negative campaigns," Rod
Shealy, a veteran campaign strategist who was convicted for violating
campaign laws, tells NOW. "Your challenge as a campaign is to damage
your opponent without getting caught doing it."
Rod Shealy was interviewed for this PBS program; and South Carolina’s
Lee Atwater, who was considered a master of smear tactics, worked on the
campaigns of Reagan and the first Bush. It was said that before his
death caused by brain cancer, Atwater regretted the damage that he had
done during his career.
Isn’t it interesting that the Bible Belt of South Carolina is a
hotbed for the creation of fear tactics and the spread of malicious
lies?! I wonder how many of these good Christian folks have read what
Jesus says about lies and liars: “for he [the devil] is a liar, and the
father of lies” (John 8:44-47), as well as what the Bible says about
love and fear (1 John 4:18)?
