House Majority Whip shot at congressional baseball field

[Dill]

(06-16-2017, 06:43 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Do you are saying in example one that you believe suggesting a lexicon is something unique to Republicans?  And you are saying you searched the internet, and came up with nothing the left does that compares to lexicons and push polls?

1. Gingrich's lists are not simply a "lexicon." They are designed to infuse political discussion with an accusatory tone. And they are put forward because Gingrich and others thought that tone was lacking. They wanted to up the level of anger.  Also, it's not just his list. He was helped by someone else, and the point was to provide a model to be adopted party wide. The list was not the usual drawing up of specific talking points to keep people on message, which both parties do. It was a deliberate adoption of attack-style political debate, meant to be a permanent innovation.

 2. So far as I know, there is no such tactic deployed by Democrats since Watergate. It could be someone tried to copy it. But I am unaware of any such attempt to come up with a list of pejorative adjectives and phrases and then deploy it party wide. It could be back in the 30s some Communist group did it, or maybe some anti-war protestors in the 60s.  If someone finds a similar list or tactic on the part of the Democrats, that is not just the usual dissemination of talking points to keep people on message but intended to increase overall hostility, then I will withdraw that example. I add that occasionally, individual politicians and media commentators have reasoned they too should adopt a similar combative mode. I am not aware that it has worked anywhere for Democrats.
 
3. Regarding push polls, no I am not aware of Democrats using them before Rove. I am not aware of them using push polls after Rove either, at least not under the control of the DNC. There could be PAC and other organizations doing so, but if so they have not been the precedent-setting, character-assasination type pioneered by Rove. A blogger named Nolan Dalla claims a push poll was used on him by Democrats in Nevada in 2016. Not the character assassination type though. Someone on Quora also claims Dems do, but offers no examples. As I look back over the last 5 decades of following politics, no, I don't see anything like Rove's push polls on the Dem's side.

4. My examples are not exhaustive, by the way. I can think of some more. E.g. Lee Atwater's Willie Horton ad which helped GW Bush win. That broke a civil boundary as well, back in the 80s.  A step towards Gingrich and the 90s.

An additional note--I do not consider the Democratic party a left party. It includes leftists, like Bernie, because of the two party system. But the last two presidential nominees, Hillary and Obama, are not "leftists."  The party is largely centrist with some center left voters. So I am comparing centrists and rightists, with a view to whether and how their ideas set the tone for political behavior within the party. I do not see much leftist influence on the Democrats, except through Elizabeth Warren and Bernie. They are not good examples of uncivil behavior. They work to discourage rather than encourage it.