Dr. Jason Johnson discusses the report that Bob Woodward saying that President Trump called Attorney General Jeff Sessions a “traitor” and a “dumb Southerner.” Other panel are Libby Casey (The Washington Post), and host, Ari Melber.
Professor of Political Science. Politics Editor for The Root. Latest Book: Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell
Dr. Jason Johnson discusses the report that Bob Woodward saying that President Trump called Attorney General Jeff Sessions a “traitor” and a “dumb Southerner.” Other panel are Libby Casey (The Washington Post), and host, Ari Melber.
Dr. Jason Johnson appeared on Talk of the Nation on National Public Radio to discuss his book “Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell.”
With less than six weeks left until Election Day, both presidential campaigns are focusing their efforts on reaching out to voters in crucial swing states. On today’s Political Junkie segment, host Neal Conan and guest political junkie Charlie Mahtesian of Politico discuss how campaigns devise their strategies at gametime. They’ll talk with campaign veteran Matt Schlapp who served as political director for President George W. Bush and Mark Sullivan, founder of the Voter Activation Network, now NGP/VAN, the primary software system for the Democratic party and progressive campaigns. They’ll also recap the week in politics from the congressional recess to the Gingrich endorsement of Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin. Then Jason Johnson, author of “Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell,” joins Neal and Charlie to talk about how political consultants shape campaigns.
Click here to listen to the segment “Crunch Time For Presidential Campaigns” on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
I have long believed that there have been many more gay politicians in higher office in America than we’ll ever hear about. First, because of the ongoing pointless bigotry against homosexuals and second because people’s sex lives, gay or straight, are their own damn business.
Be that as it may, according to a new book out in January, Richard Nixon might be joining Abe Lincoln and J. Edgar Hoover as two of the most prominent American men in politics to have carried on long standing homosexual affairs.
Longtime White House correspondent Don Fulsom’s new book Nixon’s Darkest Secrets suggests that the president and Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, a mobbed up fixer from Florida, had a long term affair that lasted all that way until Nixon’s death in 94’ with Rebozo by his side.
The two apparently used to vacation together a great deal, and were passionate about fishing and of course Broadway Musicals. These are the kinds of leaked stories that will guarantee a book getting some attention when it finally hits shelves in January.
But, if you step back a bit from the story how hard is this to really accept? Powerful politicians have affairs all the time, it didn’t just start with JFK. Also, we are talking about an era when it was much easier for a president to slip off into the night to do whatever he wanted since there was no 24 hour cable news, and the line between press and public office was much higher.
I can’t tell you if I believe Nixon was playing for the other team or not, but think of it this way: If it was revealed that he had a long term affair for years with a woman, a White secretary, a Black house keeper or whomever I don’t think anyone would be shocked. It’s not about the sex itself or the affair, it’s just a matter of what we’ve become used to accepting.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Politic365.com Chief Political Correspondent Jason Johnson ends his blog on Newt Gingrich’s “Winning the Future,” published in 2005
4:46 p.m.
(p. 148) I’m back, ready to knock out my final few pages in the mind of our …. possibly one day president? Gingrich is talking about his innovative “Earn to Learn” program where children in Atlanta area schools could earn up to $3.00 per book they read over the summer. He paid for the program out of his own speakers fees. Which is actually a great idea, if you’ve got private individuals willing to put up the cash to fund it. But, don’t hold you breath.
6:41 p.m.
He just keeps going and going. Chapter 14. Newt is a huge fan of the Internet; in fact he sees it as being the solution to almost every problem of government inefficiency. Medical records should be on-line, teaching should be on-line, and the solution to all campaign finance is just to have contributors post their donations on-line. (p. 181).
I get it – but, like most things he never actually explains how or who will actually organize this wonderful online universe where everyone has information access. Who will maintain it?
More importantly, posting information is very different from citizens being able to do anything with that information. Either way he throws out one of the best slogans of the book to explain how the internet should speed up and improve government service.
“On-Line is better than In-line” (p. 171) after a couple of slow pages on the environment we’re heating back up to big exciting unfunded mandate Gingrich.
Finally, Newt expresses his disdain for the press, and how the Presidential debate commission should be scrapped in favor of Lincoln-Douglas debates between candidates. This is either really innovative on his part, or he’s just lazy because he hates prepping for debates. Interestingly enough, he’s already doing Lincoln-Douglass debates with everyone from Herman Cain to Jon Huntsman, so maybe his plans are coming true.
6:51 p.m.
And the Gingrich Challenge is OV-AH! The conclusion wraps up most of his book, advertises for his website (which is strewn throughout the book) and finally focuses on his New Contract for the 21st century which is a program/platform that will make all of Gingrich’s plans manifest in perfect conservative reality.
After this 4 hour marathon, has my view of Newt Gingrich changed? Do I now view him with softer eyes than the bastard child of Dick Cheney and Glenn Beck that I considered him to be before I started reading?
Not at all. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a very smart guy, a pretty good writer and can explain his ideas with amazing clarity both in prose and on stage. I knew that before I started.
However, what I know now with absolute certainty is that he has great ideas and little or no way to make them happen. Gingrich’s polices exist in a world where Blacks are helpless plebes, government has shrunk but invades your life even more and your average citizen wants to spend their free time sitting on patriotism committees when in reality people fight like mad to avoid jury duty. It is one thing to have unfunded mandates, it is entirely another thing to seek a transformation of American government and society through a contract that ignores the financial, cultural and structural realities on the ground. Whether he becomes the nominee or not, one thing is sure: there is no way that Newt Gingrich is Winning the Future. The man barely has any idea what’s happening in the present.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Good morning class, I trust you all enjoyed your Holiday Break (no Christmas in my class; I’m a warrior in the War on Christmas). Unlike most campaign years, the Republicans are dead set on having a primary early so we don’t have much of a break between the holiday season and the Iowa Caucuses. With the Republican primary season kicking off next Tuesday it’s important that we get in a few lessons before you all get inundated with negative ads, talking points and spin after the first votes are cast.
Today’s lesson is all about defining the opposition, and as a case study we’re going to look at the new DNC ad that’s been running about Mitt Romney. We are going to determine if this is actually a good defining message for the Democrats to use against the presumptive GOP nominee or if the Obama team is just grasping at straws:
Defining Romney as an Out of Touch Scrooge McDuck, a Romney Warbucks if you will? Not a bad message, and certainly one that might resonate with a public that’s Tea Partying and Occupying their way towards the next presidential election. But, what does the actual science of political campaigns tell us?
In my book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, using a survey of over 400 campaign managers from across the country I laid out exactly what they say is the best definition strategy. You have to define your opponent early, before they get a chance to tell the public who they are. More importantly after doing a content analysis of over 30 campaigns over the course of a decade I found the five definitions that you use in any campaign if you want to be successful:
1. Out of Touch: Your candidate doesn’t connect with regular people
2. Too Old, Too Long in Office: Your candidate has outstayed their usefulness in office
3. Incompetent: Your candidate isn’t capable of handling the job
4. Corrupt: Your candidate or their friends are abusing the public trust
5. Inexperienced: Your candidate isn’t ready for the job they seek (at this point)
It is already clear that the Obama campaign is trying to define Mitt Romney as Out of Touch, perhaps because the whole flip-flopper thing wasn’t catching on as well. The former Massachusetts governor isn’t doing himself any favors by constantly talking about how he grew up rich, and making bets for $10,000 with his political rivals (he would have been better off betting a million bucks. At least then people would have thought he was joking. He wasn’t joking about $10,000.)
However the real question is, will this strategy work? Will the Out of Touch message from the DNC actually stick to Romney in the minds of voters compared to any other critical message that may run about him?
I ran a statistical analysis to determine what type of candidate is most likely to roll out the Out of Touch message to attack their opponents and found some interesting results:
How You Define | What Predicts the Definition | Explanation of Strategy |
Out of Touch | Democrat | Democrats are more likely to define opponents as Out of Touch than Republicans |
Out of Touch | Money | Your opponent is more likely to define you as Out of Touch if you have more money than they do |
Out of Touch | Race | You are more likely to be defined as Out of Touch if you are a White candidate facing a minority candidate |
Not only were the strategies above the most often employed, but they also were the most likely to lead to electoral success. So let’s review shall we? We have a Democrat (Obama) running against Mitt Romney (who is has a higher net worth that any other candidate in the race) and he’s a White guy (very obvious). It would seem that the Obama campaign is following the perfect definition strategy to put Romney in the worst light possible before the campaign season even starts.
Now, don’t put your books away and start looking at the clock just yet. Defining your opposition in the proper way doesn’t guarantee you a victory come November, but it does have a significant effect. Definitions that set in early are almost impossible to change, there is little or no chance that Mitt Romney is going to transform himself into a reformer for the people between now and November. He could drink all the beer and take all the hunting photos in the world and it’s not going to make him into an everyman. (Just ask John Kerry.) Romney’s counter is to say that Obama is a nice guy but incompetent, and that Mitt’s Scrooge McDuckiness is just what the nation needs to get back on track economically. It remains to be seen if the public is willing to buy Romney’s counter, because they are certainly picking up on Obama’s first jab.
Alright, we’ll see you again next week after the Iowa Caucuses are over. Just remember that no matter what happens, no matter how well he does, the press will NOT allow Ron Paul to be relevant. Class dismissed!
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and Politics Editor at TheRoot.com. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from … [Read More...] about About Jason Johnson