You’ve already heard about every possible angle on the Mueller report itself. So, I’m not going to write about it. I’ll cover the response. Yes, a lot have also covered it and I’ve read much of it. But they tend to just note the partisan nature of it, quote the players, spin, and move on. Since I’m a guy who used to write those responses, let’s go a little deeper, shall we?
If you’ve heard the Dem reaction then you might notice something canned about it. You’d be right. Because the words and indignation on Mueller, even when he was their deity, were worked out and coordinated months ago at the DNC and various DC offices. The strategy is simply this: No matter what happens, attack and repeat.
The facts don’t matter. What people actually said or did doesn’t matter. What’s in the report doesn’t matter. What matters is repeating a prefab uniform response so many times that simpler folk will believe it. As a bonus, it gives Dem media allies the talking points they need to keep up the fight on their end.
I used to do the same thing when I was a political consultant.
If you come up with a very basic three- to five-word phrase and up to three talking points to detail it, there are a lot of people who will not only buy it but will parrot it at any given opportunity. I put so many morally-challenged people in office with this tactic that certain Mid-Atlantic states in the 1990s, and for about a decade after, were chocked with my little robots who couldn’t think their way out of a rainstorm but could repeat what they were told like walking verbal copier machines. Lawyers were particularly adept at this, as many had no morals to compromise. Party leaders appreciated that.
It’s the Big Lie gambit, used by pols forever. Just make up something ridiculous. Then attack. Then repeat and repeat and when challenged, repeat some more, then change the subject. Next time you see a Dem commenting on the Mueller report, or any pol for that matter, watch how he or she goes right back to the same themes like a dog returns to vomit.
Though, this isn’t easy to achieve. You see many politicians aren’t natural performers or think they can go rogue better than the prefab message. So patient consultants like I once was have to train them like you’d teach a dim-witted schnauzer to fetch. It takes a while. But in the end everyone is happy. They get to massage their egos in office and guys like me get our victory bonuses to blow on all sorts of activities that violate the laws of God and man. The voters? Ummmm, who?
The Mueller kerfuffle is just the latest, but not the last, of exercises in this message discipline. Soon there may be actual robots that repeat catchphrases, slogans, and talking points in a continuous loop at election time. And you know what? Over 80 percent of them would get reelected.
Such is the magic of American politics.
