Drew Westen's "The Political Brain"

[lsanderson]

In his handling of the Swift Boat affair, what Kerry effectively told the American people was what he would do if America were attacked: he would wait an inordinate amount of time until he had gathered enough evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, use polls and focus groups to see what kind of response Americans preferred, and then write our enemies a letter imploring them to stop their terrorist acts immediately.

Sometimes, the meta-message is the message.

More of the review.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. This in particular struck a chord with me: "the failure to ‘go negative’ against an incumbent whose behavior is deeply immoral or destructive to America’s moral authority is itself an ethical failure."

K.