LogFAQs > #966204835

masterpug53 posted...

Seems like things turned out the opposite way this time. Which, for any political strategist with half a brain, should indicate quite definitively that this tactic doesn't fucking work no matter how you slice it.

It worked exactly one time that Im familiar with, which was in 2012 when Claire McCaskill used attack ads against Todd Akin (you might remember him as the legitimate rape guy) to float him to the front of the GOP Primary before defeating him in the general.

The flip-side of this is that using a tactic of propping up far-right Republicans in an effort to elect centrist Democrats, over the long term, shifts the window of policy-discussion and what sort of behavior or beliefs are normal and acceptable for debate ever rightwardthe fruits of which were demonstrated when McCaskill went on to lose her seat in 2018 to none other than right-wing blowhard and eventual insurrection supporter Josh Hawley.

So even if it did work, which it doesnt most of the time, its a terrible tactic in the long-term.