Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

In 1964 a battle erupted for control of the party that would ultimately generate sweeping implications in the eighties, laying the groundwork for the Reagan revolution.  The eastern wing of the party was told it was not wanted, with its leading figure Governor Nelson Rockefeller being booed while he spoke at the 1964 convention in San Francisco.

As for African American Republicans who had been a part of the party of Lincoln since the Civil War Reconstruction period, angry and unruly racist southern delegates who badly outnumbered them terrorized them on the floor, with one delegate actually being set on fire.

Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater frequently attacked the "left wing media" and accused it of bias against conservatives.  When Eisenhower delivered a speech delegates shook their fists furiously at the working press sitting above the floor.  Prominent NBC television journalist John Chancellor was roughly escorted off the floor and taken into temporary custody after floor security forces became rankled.

While the ever shrewd Stu Spencer sought to create a favorable climate around Ronald Reagan as an experienced moderate who could be trusted when the party's right received its next presidential opportunity in the deeply scarred economic climate of 1980, seeking to capitalize against incumbent President Jimmy Carter, there were elements present showing the real composition of the Reagan ideological forces.

A debate book revealing the strategy of Jimmy Carter for his lone and crucial direct encounter on October 28 in Cleveland was stolen.  Columnist George Will was linked to the theft.  Will not only helped prepare Reagan for the debate, but appeared on national television afterwards proclaiming that the Republican nominee had scored an impressive victory.

Due to the efforts of independent journalist Robert Parry and former national security operative Gary Sick an investigation was launched and later abandoned into an alleged effort by Reagan's forces.

These forces were led by future CIA Director Robert Casey and future Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush, to exchange an arms for hostages agreement with Iran in exchange for holding onto U.S. hostages held by the Tehran government of Ayatollah Khomeini until after the election.

While all accusations were denounced as spurious by Republican operatives such as Attorney General Ed Meese and others, evidence existed of a secret meeting held in Madrid.  Evidence tied into the later Iran-Contra investigation with Bush taking a consistent stonewalling stand, erupting angrily when confronted directly on the issue by CBS television anchor Dan Rather.

Rather's persistent probing into this area was one reason provided for Republican vigilance against him until he was ultimately fired over false documents pertaining to George W. Bush's Texas National Guard duty and claims that he went AWOL.  The origin of these documents have never been explained.  Rather was fired by CBS despite having been vindicated on other aspects of the story.

The October Surprise and Iran-Contra investigations were both halted in the "best interests of the country" through an agreement by the Republican leadership in concert with Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an insider who frequently cooperated with Republicans in such matters.  

How the best interests of the nation are served by short circuiting such investigations into activities that threaten democracy continues to be a matter of serious debate.

When one analyzes the current tactic of John McCain's vociferous attack puppy Sarah Palin questioning Barack Obama's patriotism through bringing up a thoroughly investigated, baseless charge against the Democratic nominee that he "palled around" with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

It has been established by the New York Times and other sources that they actually served on a Chicago committee of an organization headed by the widow of former close Reagan friend and ambassador Walter Annenberg and barely knew each other, it is important to follow a revealing circumstantial Republican chain.

In the 1988 vicious campaign of lies against Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis by operatives of George H. W. Bush, the scurrilous assault using racism through the Willie Horton attacks that extended to a candidate of Greek origin being smeared for "not looking like the rest of us".

The pledge of allegiance and alleged absence of patriotism were also employed for good measure. It should be remembered that the key operative of that effort was Lee Atwater.

Atwater was a protégé of Richard Nixon, who operated with Joe McCarthy until the Wisconsin senator became so tarnished that the politician known as "Tricky Dick" abandoned him.

Atwater in turn trained Karl Rove, who used the same strategy of hurling mud against the wall and hoping that some of it stuck.  Rove, an admirer of Nixon, incorporated dirty tricks into his arsenal.  

His acidic combination featured a spurious attack against Vice President Al Gore in 2000 claiming he was a "serial exaggerator" through exploiting non-provable nonsense such as a claim that he "invented the Internet" when the statement revealed a realistic point that he had as a senator helped make funding available that resulted in the invention of the Internet.  

The mainstream media lamentably rose to the bait and questioned Gore statements repeatedly while leaving George W. Bush virtually alone.

The second element of Rove's arsenal was an old Nixon dirty trick of election theft.  This was accomplished through using Bush's brother Jeb, who was in a position to help deliver vote rich Florida, which decided the election and where he conveniently ruled as governor.  Aided by Secretary of State Katherine Harris, thousands of African Americans were "scrubbed" from Florida's voting ranks.

During the recount period following the election, when Rove feared that Gore, who held a lead in national popular votes, might overcome Bush, a riot was launched during a Miami vote count spearheaded by House Republican leaders Tom DeLay and John Sweeney, who bused a team of Republican staffers that turned into a brigade of thugs determined to bring democracy to a halt.

Rove was at work four years later as well, using the same two-pronged attack.  The mathematical evidence confirms that, despite the despicable "Swift Boat" attacks launched by Rove's operatives against Democratic nominee and Vietnam War veteran John Kerry, that he actually won the election as confirmed by a 3-point edge in national exit polling.

Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell became the new Katherine Harris.  The African American former professional football player and later evangelical religious zealot suppressed votes of African Americans, especially in vote rich Cleveland.

Meanwhile Florida turned out to be a great mystery once more!  This occurred after Democrats vowed that it would not happen again.  Suddenly there was an unexplained surge of Republican votes appearing around the state's I-4 corridor, the interstate highway that encompasses vote rich Orlando and Daytona Beach, along with numerous suburbs.  

George W. Bush turned out to have done much better in 2004 in and around the I-4 corridor despite a successful Democratic vote effort than he had four years earlier against Al Gore.  When Robert Parry called attention to this an article appeared in the New York Times asserting that the independent journalist was off base and that the religious right had carried the day through a successful registration program.

While some of us pointed out how wrong this was, including Parry, very little was said or written about the suspicious activities in Florida.  The Washington Post sought to belittle Parry by stating that he had missed the main story that the Republicans had brought out the Christian right in full force and that made the difference.

Having lived in Florida during four presidential races beginning with Clinton's 1992 victory over Bush the Elder I knew, as did Parry and many others, that any deciding difference from the Christian right would stem from larger turnouts than before in the rural areas in the north near the capital of Tallahassee.  

It was pointed out that there had been no proliferation of Bush votes in 2004 from four years earlier, but this issue was not explored by the mainstream media, which went with the account that Kerry and the Democrats had been "Swift Boated" and that this made the difference in the election.

A thorough analysis of Ohio revealed the Conyers Report demonstrating conclusively that Blackwell's theft tactics had carried the Republican effort there.  

Silence was the response to what had occurred in Florida, along with large discrepancies nationally between the reliable election day precinct polling and Bush's alleged 3-point victory.  Never in history was there anything resembling a 6-point swing in a presidential result.

In 1992 the candidate built up as a kindly elder statesman, George Bush the Elder, used the same tactics that had been employed four years earlier against Michael Dukakis.  

This time, when Bill Clinton's State Department passport and private files were illegally examined and Bush attacked him for "helping lead" an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in England while the Democratic nominee was a Rhodes scholar, Clinton angrily confronted him in open debate.

Two other factors also benefited Clinton that year.  America was in a deep recession.  With Americans hurting a Willie Horton style campaign was not as likely to gain traction compared to a desired need for change and a fresh economic team.  Also, Clinton, having seen what happened to his fellow governor and friend Dukakis, was ready to respond to such charges with the creation and active use of a rapid response team.

So now we push forward to campaign 2008.  All we need to do is examine the genealogical Republican trail to appreciate what is strategically occurring.  Lee Atwater was a protégé of Richard Nixon.  Karl Rove was a protégé of Atwater while the political figure he revered above all others was Nixon.

Now we see Steve Schmidt, a protégé of Rove, directing the Bill Ayers smear efforts against Barack Obama.  To the consternation of Republicans, however, the climate of this election has taken on the air of 1992 rather than 1988.  

The resulting shouts from the Republican operatives at rallies whipped up by McCain attack puppy Sarah Palin sound a lot like what was heard being directed at Bill and Hillary Clinton after they did the unthinkable, win a presidential race in a nation that the mainstream media had been assuring Americans belonged to the Republicans due to a built-in electoral college advantage.

Yes, but look at what happened.  First Ronald Reagan's California was no longer reliable after 1988.  Gradually change occurred within the electorate.

At a time when John McCain is saying to the remaining rally faithful, "My friends, we've got them right where we want them" he and attack puppy Palin are in the final three weeks of the campaign trying to save losses in once reliably Republican states such as Indiana, which last went Democratic in 1964, as well as long reliable North Carolina and Virginia.  

Forget the "maverick" label that McCain and Palin ascribe to themselves and examine the trend of what Republicans and their resident mudmeisters have done through the years.  Add to that the touch of increasing desperation now being felt within their ranks and the result is highly predictable, no matter what some mainstream media analysts claim.