Older readers may recall the infamous Willie Horton ad that was unleashed during the 1988 presidential election by the campaign of George H. W. Bush against Michael Dukakis that implied that Dukakis was responsible, as governor of Massachusetts, for the weekend furlough program of a criminal who went on to commit rape and assault. It has been seen as a high-water mark of vicious campaign tactics.
It looks like the sins of the father are being visited on the son. Donald Trump seems to have gone one better, with an ad on Instagram that implies that Jeb Bush is excusing the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Bush fired back with a video that paints Trump as a New York liberal, using clips of his past statements.
Will this dent Trump’s popularity with Republicans, given the failure of all past efforts?
It looks like the old maxim of Republicans refraining from attacking each other has gone out the window.
Older readers?!? But…. But *I* remember it too!
They are just about ready to line up for the circular firing squad. Popcorn futures are rising.
In the way the Bernie Sanders is almost entirely an internet phenomenon, I have to wonder about the continued efficacy of smear campaigns…When all there was was the Big Three and cable, message was easy to control, but those smear campaign have become such a ‘known known’ ,that with a social network that can instantaneously counter them with brute force and wry wit, I have to wonder who they’re actually aimed at anymore…And per Sanders, the tediously regurgitated meme from the ‘liberal’ media that Sanders is a harmless old kook who has no chance of winning the primary has become such a laughably predictable cliche, it’s essentially being summarily ignored by anyone other than hard-line Hillary supporters…(Who of course will still get my vote in the general if Bernie loses in the primaries)