The Sequel: Must. Not. Stop. Laughing.

i've wavered as to whether a tit for tat answer to the nastiness of bush's campaign strategy is the best response. despite the fact that every major political campaign in american history was characterized by bare knuckle negativity, when a presidential election rolls around, people always bitch about the negativity and express a longing for that mythical (non-existent) time when political campaigns were polite, and candidates exchanged flowers, puppies, and pleasantries over tea. negative attacks work. otherwise, politicians wouldn't employ them.

there are dozens of ways to go negative.

so, the question is -- how does one go negative while minimizing the turn-off for potential voters? humor can cut an opponent down to size (yes, there is a bit of a castration metaphor going on here) in an entertaining way. humor asserts superiority over the object of derision. if done right, the audience is included in that feeling of superiority. if done clumsily, the audience is turned off by the perceived snobbery. so, one must be careful not to make the object of attack sympathetic.

a direct attack gives credence to the power and legitimacy of the object in a way that humor does not because humor is for the audience. aggressive humor implies that one attacks for the sheer amusement of it, sending the message that the object of attack is hardly worthy of any serious attention. it's a classic passive aggressive strategy. the point is to provoke frothing, incoherent rage in the object of attack while remaining cool as a cucumber oneself.

and finally, here is a fine example of the use of humor to aggress. thanks to nightmares for sale for that link. since hollywood is practically in the democrats' pockets, they really ought to enlist the help of comedians to produce good political advertising that employs this kind of aggression. SNL was always a lot funnier under republican administrations anyway. humor defies convention, the status quo, and tradition -- all of which are privileged by a philosophy of conservatism. it really ought to be the natural tool of liberal political advertising.