Politics of personal destruction

From Conservapedia

President Ronald Reagan meets with Judge Robert Bork in 1987

"The politics of personal destruction" is a liberal tactic of demonizing the opposition. The term was made popular by President Bill Clinton during his Impeachment trial in the 1990's, but is considered to have actually had its start with the 1987 nomination by President Ronald Reagan of Judge Robert Bork to fill a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. Bork was one of the most respected jurists in the nation, earning the top rating of the American Bar Association, which judged him “exceptionally well-qualified.” He had been a professor of law at Yale and Solicitor General. But he was a conservative, and the leftist Democrats who controlled the Senate didn’t like that. Bork’s nomination was killed using smear tactics that included digging up lists of his past video rentals. Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy used scare tactics, saying, “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which [...] blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, children could not be taught about evolution.” The hearings were so notoriously vicious that “bork” became a verb, meaning to destroy someone personally so as to render them inert politically. When the Senate unanimously confirmed Bork for the federal appellate bench in 1982, Senator Joseph Biden, (Democrat-DE) allowed as how Bork was so well qualified that, were he nominated for the Supreme Court, he would undoubtedly be approved. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and his support of the global war on terrorism has made him the victim of the politics of personal destruction. Despite the fact that Lieberman has a long and loyal history of voting with his party 90% of the time, he was no longer palatable enough for the Democratic Party liberals because of that one issue. Even though in 2000 as the Democratic nominee for Vice-President, running with Al Gore, he was popular and acclaimed. When Lieberman ran as an Independent candidate, Democratic colleagues responded by denouncing his candidacy and rejecting his place in their party, launching harsh personal attacks.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Also See

• Propaganda

References