I”m not sure which genius over at Chris Abele’s campaign headquarters came up with this gem of a lit piece, but whomever it is shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions on any lit pieces in the future.
Here’s a closeup of the lit piece, in which the Abele campaign makes a crude attempt to portray Chris Larson something other than a progressive in the same vein as Bernie Sanders.
Putting aside the crude, amateurish nature of the lit piece, I’m fascinated by Chris Abele’s attempts to portray Chris Larson as something other than the progressive he really is, especially considering Abele himself is far from being a progressive, given his close ties to Republican lawmakers including Gov. Scott Walker.
The fact that Chris Abele has had to sink to the depths we’ve seen shows just how much trouble he must think his campaign is in, because front runners don’t typically need to resort to mudslinging to win elections.
There’s a cognitive effect called “negation” where you still evoke an idea, even though you are trying to negate it. For example, if I tell you that Richard Nixon was not a crook, it activates the idea of Richard Nixon = crook. And you can’t control it – if I say or write “hospital” try to NOT think of that idea. George Lakoff went into detail in the famous book “Don’t think of an Elephant.”
Larson has succeeded in setting the “frame” of the campaign, and Abele is doing the only thing most people do – play defense. One of the knee-jerk reactions in his defensive situation is attacks through negation. It’s a common fatal flaw of Dem campaigns.
The net result – this add really evokes and reinforces the moral equivalency of Larson/Sanders, even though it tries to negate. Larson should send Abele a big thank you for this lit piece. It perfectly evokes the idea of Chris Larson as an authentic progressive – even though it tries to negate it.
Abele must really be worried if he has to sink to these absurd depths. We know who the real progressive is, and it’s not “Silver spoon”.
This lit piece just cries out for a Chris-Abele-morphs-into-Scott-Walker video spot in response.
More genius from Mike Tate and the smart kids in the Abele crowd who are so effective that David freaking Clarke still can win countywide as a “Democrat.”
Has anyone in the consultant crowd reached a mental age beyond 14? Sure doesnt seem like it, and the fact that the incumbent rich kid has nothing but negativity to offer at this point tells me that Larson seems to have the upper hand at this point