Political Enemies To Have

I have pointed out several times that in politics you will have allies, friends, opponents, and enemies and that making enemies out of any of the others is foolish behavior. If you maintain anything like honorable behavior there is only one category that is of concern and those are your opponents. Opponents can turn into allies in some cases where they see an advantage or their interests also being served as long as you don't turn them into enemies. But you will have enemies and in some ways you are defined by the enemies you have, if you play that right.

Down page I throw some rocks at Gov. Mark Sanford (R) of SC for the political games he's playing with the unemployed and wrapping himself in the NEW and IMPROVED Republican mantle of fiscal responsibility. He'd like to have the rest of America pay for SC's Republican approved debt, on top of their $1.37 received from Uncle Fed for every $1.00 they contribute to Uncle. Sanford has used every media opportunity possible to trash the Obama stimulus and Democrats, he is an enemy. A useful one in that he demonstrates exactly what use his type have for ordinary Americans and the results of electing his ilk.

Rush Limbaugh is a lot more than a successful talk radio host. With his personal life and his over heated rhetoric and willingness to dispense with truthfulness and ordinary politeness he is unpopular with a large majority of the populace. He is an unremitting enemy of Democrats and unafraid of being known as such and glories in the influence he wields in Republicanville.

Minority Leader John Beohner (R-OH) makes no secret that his goal is to harm the Democratic Party and has made it quite clear that whatever methods and at whatever cost to Americans he will pursue that. You can expect that whenever he talks about Democrats or Democratic policies a large percentage of the rhetoric will be lies. Yes John, you are a liar and you coordinate the lies with others in your Party. Principle matters not the least in his pursuit and that reflects on the so-called principles he stands for, Exactly what principles does a liar stand for and why should you ever have trust in dealings with them. Eric Cantor stands in exactly the same shoes.

These are exactly the sorts of enemies that you'd hope to have, you want these people to have access to media, to be given every possible opportunity to help you out. Dick Cheney is a bit different story, his previous office deserves some respect but the man himself is making that difficult. He has decided to be an enemy, not surprising because he has openly held Democrats and Democratic policies in contempt. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Cheney's latest fear mongering and historical revision:

"I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy so they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal."

He finished with a straight rebuttal and that may be the way to deal with this particular individual who makes Congress look popular.

If there is a trick to having enemies it lies in their public presentations of their cases. When you take notice of them you raise their public profile and harden their support. That means taking notice has to be effective and timely. This means having your team ready to outline the lies and show the consequences of the enemies' plans in a public forum and do it in a manner that is winning with the public. Each case is somewhat different, Rush is not elected and casts no votes, Sanford is not in Congress, Cheney is out of office, but both potent and risky. Boehner and Cantor are great shining targets, the media loves to talk to them, they vote, and they lie. The targeting needs to be accurate and civil.