[Mb-civic] The Strategy Beneath the Flip-Flop Label

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STRATEGY BEHIND THE FLIP-FLOP LABEL

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The Strategy Beneath the Flip-Flop Label 
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The tactic has stayed around because it works so well.

By David Greenberg
David Greenberg teaches at Rutgers University and is the author of "Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image," due out in paperback from W.W. Norton next month.

September 30 2004

The White House has succeeded in supplying the news media with a frame for understanding the Kerry campaign: It claims the Democratic candidate is — to use the dreaded word — a flip-flopper. Now that the flip-flop notion has stuck, any new position Kerry rolls out, any claim he makes — even any rebuttal he offers to the smear — is viewed through this frame and subtly reinforces its legitimacy. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-greenberg30sep30,1,7459809.story 

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