Ignorance is Strength

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth."
George Orwell, 1984

This statement by Mark Penn (campaign adviser for Hillary Clinton) is the best argument I've seen yet why I should vote for Barack Obama. Essentially he's saying that Obama is the Establishment Candidate. And this is, I guess, based on Obama's skill at fundraising from millions of small donors... as opposed to Clinton's ability to get the max donations from the wealthy and powerful.

Uh-huh.

I won't go into my incredulity in any detail, but suffice to say that this is a charming example of the Rovian approach to politics: take stock of your worst liabilities and randomly accuse your opponent of them. Of course this requires that you have no sense of decency or honesty, but it's proven to be effective in the past. And that's just great but it is, you know, indecent and dishonest.

I guess I don't mind Clinton having someone like Penn on her team. After all, it's clear that the Republicans are willing to fight dirty, and it's good to have someone who can see it coming and have ideas on how to fight it. I just wish she didn't listen to him so much.