All, the all-powerful 3rd-hand-reported mute button, that ever-accurate arbiter of intra-party respect!
Woodward’s got cred, and the source stands by the account, saying he was in the room. Woodward’s sources are never just low level people either. Read George Stephanopolous’ biography, he gives an inside account of how Woodward gets people to talk.
Woodward once had credibility, not that anything about a mute button is relevant to this.
Next you’re going to tell me that I can’t rely on Mark Halperin.
Not to worry, you still got Bill Kristol. Bound to be right one of these days. About something.
These posts are from SRIOTD, but they belong here as well:
Cruz is pond scum, but that may be going too far. Kind of like how torture is still wrong even if it’s a terrorist who has killed innocents, that sort of thing. Isn’t there a section in the Geneva Conventions on this?
That sort of negative campaigning is just beyond the pale.
Just a righter shade of pale.
The state Secretary of State is angry about it, even though he’s a Republican because, among other things, the mailer mentions the Secretary of State’s office as if it’s an official mailing.
Clearly, this is the most childish thing I could think of any candidate doing. From reading the article, you get a note teasing you saying, “youdidn’tvo-ote, youdidn’tvo-ote”, calling out your close neighbors and then assigning a point system that means absolutely nothing. So he tries his best to shut out voters (poor, democratic christians), now encourages by reverting to a sandbox strategy?
As ridiculous as it is, I’m betting he gets 2nd place on Tuesday. :mad:
Super shady.
Interesting. In other contexts this can work. It’s clear that the campaign has access to the same research as I do.
How Data and Social Pressure Can Reduce Home Energy Us [INDENT]…even without smart meter data, companies such as Opower have learned that comparing a customer’s electricity use with neighbors is an effective way to spur action.
“Here’s the really interesting thing that we found: the behavioral and social motivators are stronger than data,” says Ivo Steklac, the chief sales and strategy officer at Tendril. “What we’ve discovered is that while its great to have smart metering and be able to provide real-time data to you and your home, that is not necessary.”
Instead, what’s necessary is persuading people that there is a crowd to join. Noted psychologist Robert Cialdini, who works with Opower on behavioral science, once ran a famous experiment with hotel towels. Telling guests that reusing towels was good for the environment did almost nothing, but when a placard in the bathroom suggested that most of the hotel visitors reused them, such usage went up 30 percent. It works basically the same way with electricity: If your bill suggests that everyone on your block is using less than you, you will strive to catch up.[/INDENT] In other words social sanction is a more powerful motivator than economic incentives.
Now personally, if I received a letter like that from a politician I modestly supported, I’d be strongly tempted to show up and vote against him. ISTM, that while the Cruz campaign is knowledgeable about techniques for manipulating the public, they lack a certain social intelligence. In other words, they are creeps.
Here’s CNN’s coverage of it. And Cruz thinks he’s done nothing wrong! Simply amazing: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/30/politics/ted-cruz-mailer-iowa-caucuses-voter-violation/index.html
To quote Hillary CLinton, “It was allowed”. Isn’t that all we expect nowadays?
So did he send these just to people who seemed to support him strongly but who have spotty voting histories?
The final, gold standard Selzer poll has Cruz down by five, but that polling was done before this came out. It will be very interesting to see if he now loses by double digits.
Indeed, the important thing we have to remember is that both sides do it. Good catch, there, addy!
Oh snap! You sure told Hillary for that creepy thing Cruz did.