Who coined the phrase "politics of personal destruction"?

[What_the]

When was it first used and by whom?

[samclem]

As reported in The Yale Book of Quotations, Bill Clinton, 13 March 1992.

[What_the]

@samclem

As reported in The Yale Book of Quotations, Bill Clinton, 13 March 1992.

Thanks!! What was the context? Was he strategizing on how to deal with bimbo erruptions…

or was he decrying how mean the vast right-wing conspiracy was being to him?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@What the .... ?!?!

Thanks!! What was the context? Was he strategizing on how to deal with bimbo erruptions…

or was he decrying how mean the vast right-wing conspiracy was being to him?

It was before he was President, so Ken Starr’s inquisition hadn’t started yet. I think it was probably about Jennifer Flowers, but I’m guessing.

[MikeS]

From an interview from Time magazine, July 20, 1992 (bolding mine):

Q. Given the mood of the country, the state of the economy and the President’s lack of popularity, why are you not going into this convention with a 20-point lead?

A. First of all, a lot of this is not accidental. We live in a time when the politics of personal destruction have been proved very effective. This President got there not with a vision but by first taking out his primary opponents and then taking out his general-election opponent. We also live in a time when people think pretty poorly about anybody who is in public life. So you carry that baggage with you, and winning the primary process has often been almost as much a negative as a positive.

I can’t find a reference to the earlier date quickly, but I’ll look around a little more.

[Governor_Quinn]

Interestingly, I found the abstract of a Wall Street Journal editorial from April 1, 1987 that uses the phrase “personal-destruction politics”, which suggests that it may be useful to check the actual article to see the phrasing it used.

I also found the 3/13/1992 article mentioned by samclem (it was in the * St.Louis Post-Dispatch*), and, if I’m reading it correctly, Clinton said in response to a Paul Tsongas ad accusing Clinton of being dishonest.

[samclem]

@Governor Quinn

I also found the 3/13/1992 article mentioned by samclem (it was in the * St.Louis Post-Dispatch*), and, if I’m reading it correctly, Clinton said in response to a Paul Tsongas ad accusing Clinton of being dishonest.

You could easily be correct about that. I didn’t read the original article. You can find Clinton using it repeatedly after that period(when he was trying to garner the Democratic nomination), using it against the Republicans.

As far as the Wall St. Journal editorial, it was defending Pres. Regan against personal attacks

Still, the president is a Republican, and a triumph of personal-destruction politics would condemn his party to a minority status as far as the eye can see.

The issue was the House’s override of a Regan veto the day before of a highway pork barrel bill. But, yes, in a way, it expressed the same sentiment that Clinton used, that demonizing the person rather than the message was all too-often used in politics.