The Bull Elephant
  • Home
  • About The Bull Elephant
  • Fun Stuff
  • Contact The Bull Elephant
Latest Posts
Northam to relax some COVID restrictions
Liberty University denies any agreement reached with RPV...
That Never Happened
Coca-Cola reportedly told its staff to ‘be less...
General Assembly passes bill to ban the death...
Graphs: Twitter, Facebook Followers For All Virginia 2021...
Sunday Funday Memes!

The Bull Elephant

  • Home
  • About The Bull Elephant
  • Fun Stuff
  • Contact The Bull Elephant

What Australia's Election Can Teach U.S. Conservatives

written by Chad Ochocinco September 9, 2013

Elections last week in Australia gave the conservative parties (known as the Liberal-National coalition) a near-landslide victory over the leftist Labour Party headed by Paul Rudd. Like Democrats in the U.S., the Labour playbook was filled with “extremist” slurs and “war on women” kinds of tropes designed to drive up negative opinion of the conservative candidate.

So how did the conservative win? By refusing to be cowed by the relentlessly inaccurate caricatures of him by his opponents and the media. John O. Sullivan writes about this in today’s NRO, finding in Abbott’s victory a lesson for conservative candidates in the U.S.:

[T]hough he held some opinions that were unpopular or ‘controversial,’ he neither frightened people with them nor backed nervously away from them. His formula for dealing with such matters (I paraphrase) went like this: ‘Am I worried about divorce and family breakdown? Yes. Will I try to outlaw them? No.’ Voters approved of his authenticity and reasonableness even whey they disagreed with him.

[Abbott’s] strategists concluded that Labour and the media would be unable to make their charges of extremism stick unless Abbott gave them the ammunition. The watchword of the Liberal campaign should therefore be ‘steady.’ Abbott should present a strong reasoned case for his main policies and mount a reasoned but not angry critique of Labour’s failures. He could go negative on Labour policies — polls showed that his attacks on Labour’s carbon tax were popular — but not against Labour personalities. Above all, he should largely ignore the attacks leveled against him by the government and the media. Since these attacks reflected Labour’s defective analysis of who Abbott was and what he stood for, the voters would be less and less influenced by them. They knew Abbott — an opposition leader gets about — and he simply didn’t fit the caricature. Some of the more sneeringly snobbish attacks would probably drive traditional Labour voters into Abbott’s waiting arms.

Just like I’ve previously noted with respect to similar kinds of attacks being hurled against Ken Cuccinelli, the conservative should not back down and go into some sort of defensive crouch when vicious smears become the other side’s everyday weapon. Instead, demonstrate the opposite is true, and steadfastly and cheerfully present the positive case for common sense, mainstream conservative principles.

It works. I hope the Cuccinelli campaign is taking note.

Cross-posted to Virginia Virtucon.

– = –

What Australia's Election Can Teach U.S. Conservatives was last modified: September 9th, 2013 by Chad Ochocinco
#VAGOV#waronwomenAustralia's ElectionsKen CuccinelliTony Abbott
0 comment
Chad Ochocinco

Chad Ochocinco is the pseudonym.

Your life will be better if you click one of these

Northam to relax some COVID restrictions

February 24, 2021

Liberty University denies any agreement reached with...

February 24, 2021

That Never Happened

February 24, 2021

Coca-Cola reportedly told its staff to ‘be...

February 23, 2021

General Assembly passes bill to ban the...

February 22, 2021

Graphs: Twitter, Facebook Followers For All Virginia...

February 21, 2021

Sunday Funday Memes!

February 21, 2021

The RPV at the Leadership Crossroads

February 20, 2021

Results of Amanda Chase lawsuit against RPV...

February 20, 2021

Latest Gubernatorial poll from CNU

February 19, 2021

Fun Stuff

  • Sunday Funday Memes!

  • Sunday Memes–We deserve a laugh today

  • Best Super Bowl commercials 2021

  • Sunday Memes, Circleback!

  • Senator John Kennedy’s Witty Humor

Advertisement

Advertisement

Sign Up for Email Alerts

[wysija_form id="5"]

Advertisement

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

@2017 Bull Elephant Media LLC.


Back To Top