Smearing 101

I was reading a lefty newspaper the other day because I didn't have anything better to do. I can't remember many of the particulars, but the article was a hatchet job on a conservative running for some office or the other. I was struck by one sentence that went something like: Bill Jones is linked to Joe Blow who reportedly advocates violence against women. Missing was the nature of the link and any details of the report or the reporter.

Is there a person in the world without "links" to someone who "reportedly" is this or that? Democrats in Racine for example are linked to Gary Becker who advocates having sex with children. I have spoken with Gary Becker numerous times and, before my political awakening, I even helped him pass out campaign literature. So I too am linked to a known pedophile. I am linked to a man who bilked Chicago's CTA pension fund out of millions of dollars. There is no doubt that in some way I am linked to drug dealers, drug users, wife beaters, international terrorists, rapists, racists, murderers, even climate change deniers. And so are you.

Without any discussion on the nature of the link, the link argument is just another technique used to unfairly smear a person with whom you disagree.

Now I can't take the high road here. I am linked to someone who does this kind of thing quite often. His name is Sean Cranley.