527s and the State of Political Discourse

I have been reading much on the low level of the political discourse of this campaign be it the 527s or personal attacks. Along with each of these articles is much head scratching and muttering about causes. Is it worse this year, yes. Will it be worse next presidential cycle, I would bet yes. Why? The answer is in the Carville-ization of politics.

Jim Carville, uber Democratic strategist and CNN commentator, fundamentally changed the landscape of politics during the 1992 and 1996 campaigns. During these campaigns, it became more obvious that a) the media was generally more sympathetic to the Democrat's cause and b) the public has a very short attention span. These two items are the pillars of the politics of personal destruction. Recall his wonderful summary of Ms. Paula Jones: "Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find."

The bimbo eruptions President Clinton endured and Jim Carville managed taught the seedy underbelly of Democratic strategists not only how to handle these charges (which they used to their benefit in Monicagate), but how to counterattack with charges of their own. Once president, Mr. Clinton could operate above the fray. But the trouble the Democrats had was that Clinton was always on his heels because of one scandal or another, and his support team was always in defend and attack mode.

Lewinsky, Florida 2000, etc. just added fuel to the fire, but the Carville-ization of Democratic politics is here to stay, but where once it was limited to sex scandals, now it is being used against a sitting President.