Udo's Techblog

The Clinton campaign sent out the following message (in part):

Every day in this campaign I hear things being said about Hillary that aren't true. It's just not the Hillary I know.

The Hillary you and I know will make us proud as president. We want to make sure that those of us who know Hillary and know the kind of person she is and public servant she's been share our stories with others.

It's a mind-bogglingly stupid PR move.

OK, people. I know it's sad that a foreign national with no political experience has to tell you this, BUT. Next time, you want to somehow smooth over your opponents' FUD, don't make it sound like your candidate just committed mass murder and you're just the neighbor who's on CNN saying "but she was such a nice person, really, you wouldn't have thought she'd be capable of something like that".

I don't understand how campaign staff think it's a good idea to send out emails implying that the whole world has ganged up on their candidate while at the same time complaining on a purely subjective basis. Dear staffers, people still believe that you are the guys who might actually know what's correct and what's not about the attacks on Hillary! It's not very confidence-inspiring when your best defense is "gosh, in my heart I don't believe these things are true". Instead, here are THREE options what you can do in such a case and they're all better than what they came up with:

1) Ignore the personal attacks. That's the least you can do, don't make your opponent's work easier by spreading those rumors yourself. Instead just let them talk. By not stooping to their level you imply that their attacks are without substance and not worthy of a response.

2) Defend yourself, with facts. Don't say "our candidate is so nice, I don't think she's be capable of this bad thing everybody accuses her of". Instead say: "Governor X said blablabla. This is ridiculous because rahrahrah. I present you with these facts. Judge for yourself." End of story.

3) Shoot back. With facts. Anything goes that makes your opponent look bad, but here's the catch: it has to be true. Attack hard, but build trust as you are doing it. And yes, this may - from time to time - include saying honest things like "I made a mistake". Here's they deal: even though it's obviously bad your candidate made a mistake, it's still better to admit it and demonstrate at least some rudimentary learning curve. Baseless mud slinging just costs both candidates votes.

Never, never, opt for the mass murderer's neighbor defense strategy when you can do any one of these three points instead.