Well actually, his advice is for Democrats and it goes like this:
Oh, by the way, go negative, early and often.
But going negative is bad, isn't it? Nah. Democrats only say it is, and they that say so that Republicans won't do it. It tends to work. When Republicans point out Democratic failures in leadership, the mainstream media wring their collective hands and lament about the sad state of politics these days. Why, they wonder, can't candidates talk about the issues that matter to the American people? Haven't we talked about Benghazi enough?
Candy Crowley sure thought so back in 2012 when she dove out onto the Obama/Romney presidential debate stage to cut of any discussion about Benghazi when Romney was about to deliver a haymaker.
On the other hand, when Harry Reid accused Mitt Romney of not paying any income tax, that was just Harry talking about the issues. In support, the media jumped in to complain that Romney hadn't turned over his income tax returns for the last 50 years. Investigative reporters pondered, what is Romney hiding?
At any rate, the point of Carville's article was to say that as bad as things look for Democrats, it's worse for Republicans who are viewed negatively by a majority of Americans.
According to the Pollster average, two-thirds now disapprove of the Republican Party. We are not talking about Congress or even the Republicans in Congress. The party itself, the Republican Party, has a net -40 approval rating. With just a quarter of the country approving of the GOP, that means not even all of the party’s own members are giving it a positive rating.
There's a reason for that negative view, and it's not because of negative campaigning by Republicans. Democrats and the media have been waging a relentless and successful campaign to smear the Republican brand. It's been going on at least since Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964, and it really heated up when Newt Gingrich orchestrated a Republican takeover in the House of Representatives in 1994.
Here's a clue, Republicans. Your approval rating is not going to go down if you engage in what the media calls negative campaigning. It's going to go down because Democrats and their friends in the media are going to be waging negative campaigns against you.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Your campaign issue is the Democratic party. Look what they've done to the country.
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