Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.

A colorful, compact, often humorous history of negative campaigning, Dirty Politics provides an enlightening analysis of political ads and speeches and remarkable insight to how political consultants think and work in the modern age of advertising. In the in-depth analyses of campaigns from Eisenhower to the present, Jamieson uses the 1988 presidential election as a definitive basis. For example, she cites the 1988 Michael Dukakis tank commercial to show the important, far-reaching differences between the Republican and Democratic strategies; the extent to which the traditional genres of campaign discourse have been reduced to visually evocative ads; and, more importantly, what was wrong with press coverage and advertising in the 1988 campaign. In analyzing the Willie Horton ad, Jamieson concludes that the result showed a complex, interactive relationship between voters and campaign messages--what was shown was not necessarily what was seen, and what was said was not always what was heard.

From the beginning, sloganeering--not substance--has been the stuff of politics. Hired hands consistently have canonized their candidate, condemned their opponents, and relentlessly contrasted the two. Television has assumed Svengalian powers denied to both print and radio.

How campaigns are reported shapes subsequent campaigning. As the news media subject themselves to the control of politicians, they encourage candidates to perpetuate control. In 1988, the result produced "rhetorical gridlock" as, relying on polls and manipulated by clever consultants, television news ceased to be a source of objective reporting. Reporters permitted the Republicans to commandeer media coverage with claims that had little relevance to governance. As a result, the American people had practically no idea what kind of presidency George Bush would provide.

The media should ask candidates to define what problems America faces, how they propose to solve them, and what...