One year ago, Nancy Pelosi gave a speech in which she explained how to smear someone to destroy their chances. It is exactly what the Democrats did to Brett Kavanaugh. Obviously, the Democrats have discussed this at length and have been prepared to use it. And use it they did.
Pelosi said:
“They’re going to go down there to be involved in trickle-down economics, shutting down hospitals and the rest of it, so they don’t want them to see that contrast, so they focus on something else.”
Pelosi called this the “wrap up smear.” She continued:
“It’s a diversionary tactic. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You demonize — we call it the wrap-up smear. You smear somebody with falsehoods and all the rest, and then you merchandise it.”
“And then you (reporters) write it, and then they’ll say ‘See? It’s reported in the press that this, this, this and this,’ so they have that validation that the press reported the smear, and then it’s called the ‘wrap-up smear.’ Now I’m going to merchandise the press’s report on the smear that we made.”
“It’s a tactic. And it’s self-evident.”
I’m going to give the media some credit here and just assume this was because, mere seconds later, that infamous “I think I’m worth the trouble, quite frankly” quote escaped her mouth without apparent mediation from the decision-making quadrants of the brain.
A year and a few months later, the wrap-up smear hasn’t aged well.
No, obviously she wasn’t saying the Democrats themselves were doing it in this case, but it clearly shows she’s familiar with the basic strategy and how it’s used. After all, she said it was used when someone doesn’t want to “talk about politics” — or judicial qualifications, as the case may be.
https://youtu.be/-qWSfLHND6Q