Just Asking

Regardless of the outcome vis-a-vis the appointment and his family -- there is one good thing that MIGHT come out of this and that is a more widespread understanding of the anatomy and progressive stages of a smear. Sharyl Attkisson wrote an excellent book on the topic, “The Smear” and on page 50 of that book she details the six stages of a smear:

Stage 1: Launch -- publish your video/audio clip and transcript immediately; speed is of the essence

Stage 2: Distribution -- leverage that release through your network of sympathetic or unwitting collaborators (reporters rarely “report” -- they’re lazy and depend on smear artists to feed them material)

Stage 3: Outreach -- identify and cultivate like-minded organizations in order to produce a coordinated message

Stage 4: Escalation -- one you gain traction and the story becomes “news”, assign a team of operatives to fan the flames, objective is to achieve a 2 or 3 day constant news story

Stage 5: Demands -- since most smears have a kernel of truth, use any apology on the part of the target as an admission of guilt to exert further pressure on your target. Objective is to destroy the target’s career and reputation and force them to recant.

Stage 6: Pressure -- identify and contact ancillary effectors to exert further pressure, e.g., advertisers, public opinion pollsters, think tanks, etc.