110: The 1988 Presidential Election; Or, The Birth of the Modern Campaign Playbook

Jan 10 2024 • 1 hr 7 mins

You know that phrase, “All’s fair in love and war”? Even though “politics” isn’t on that list, nowadays I’m sure seems like it could be. The smear campaigns, the attack ads - sometimes it just feels like politician care more about making their opponents look bad rather that actually talking about their own policies and strengths (wait a second…). And even though these kind of tactics have probably been around forever, there’s one year and one election in particular where they took centerstage.

Rob teaches Ray and Daniel all about the U.S. presidential election of 1988 and the numerous defining moments from the campaign of that year; the notorious political operator Lee Atwater and his bag of “dirty tricks”; Michael Dukakis’s unfortunate use of military headgear in one of his ads; Rob’s feelings on why debates have gone so downhill in the last few decades; and how Lee Atwater’s coded “Southern Strategy” has given way in modern times to a more explicit expressions of prejudice.

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