Political Processes & Rhetoric – Page 76 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

The Modern Prometheus: A Halloween Story

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:October 29, 2010
Post category:Political Processes & Rhetoric

It’s Halloween. Time for my annual attempt at political satire (see last year’s effort here). Apologies to Mary Shelly, Monty Python and Buck Henry.

Setting: A laboratory located in a decrepit castle in Eastern Europe. Test tubes and electrical transformers fill the room. Outside, a thunderstorm rages. The year is 1789.

Dr. Madison: It’s alive! It’s alive! They all called me “mad,” but I have done what no man has done before!

Igor: Master, what is this creature?

Dr. Madison: I have transplanted the brain of John Locke into the body of the Magna Carta. I engrafted bits and pieces of Montesquieu, and gave the body a transfusion of Polybius’ treatise on the Roman Empire. Then, I immersed the body in a vat of the Iroquois Constitution and applied a charge of electricity. And it lives! This is a great day!

Igor (looking out the window): I don’t think everyone agrees with you.

A large mob of men carrying torches bursts into the laboratory. They are dressed in simple peasant attire except, oddly, all are wearing safety goggles.

The Negative News About Positive Political Ads

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:October 27, 2010
Post category:Political Processes & Rhetoric Speakers at Marquette

Near the end of Tuesday’s “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at the Law School, Gousha asked Mike Tate, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and Reince Priebus, chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, whether they thought candidates can win while running positive campaigns.

Neither directly answered the question from Gousha, the Law School’s Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy. But Tate came closer. You have to have to draw contrasts with your opponent, he said. And when one campaign launches an ad that is arguably negative, “it’s an arms race,” Tate said. If you don’t respond, you risk losing. Voters remember negative ads, Tate said.

Priebus responded by criticizing Democratic campaigns for playing what he called “small ball” this fall, focusing on minor matters that they could use to attack Republicans instead of on major issues, like jobs, the economy, and the growth of government spending.

What neither said to Gousha’s question was, yes, you can win by staying positive.

Best of the Blogs: One Lump or Two?

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:October 25, 2010
Post category:Business Regulation Constitutional Interpretation Federalism Health Care Political Processes & Rhetoric

November 2 is fast approaching, and the nation is awaiting the election results to see whether the Tea Party Movement will be revealed to be a force in American politics or an over-hyped media sensation. This week’s “Best of the Blogs” feature provides everything a political junkie needs to learn more about the Tea Party Movement.

The obvious starting point might be Butch Cassidy’s (or Paul Newman’s) famous question, “Who are those guys?” Amy Gardner at the Washington Post tries to answer that question here (hat tip to Steven Easley). Despite her best efforts, a definitive picture of the Movement remains elusive:

[A] new Washington Post canvass of hundreds of local tea party groups reveals a different sort of organization, one that is not so much a movement as a disparate band of vaguely connected gatherings that do surprisingly little to engage in the political process.