Word: tactic
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...presidential and vice-presidential debates approach, one of the more peculiar rituals of American politics has resurfaced: In a cynical attempt to lower public expectations for their candidates performance, the Republican and Democratic campaigns have begun to talk about what bad debaters their own candidates are. This stale tactic, which assumes that the American public is naively unaware of the oft-played expectation game, has been evident in both the McCain and Obama camps. But while these silly attempts to lower expectations may be meaningless, the debates themselves are not. In a political culture dominated by sound bytes and rhetoric...
...devolved into a farce of empty witness chairs and very conventional partisan politics, including the recent involvement of a former New York federal prosecutor (no, not Rudy Giuliani) whom the McCain campaign flew to Alaska to tidy up the mess. His name is Ed O'Callaghan, and his main tactic seems to be to stall the investigation as much as possible. He said that Todd Palin submitted "objections" to the subpoena that needed to be answered before he would take the stand. Another lawyer for the Palins has said that Todd was too busy with the campaign to testify...
...meet its obligations to policyholders - and a bankruptcy filing might be an indication of that - the insurance commission can step in. If that happens, there's a chance you won't immediately be able to cash out your policies, at least not without incurring a penalty. That's a tactic regulators might use to prevent everyone trying to cash out at one time - like a run on the bank, says Dave Evans, a CFP and senior vice president, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America...
...terror against civilians echoes a tactic used by Colombian drug gangs, who have long sold their cocaine to the Mexican crime families. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Medellin cartel responded to a government crackdown by killing hundreds of civilians with bombs placed on street corners, cars and even one passenger jet. Mexican gangs first started using bombs last February, when an alleged hitman blew himself up in a botched attempt on a police official. In July, two botched car bombs caught fire in the northern state of Sinaloa. The drug gangs have long used grenades in fighting with police...
...four years later, Schmidt and the McCain campaign have returned to outrage, and there is little doubt that the tactic is again having the desired effect. Two weeks ago, the McCain campaign crowed about the alleged mistreatment that the press and the Barack Obama campaign were heaping on Alaska governor Sarah Palin (at roughly the same time that the campaign sent out e-mail blasts featuring enthusiastic media blurbs of Palin's convention speech). After the convention, the indignation only intensified; in the course of 24 hours, McCain accused Obama of supporting "sex education" for kindergarten students and referring...