House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is known for her dirty political plays. Supporters say she does what it takes to win; Opponents call her ruthless and say she’ll do anything for power.
No one expected Monday’s confession, though.
Under attack by her own party as well as Republicans, Pelosi has become increasingly desperate. At a press conference regarding Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she let slip just what she was willing to do to get ahead.
She started off by telling reporters the normal political theater. Pelosi said she doesn’t engage in the “politics of personal destruction” and will only tell voters the facts they need to know.
But then, the ugly truth came bubbling to the surface.
Just minutes after vowing never to engage in dirty politics, Pelosi outlined her tactic she called the “wrap-up smear.”
Using contacts inside the mainstream media, Pelosi bragged that she can spread anonymous lies about political opponents — and then uses those media reports from anonymous sources to talk to other media outlets.
For example, it would be something like this.
- Call a reporter at The Washington Post and tell them, anonymously, that a fellow congressional opponent was abusing his wife.
- Once the article ran, call a press conference and demand an investigation into these serious allegations of spousal abuse.
- Be invited to the major cable news networks on these concerning rumors of spousal abuse. Repeatedly call for an investigation, and say it is the only way to answer these disturbing questions.
That’s all voters hear… and the accusation is all “wrapped-up” in a neat little smear box.
And Pelosi is so proud of the dirty political move, she bragged to reporters Monday.
“It’s a self fulfilling prophecy,” Pelosi told reporters when she outlined the tactic. “You demonize, and then you… we call it the ‘wrap-up smear.'”
“You wanna talk politics? We call it the ‘wrap-up smear’ — Where you smear somebody with falsehoods, and then you merchandise it.”
In other words, you lie and then you sell your lie to outsiders.
“And then [the press] writes it, and you say, ‘See, it’s reported in the press’ … so [other reporters] have the validation that the press reported the smear. And it’s called the ‘wrap-up smear’ because then I’m going to merchandise these [new] press reports on the smear that we made,” Pelosi said.
“Yeah, it’s a tactic — and it’s self-evident. But I think I’m worth the trouble, quite frankly,” a smiling Pelosi said. “I love the fray.”
You can see Pelosi describing the political theater here —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51dMBYamyJc