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(Tagged January 2006) In politics and business, dirty tricks refers to duplicitous, slanderous, and/or illegal tactics employed to destroy or diminish the effectiveness of opponents. So-called dirty tricks are as old as political campaigning and reflect a traditional undercurrent in American free-market competition and no-holds-barred politics. In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...
Electoral dirty tricks
Leaking secret information, digging into a candidate's past (opposition research) or exposing real conflicts between the image presented and the person behind the image are always subject to argument as to whether they are dirty tricks or truth-telling. When a candidate runs into trouble or roadblocks in his or her campaign that are traceable to the other side, he/she can easily charge their opponent with dirty tricks. Often, the candidate is right in this accusation, but one candidate's "dirty trick" is another's "political strategy." The distinction changes with the times. Opposition research often referred to as oppo is the section of an election campaign designed to investigate the life and record of the opposing candidate. ...
However, manufactured, irrelevant, cruel and incorrect rumors or outright falsehoods designed to damage or destroy an opponent are easily described as dirty tricks. They serve to tie up the opponent into defending against and answering false charges rather than explaining their policies and platform.
Often, these political tactics are only tangentially aimed at slandering the opponent. Political operatives will tell you that dishing the dirt against your candidate's opponent is equally effective at alienating casual, uncommitted and perhaps more discerning voters in order to turn them off from the entire project. These tactics are effective at reducing turnout in order to assure your candidate gains by having his/her core voters show up at the polls; thus, an operative molds the outcome by pissing off everyone.
Blatant dirty tricks are the stock in trade of American Politics, there is little a candidate can do in defending him/herself against false accusations during the hurly-burly of a political campaign. Time runs fast and the election is decided before a candidate can yell, "Lies!." As Lee Atwater is reported to have said; "if you're explaining, you're losing."
Political speech is protected by the Constitution and it is rare that a wronged candidate will be able to sue for slander after an election season is concluded. But it works both ways, if a candidate wants to use a trademarked or copyrighted slogan or other so-called intellectual property, she/he can get away with it based on the first amendment protection of political speech. Intellectual property, or IP, refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ...
Political candidates have been accused by their opponents of every sin and crime ever described, from graft and vice to bribery and communism, polygamy, drug use, fascism, pedophilia, miscegenation, adultery, stupidity, demagoguery, mental illness and support for nudism. In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse of public (governmental) power for illegitimate, usually secret, private advantage. ...
Vice is the opposite of virtue. ...
Bribery is a crime defined by Blacks Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions as an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty. ...
Communism refers to a conjectured future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production, and can be classified as a branch of the broader socialist movement. ...
The term polygamy (literally many marriage in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology. ...
Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational rather than medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Pedophilia (Am. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Interethnic marriage. ...
Man and woman undergoing public exposure for adultery in Japan, around 1860 Adultery is generally defined as consensual sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their lawful spouse. ...
Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence. ...
Demagogy is generally a method of convincing a listener by appealing to the persons common sense and leaps of logic. ...
A mental illness is defined by the medical profession as a disorder of the brain that results in a disruption in a persons thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others and to work. ...
Nudism, or naturism, is the practice of going nude or unclothed in social and usually mixed gender groups, specifically in cultures where this is not the norm. ...
The story of dirty tricks in American politics begins with the first campaign for President of the United States, in the 1790s. Thomas Jefferson hired journalist and pamphleteer James Thomas Callender to slander his opponent, Alexander Hamilton. After a falling out, Callender turned on Jefferson and published attacks on his previous employer. The presidential seal was first used by president Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. ...
1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founders of the United States. ...
A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1792. ...
Pulling clever, satirical pranks against a political opponent is often lauded by a complicit press. Dirty Tricks, cruel and potentially illegal acts against an opponent, may be distinguished from more benign forms of political pranks exemplified by famous prankster, Dick Tuck. Dick Tuck (1924) was a Democratic Party campaign strategist, advance man, and political prankster. ...
Watergate era dirty tricks For a full history see: Watergate scandal The Watergate Complex (now the Watergate Hotel) as depicted in Government Exhibit 1. ...
The Nixon Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP), a private non-governmental campaign entity, used funds from its coffers to pay for, and later cover up, "dirty tricks' performed against opponents by Nixon's employee, Donald Segretti. Nixon's use of the FBI to investigate, slander and abuse opponents goes beyond simple pranks or dirty tricks into the realm of government initiated crime. The Committee to Re-elect the President, often abbreviated to CRP or CREEP, was a Nixon White House fund-raising organization headed by John N. Mitchell, who had previously served as United States Attorney General. ...
As a result of post-Watergate reform legislation, such activities are strictly regulated, though other private entities still may practice what has become commonly referred to as questionable or unethical dirty tricks.
Recent nomenclature equates a Dirty Tricks Squad to any organized, covert attempt to besmirch the credibility or reputation of a candidate, individual or organization so as to render them ineffective.
Non-electoral political crimes
For a full history see: Plame affair For detail on the political scandal, see Plame affair Valerie Elise Plame Wilson (born April 19, 1963 in Anchorage, Alaska) was a United States Central Intelligence Agency officer, who was identified as a CIA operative in a newspaper column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. ...
The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...
Plame's CIA cover was allegedly blown, as political payback against her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for an editorial he wrote in the New York Times criticizing the Bush Administration's claims about uranium exports from Niger. It should be noted a court of law has yet to render a judgement and Valerie Plame's role within the CIA, nor her husband, as a former State Department employee, has any relation to an election campaign. Joseph C. Wilson IV was a United States career foreign service officer and later a diplomat between 1976 and 1998. ...
The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...
The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ...
Business In the United Kingdom the term "dirty tricks" became synonymous with the British Airways campaign against rival Virgin Atlantic and the wider business interest of the airline's Chairman Richard Branson. British Airways, faced with likely defeat, apologised "unreservedly" in court and settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson and a further £110,000 to his airline; further, BA was to pay the legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson divided his compensation among his staff, the so-called "BA bonus". For the 1930s airline of similar name see British Airways Ltd British Airways (LSE: BAY, NYSE: BAB) is the largest airline of the United Kingdom. ...
Virgin Atlantic Airways, usually referred to as Virgin Atlantic, is one of the airlines of Richard Bransons Virgin Group, operating long-haul routes between London and North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Australia. ...
Sir Richard Branson during the announcement of the Virgin Express airline which would compete with Ryanair and EasyJet. ...
See also Dick Tuck (1924) was a Democratic Party campaign strategist, advance man, and political prankster. ...
Donald H. Segretti (born September 17, 1941) was a political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President (Nixon) during the 1970s. ...
Harvey Leroy Lee Atwater Harvey Leroy Lee Atwater (February 26, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American Republican political consultant and strategist. ...
Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American political consultant, and (as of 2005) U.S. President George W. Bushs senior advisor, chief political strategist, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff in charge of policy. ...
Larry Flynt Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. ...
Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks. ...
One of the Killian documents. ...
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