What does # 2 mean?
That was a famous phrase of that old racist Confederate cavalry genius Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Think “beat your enemy to the punch” and you’ll be pretty close.
Actually, that means getting your word out first.
Clinton was very good at this. So is Obama. But most importantly, they have a willing accomplice in the press.
So Obama can say “The Republicans are willing to destroy the economy and shutdown the government because they want to hurt me by stopping the Affordable Health Care Act.’
The press, in order to help, doesn’t lead the nightly news with the vote the House Republicans took, but with the charge Obama made. THEN they mention the House vote.
So there. Obama got “there” first. Those evil Republicans, always reacting. Reactionaries, right?
To even further the cause, the press will follow up with quotes from a Republican, who probably had some very good points of why they voted as they did and what a disaster and debacle the ACA is, but the quote we’ll see on TV is when the Republican denies targeting Obama.
So the order of propaganda is:
1. Lead with Obama decrying Republicans who only want to “get” him and will wreck the country trying, or allow it to be ruined in their RACIAL (always implied, because he’s black don’t you know) hatred of him.
2. Show the Republicans voting, doing just what Obama said.
3. Get a Republican to deny they’re going after Obama, which proves that’s exactly what they’re doing.
All this I just exactly witnessed in the last couple of hours.
Those who follow can be derided by whatever means, usually something like being called "conspiracy theorists" (even if there really is a conspiracy), because the first story is commonly accepted by the sheeple, especially if it is coming at them from every direction.
“I won” is what it means. It means that you absolutize your victory even if it really was meant as a bipartisan compromise. It’s like the moment you give or concede a bit of credit to your interlocutor, it gives him full authority as if you never had a case, and it also is means to refuse to share or acknowledge those who helped you there.
For instance Oprah was helped by white people to fame but she turned around against those same people who helped her according to a black preacher.
Click through and see. The author explains it far better than I could.