General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The latest "banning" (NYC_SKP) is an interesting lesson on REPUTATION. [View all]tblue37
(65,340 posts)being divisive are the very ones who are constantly attacking him for absurd or outright false reasons, yet they blame him for the consequences of their* bad behavior.
The same thing happens when Hillary is deemed unelectable because of the accumulattion of "scandals" surrounding her. The only reason so many "scandals" are associated with her name and her political career is that a very real vast rightwing conspiracy has been slinging at her every bit of mud and monkey poo they can come up with. Almost every such "scandal" (the scare quotes are deliberate) is trumped up nonsense--like Benghazi, which, even after a brazillion Republican led investigations have cleared her and the Obama administration of wrongdoing, is still being constantly harped on and used as proof that she is unfit to be president.
In fact, the most recent Benghazi investigation is being timed to ensure that the results will be released right before the election. Even when the results turn out to prove her innocence, as all of them have done, the inattentive public won't notice the details. The Repubs are counting on voters to hear "Benghazi" for the millionth time and think bad thoughts about Hillary in connection with a terrible event in which Americans were murdered by Muslim extremists. That will, they hope, both smear her with blame for their deaths and also associate her with Muslim terrorists in the minds of many voters.
Thus, despite her complete lack of culpability where Benghazi is concerned, a whole lot of Americans have heard *forever* that she is somehow at fault for what happened. Since most Americans don't pay attention to current events, and even those who "look at" news reports never read past the headlines, they end up believing the Repubs' completely false Benghazi narrative about her. And then there are those who thoughtlessly assume that where there is smoke, there is probably fire. Republicans deliberately create as much smoke as possible around Democratic candidates and office holders, and the smoke is almost always based on lies. But low-info voters see all that smoke and assume the Democrats under assault must be guilty of something to be surrounded by so darned much smoke.
Thus Hillary and Obama get blamed for the divisiveness deliberately created by the constant unfair, OTT, and dishonest Republican attacks on them.