A now-chastened Jefferson captured the presidency and allowed this turgid act to expire. The Constitution was vindicated. Revealing moments Good government types who bemoan NPAs for their ability to hypnotize voters into pulling a certain lever on election day really have an uphill battle against human nature and our electoral history. Often, by attacking, a politician accidentally either displays one of his own character flaws or highlights a strength of his opponent and is subsequently punished by voters. In 1966, California s incumbent governor, Pat Brown, appeared in a commercial in which a young boy asked the governor who he was running against.
Voters weren t having any.
To casually dismiss Reagan as an actor and to try to tarnish him by association showed Brown for the condescending bully that he was. Reagan won in a landslide. Again in 1984, Reagan came under fire, this time from the Democrats candidate for vice president, Geraldine Ferarro. Picking up the left s cudgel for further enriching the poor, she called him a bad Christian for attacking welfare queens and refusing to support more anti-poverty programs. His response was devastating.