Debate Now Political Strategy: Trump/Pence got schooled! Clinton played them like a violin!

[320 Years of History]

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War​

It's commonly agreed that Pence won VP debate the other night. People note that he "looked (Vice) Presidential," and he did. It's also commonly agreed that VP debates and their outcomes don't really move voters one way or the other.

So what did the Clinton campaign decide to do with the VP debates? They said, "Fine. Let them 'win' the battle of the VP debate. We'll win the war." Knowing from the start that Pence is a skilled politician who would not take the "low hanging fruit" type of "bait" that Trump "gobbles up," they took a more sophisticated path and played Trump and Pence against themselves, pushing Pence to make the exact same types of factual misrepresentations that Trump is known for. They literally made the man give them the material for their next ad.
The coup de gras of it that Pence was damned if he defended Trump and damned if he didn't. Defend Trump and paint himself as loyal to Trump but just as nutty. Don't defend Trump, which is the tack Pence took, and the ad below is the result.

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Thread Rules:
This thread is about the political strategy, not the political issues themselves or the candidates. Posts much be exclusively about the strategy either Presidential candidate used in a specific instance/situation. The requirement then is that each poster and each post must do each of the following:

• Identify the situation
• Identify the strategy
• Discuss the strategy

 

[HaShev]

1)Identify the situation

The situation was Hillary had 0 success in Foreign relations, a string of bungles and had nothing to campaign onn no substance or solutions or plans or anything of value.

2)Identify the strategy

So she ran a negative campaign (deflection)
Ad Hominem smokescreen.
Demonize the opponent and deflected everything we fear about her onto her opponent in displacement tactic.

3)Discuss the strategy

Well it failed like everything she does, including her coup attempt..

Now do I get a cookie for this?