In today’s Daily Mail is a piece in the defence of Iain Duncan Smith against the left. Well, that’s what the headline says it is – “Iain Duncan Smith Hits Back At The Left”. But start reading the piece itself and you begin to see the defence is rather double-edged. More of a skewering, really, than a defence. Read on, and you realise the piece is actually a masterclass in the art of damning by faint praise – these people know what they’re doing, by God, and they’re doing it well. Get to the end, and your thoughts have actually come full circle – the piece IS hitting back at the left – it’s showing the left how it’s done. The left, the piece suggests, have been trying their hardest to demonise this man, and they’ve got nowhere. Here though, it seems to continue, is how to do it. This, right here in your vegan, roll-up stained hands is the definitive template for taking down a Tory MP. Let’s just break it down again, for those slower lefties at the back:
First, ignore any defence of Iain Duncan Smith that might actually work – his principles, his intelligence, or the difficult nature of his job – or if you have to just give them a passing mention. Focus on his poverty. Yes, make a real case for this now rich man having at one point been poor (although he wasn’t actually that poor).
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