Joseph Cummins, author of 'Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap
Shots, and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns,' says
this is the #1 attack strategy used in presidential elections:

'Shrinks publicly stated that both William Jennings Bryan and Barry
Goldwater were neurotic and paranoid; Horace Greeley died in an
asylum right after Election Day 1872; Thomas Eagleton received shock
treatments; and Nixon--well, all you had to do was look at the guy's
1952 Checkers speech. Diagnosis: Bonkers.'

Speaking of Nixon, new information has surfaced about his
administration's use of psychiatry as a political tool. AP writer
Calvin Woodward reports:

'Documents released Tuesday show Nixon's operatives dishing dirt on
the president's critics and public figures, including their marital,
mental and drinking problems, and struggling to contain growing
public unrest over the war in Vietnam.

'Alabama Gov. George Wallace was branded a "psychotic" who could be
useful in making trouble for his fellow Democrats. Thomas Eagleton's
treatments for mental illness were reported to Nixon's secretary
before that disclosure forced him to resign from the 1972 Democratic
ticket....'

["Nixon records: Aides dished dirt on critics," in 'Aurora Sentinel,'
Wed. Dec. 3, 2008]

The more things change....