3.The nod to truth.

　　3.站在真理一方。

　　Sometimes, the facts are on your side to the point that you can score simply by getting out of the way.

　　有时很明显你是占理的一方，那么稍微有所退让也足以让你得分。

　　A good example? Then-candidate Obama, in 2008, responding to a line of questioning about Hillary Clinton's "likability" by telling her she was "likable enough."

　　举个生动的例子?08年总统大选时，作为竞选者的奥巴马在回应关于希拉里是否够受大众喜爱时简单回应道：“她超可爱的。”

　　Perhaps the best came from the year 2000, when Vice-President Al Gore walked across the stage and sort of "got into the space" of Republican nominee George W. Bush.

　　更好的例子发生在2000年，时任副主席的艾伯特·戈尔像迈着太空步一样穿过礼台走向共和党对手小布什。

　　Bush interrupted his remarks just for a brief second, to nod in Gore's direction--as if to point out how weird it was that Gore had walked over. He didn't even have to say anything, but he made his point very clear.

　　小布什用了一小招就打破了僵局——冲戈尔走来的方向点了点头——不用一言一语，就足以表明自己觉得对方的行为有多滑稽。

　　4.The elephant in the room.

　　4.明明很明显，却避之不谈。

　　Sometimes there's another way to handle an obvious truth--and that's to say it in a manner that is so clear and obvious that there simply is no real response.

　　有时面对显而易见的事实，最好用的办法其实是和稀泥。

　　Example: In 1988, Dan Quayle was running for vice-president, and in a debate with the Democratic nominee, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Quayle made the point that he had as much experience as John Kennedy had when he'd run for president in 1960.

　　例子：1988年的副主席竞选，丹奎尔与民主党对手参议员本特森激烈辩论。奎尔声称自己的经历和肯尼迪一样丰富，因为他从1960年就参与竞选总统了。

　　Maybe you weren't even born in 1988, but you might know Bentsen's response--which pretty much solidified the mainstream opinion of Quayle:

　　可能1988年是时你还没出生，不过你还是可以从本特森的回复中看出他和稀泥的功力——看似是对对手观点的强化，其实对自身有利。

　　"Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

　　“我亲爱的参议员，我曾效力于肯尼迪总统。我了解他。肯尼迪总统是我的朋友。不过，你永远不可能成为肯尼迪。”

　　5.The table-turn.

　　5.扭转乾坤。

　　Similarly, sometimes you can take your opponent's exact words and use them to turn everything against him or her.

　　有时情况就是这么简单，你可以用对手的原话来置其于不利之境地。

　　As an example, in the Republican debates earlier this year, Jeb Bush started attacking Senator Marco Rubio for having missed votes in the senate while he was campaigning. I'm not sure if this was ever going to be effective, but Rubio knocked him back and disarmed the attack simply by observing, "Someone convinced you attacking me is going to help you."

　　一个例子是，今年度共和党内部辩论中，杰布布什攻击对手马克卢比奥称其在竞选时错过参与议院内投票。我不知道卢比奥的举措是否奏效，不过他的反应时是报以回击称“你这样做是因为自认为攻击我对你的竞选有利。”(我不会通过攻击任何人来赢得竞选)

　　The most classic example is probably from 1984, when Reagan was running for reelection at age 73. When this was brought up in a debate, he almost seemed to have misunderstood the question in his remark--but it was a genius response:

　　更经典的案例出自1984年的总统改选，时年73岁。当他的年龄被对手在辩论中提及时，里根几乎误解了自己当时的处境——但他的回复堪称神来一笔：

　　"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," Reagan said.

　　“我觉得我在这个年龄竞选不成问题。我更不会通过揭露我对手的年轻和没有经验来获得什么政治上的胜利。”

　　How effective was it? He even left his opponent, Walter Mondale, laughing--and beat him in a landslide.

　　这话奏效了吗?里根甚至让他的对手捧腹大笑——也使自己身处劣势赢得竞选。

（编辑：何莹莹）