The First Casualty: A Political Campaign Lexicon

Debating Parries Part I: 
The American People are Smarter than that
Deride the Opposition and Praise the American People

George Stephanopolous tried to take David Axelrod to task for President Obama's gaffe that the private sector was doing fine.  Axelrod used a time honored deflect to present the response - framed not as his thoughts, but instead channeling the thoughts and beliefs of the American people:

 STEPHANOPOULOS: They're saying, no, Mr. President, we're not doing fine. How big of a mistake did the president make and is it going to stick?

AXELROD: Look, George, I think the American people are smarter than that. They understand the president called the press conference to say that because of the storm clouds that are rolling in from Europe and elsewhere, we need to undergird our economy, and he called the press conference to promote several steps he thought we needed to take to strengthen job creation.

A corollary to this parry point is to say, The American People aren't stupid/dumb.  Obama used this technique in an address on energy policy, "Well the American people aren’t stupid. You know that’s not a plan – especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge."

QUESTION:  What are other examples of this technique being used? Include your finds in the comments.