Getting yourself out of a hole, for dummies

Problem: You need to subject a political opponent to negative media coverage, particularly if you need to overshadow something that they've found out about you.

Solution: Twist something they've said so that you can use one of the buzzwords: racist, Nazi, homophobe, sexist or, Ken Livingstone's favourite, Islamophobe. The press will then automatically make a story out of the fact that they are being accused of such a thing, whether or not it happens to be true.