As a few other diarists have noted, the right-wing 501(c) group Freedom's Watch has decided to stick their greasy noses into the North Carolina senate race now that Liddy Dole is taking a beating in the polls. Guess if a carpetbagger can't win "at home", next best thing is to call in some more out-of-town friends to lie on your behalf.
Thankfully, I don't have a land line and haven't yet gotten one of their robo-calls that are popping up across the state. But we did get a flyer in the mail today, which makes for a good political science lesson:
Let's start with the outside. Uh-oh, it's that grim specter of failure, Jimmy Carter! And he's talking about spending lots and lots of money! Probably my money!
Oh wait, he's was actually talking (30 years ago) about using a windfall tax on oil companies to help pay for Federal programs like energy conservation, something that has a lot of popular support right now.
Now to the real stinking meat of the thing. We have an assertion that Hagan's plans (whatever those are...I'm assuming this portion is specifically talking about a windfall tax) will HURT (in big, red letters) North Carolina consumers. And the damning evidence? An op-ed from a conservative business magazine. Oh, for those credibility-minded skeptics, a quote from the almighty Associated Press (which just reconfirms that Hagan supports a windfall tax). Now, nowhere in the op-ed quoted does it refer specifically to Hagan, nor is that likely, since Kay Hagan is a state senator unknown to 95% of the country and probably to about as many North Carolinians before this race. But look at the obvious train of logic as you read down the page.
Kay Hagan will hurt you. How? She supports a windfall tax. This guy, from an impressive sounding business journal, says a tax will hurt you. Therefore, she will hurt you. End of story.
But that's not all! She also opposes offshore drilling! And that whole "how about using the 68 million unused acres you already have" argument? That's just a "talking point". And to prove it, we have another op-ed in another conservative business journal, claiming that there's oil in them thar shores and that a bunch of hippie enviro-freaks have used the law to block drilling. Therefore, if Hagan opposes drilling, and enviro-freaks oppose drilling, then Hagan must be in league with the extreme enivronmentalists! I bet she's even burned a multimillion-dollar condo in Aspen!
What's more, her plan would make us DEPENDENT (big red letters again) on foreign oil. Make us. We weren't already dependent, her plan would literally push us into subservience. And that oil up in the Chukchi Sea? That would be enough to keep America free and independent (for about 3 minutes).
And of course, to sum it all up for the truly retarded thinking-impaired Republican leaners, we'll just phrase it as "If Hagan wins, you'll pay more money." Note that nothing is said about if Dole wins. Or in fact about Dole at all. And in the very fine print at the bottom, you'll see that Freedom's Watch is not affiliated or approved by, with, or for the Dole campaign. Because if they were, they'd lose their tax status.
There's an art to crafting a powerful campaign flyer. And these guys ain't learned it. When you dissect it, it's pretty damn flimsy and makes me want to head over to the NC State vet school, round up a few pounds of our finest bovine waste product, and mail them a package to let them know what I think of their ad.