It appears that the Word from On High in the Republican Machine is to go negative. They may have forgotten one essential point - that in order to discredit someone, you have to reveal something that is, you know,
bad.
To nutshell two attack ads running locally, one accuses Jack Carter of "not being from around here" and, apparently, having a poor fashion sense, while the other accuses a Democrat of being... well, a Democrat.
Worse yet democrat who supports the ACLU and who's opposed to applying the death penalty to minors. Oh, the HORRORS!
I'm kinda wondering if this is a local phenomonon, or if it's nationwide. Details and amusements below the fold.
I'm crossposting from Graphictruth because I am suddenly wondering if this is happening elsewhere. Are all republicans as retarded as they are in Nevada, or is it just the lingering cold war fallout and arsenic-laden water that does it to us?
Negativity in Nevada.
Maurice Washington is running to keep his seat in the Nevada state senate, and I caught his ad against his opponent, John Emerson.
The worst things Washington could dredge up against his opponent was that he supports the ACLU and has endorsements from major labor unions. including both major teachers unions. Worse yet - oh horrors - the Emerson opposes the death penalty.
Or in other words - Emerson is a ">Democrat. God, the man's incisive command of the subtle nuances of the principles involved is just boggling.
Want to know where Washington stands on the death penalty?
Washington has cast votes against banning the death penalty for juveniles in Nevada, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the practice constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Opposes the ACLU and wants to execute children. Clearly the problem with our society is the lack of good old-fashioned lynchings.
The rest of the story shows why Washington isn't running on his record of positive social achievements.
It just stuns me that a black minister - would go on record as being against civil rights, against unions and against good education, while being for killing more poor, black and minority citizens; citizens with civil rights, despite convictions.
To me, "Conservatism" involves conserving things that you, personally know to be of value. Seems to me that a black man who was born in 1956 - a year before me - should have some appreciation for the forces that made it possible to reach as high as he has. And it seems to me that a minister should have some concept of What Jesus Would Do.
But, somehow, I don't think Washington's Jesus is the same as Martin Luther King's, so I guess that's why he has to be a Republican.
And then there is the case of our US Senator, the distinguished hair and teeth from Nevada.
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<h1>"Senator Ensign Might As Well Be From Texas"
</h1>Oh, why did I know that John Ensign would get down-low and make use of this supposed "carpetbagger" issue? I did a little research on this a while back and it turned out that not one of the Senators elected to John Ensign's seat were born in Nevada. This includes the ensignificant Senator himself: Ensign was born in Roseville, California. His family moved to Nevada when he was a child. His mo...
Turn Tahoe Blue - Sun 5:15 p.m.
</div>Ensign is actually having to work to maintain his lead against Carter against increasing blog buzz, and against the damned accurate observations that he really doesn't do one hell of a lot for us. I can understand that going negative is a huge temptation - but first, you should have something bad to say. The worst thing he can come up with is "he ain't from around here." Indeed, it establishes that Carter is an unusually well-traveled man.
With all that money slushing and sloshing about his coffers, the most damning thing he could come up with is something that Carter himself talks about at length? I suppose Ensign really can't run on his own record, either - seeing that's what Carter is doing.
Imagine the horrible specter of a politician from Nevada who's most questionable judgements have been to move to Las Vegas from Bermuda and to wear a bucket hat in public. How could we possibly live that down?
His "Vote for me, I have great hair and I love kittens" ads were less embarrassing. I'm really tired of being embarrassed by my political representatives and my government.
And then there's the whole thing with five-term Representative Jim Gibbons who now wants to be our govorner. Our local newspaper is trying to downplay all of this, but here's how I put it in their online forum.
What's important is what Gibbons said, what Jim Young said, what the private investigator said, what the "friend" said.
Oh, and did you notice that this loosely titled "friend" issued a denial of being involved with the Gibbons campaign at about the same time as the Gibbons campaign denies that any member of the Campaign had contact with Mazzio?
You see, it's possible to tell the literal truth and still be lying like a rug.
And what DID happen to those cameras, and the tapes that shoud have been recorded? Of all the places that should have tapes, a parking garage is high on the "mission critical" list for tourist confidence. What hotel was that again? I don't believe I'll be going there until that problem is addressed. The "problem" in my mind would be the security people who let the sherriff meddle with the security.
Here's what we do know; our stalwart standard-bearer for Republican family values demonstrated the depth of his personal integrety in public, and shows that with a couple glasses of red in him, he's that guy you never want at your party.
The details beyond that are unclear, but it's clear they are unclear due to desperate and ham-handed attempts to obscure the details. When you hear a cat covering up on linolium, you really don't have to look to know what's going on. It's amusing when a cat does it, but then, a cat has a brain the size of a naked walnut.
When a human behaves like that, it ain't a big stretch to think they are total retards. Mazzio might be accused of being gauche for pointing out the obvious in her press conference... but I will forgive her for her surprise. Clearly, she hadn't felt the need to pay attention to politics until it ran it's horny old hand up the inside of her thigh.
I would like to know why Sheriff Young released Mazzio's name to the press, contrary to all normal standards and practices. I also want to know why the press published her name. She was complaining of a sexual assault, an assault that was clearly never properly investigated.
I'd also kinda like to know how often stunts like this HAVE worked - because obviously, they must have had reason to think it would.
Nobody is looking good in this. Indeed, it's an insight into what incompetent amateurs we have in charge of our governance and public safety.
Gibbons wanted this to "Go Away." Mazzio herself wanted it to "Go Away." Any competent handler - strike that, even JAMES CARVILLE would know how to make this "go away."
A sincere apology; an appropriate token of sincerity - something along the lines of an entree to a private school for her kid, or sponsorship to a job about five rungs higher - and it would have gone away. But that would require a sense of personal accountability. Instead, Gibbons tries to blame everything on Mazzio's despicable cleavage, and so we are treated to an account of him lurking in the bushes for twenty minutes to accost her.
Keeping things out of the public eye requires a sense of just recompense. Scaring the woman to the point where she seeks out professional help - as her "friend" suggested - was not the way to go. The friend of course was not thinking of that sort of professional help... but that's what happens when you scare a mommy with thoughts of what might happen to her kid.
And this is what happens when you deal with amateurs who's idea of finesse comes from old Rat Pack movies. "Don't worry, I "handled" it. Badabing, Badabang, Badaboom."
The only person showing any common sense in handling this is Dina Titus; who's saying "It's not appropriate for me to comment."
It's really, really hard not to laugh at a man who can't tell the difference between a vagina and a pencil sharpener, so the best way to keep a straight face is to say nothing at all.