I live in Wimberley Texas, and some of the down-down-ticket races are very important to me. Hays County is growing rapidly, but Wimberley has managed to stave off Mall*Wartification. We have a lovely downtown Square with small, locally owned shops and restaurants, a lively arts and artisans community, and even a good locally owned grocery store and pharmacy.
The Austin American Statesman endorsed a Republican incumbant, Will Conley, for County Commissioner. They called him a stabilizing force on a contentious board, and someone who is doing good things for the area. I'm trying really hard to be open-minded because I don't want my current reflexive hatred for the Republicans to cause me to vote for someone who may not share my concerns.
I figured my best bet for info would be the Hays County GOP website, and went there. I guess I live in a blogosphere bubble, haven't moved away from progressive sites, and was thus not prepared for what I'd be getting into.
Hays GOP Website
I was particularly sickened by the photoshopped image of William Ayres, and the scary photos of Obama. Look also for the Hitler link. That's a completely new slime. Can you be a fascist and a socialist at the same time. I mean if you're not Republican/Schizophrenic is it possible to be on radically different sides of one spectrum?
Don't stop before you hit the bottom of the page for a look at what the GOP considers a wholesome image.
I sent an e-mail to info@ haysgop:
I live in Wimberley and will be voting tomorrow. The Statesman endorsed Will Conley, and although I am a Democrat I wanted more information on whether or not Mr. Conley and I are on the same page on issues that I consider important: development and natural resource management. I'm very angry with the Republican Party in general, particularly the near-fascist tone of Sarah Palin's stump speeches, but I didn't want to reflexively vote against a good candidate/public servant.
Please let Mr. Conley know that the content of the GOP website sunk his chances of getting my vote. I guess the progressives are right. If you don't have anything to run on, if you have no policies, no platform, no new ideas, all you can do is slime your opponent.
Thank you DK for providing information, reason, humor, and a community. Thank you for supporting Barack Obama, and for working so hard to get a good man into the White House. Thank you for being a place I can come back to, to clean the slime off my brain.
What I hate the most about this is that Will Conley may be the best person for this job. I'm just not able to vote for anyone who is associated with this kind of ??? what's the word? poison? insanity? glberwflky?