Casually perusing the morning's paper today in Lancaster, PA, and came across an article outlining the Pennsylvania's GOP efforts to win this crucial state for McCain. Appearing in Lancaster mailboxes already, the local newspaper requested some interesting feedback from the local repugs on this late, nasty tactic.
Lancaster County is a true battleground in Pennsylvania, with a surge of newly registered democrats, the old-guard republicans are having a tizzy over the state polls that put them in a pinch next Tuesday.
Flailing in and around the area by the GOP isn't new this year. The local elections held this spring during the primaries was a huge blow to the GOP, with minimal voters appearing at the voting polls, while the democrats came out of the woodwork. Now with the state positioned as a McCain "hail Mary" for the election, things are turning ugly here in PA.
Living and knowing many republicans in this county and elsewhere, the GOP may be seriously making a big misstep in trying to appeal to last minute undecided with this ploy. Although they maybe conservative on a host of GOP issues, politics is done in a way here that doesn't use this type of exploitation in winning votes.
The article, appearing in the Intelligencer newspaper, "State GOP mailer links Obama, Ayers" describes the 4 page slick flyer that has been posted and received by local residents in the area, although, apparently the GOP reps who were contacted for the article have not seen it.
To quote State Rep. Katie True, who also has not seen the leaflet, said people want to know who their leaders associate with.
"If there's a link there, people are going to be concerned," she said. "With the scrutiny that everybody gets these days, I think it's a legitimate campaign issue."
The mailer's message certainly isn't subtle, setting an Ayers quote — "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough" — beside a photo of Obama on the front page.
Lower on the page, the leaflet states: "This is the story of William Ayers ... Terrorist. Radical. Friend of Obama."
The newsletter ignores Ayers' academic career — he is a professor of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago — as well as his work for public school reform and with philanthropic organizations. In 1997, Chicago named Ayers its Citizen of the Year for his work toward improving education.
"During his reign of terror, Ayers and his organization bombed the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's house and police stations," the leaflet states. "His group was finally stopped when a bomb to be detonated at a U.S. Army dance prematurely exploded, putting Ayers on the run and his current wife on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Then William Ayers became a friend, colleague and supporter of Barack Obama."
Lois Herr, who is the Executive Director of the Lancaster Democratic Committee, who I attended the convention with as a delegate, responded to the smear campaign with a smack! Go Lois...
"I'm disappointed and offended that McCain allows this type of campaigning," she said.
"It's an act of desperation, and considering the poll numbers, I can see why," Herr added. "When you can't talk positively about the campaign, you turn on the other candidate. In Lancaster County, we don't attack people very much. People here are civilized and polite ... and negative campaigning is not appreciated."
This is where Lois really captures exactly why McCain will lose, and lose handedly across the country and here in Pennsylvania: "It offends people who are able to understand issues, when they have innuendoes and half-truths thrown at them. ... They're not talking about positive things in they're own campaign, but disparaging the other candidate."
If this is all they can come up with, with only one week to go, I say they just wasted a whole bunch of $$, and a whole bunch of respect by the proud voters in this state.