Search Results for ‘campaign tactics’
Jeff Lamberti is at it again with those bizarre campaign tactics. Yesterday at the state fair grounds, George Bush made a campaign stop for Lamberti. In what I’m sure was a confidence-inspiring speech, Bush assured those present:
There’s “no doubt in my mind, with your help, that Dave Lamberti will be the United States Congressman,” Bush said. “Dave and I believe a lot of things.”
Dave? While the Iowa Republican Party thinks that Mr. Bush’s visit will energize the GOP vote, just whom are they turning out the vote for? As if ballots weren’t confusing enough. But surely even if the president doesn’t know the guy’s name he can make an accurate prediction about how he would vote in congress.
There is also the possibility that this whole bring-in-the-big-guns scheme won’t work because people don’t actually like the president very much right now. Bringing in the president to tell us that he and ‘Dave’ share a lot of opinions will probably discourage many Republicans and serves as a convenient reminder to Democrats of just why it is important to vote, volunteer, and donate in the next week and half.
October 27th, 2006
On Thursday my esteemed colleague, Geraldine, posted about the new website IDP launched, Stop GOP Smear. I have to say though, Geraldine, I think that you’re letting the IDP off pretty easy. For starters, the site looks like it was designed by a 10-year-old. While it may be a good idea to have such a website to provide a centralized location where people can report smear campaigning, I seriously question the point of putting up such an unprofessional site.
Furthermore, I think that it is indicative of a general trend in campaigns this year that I find uninspiring and misdirected. I think attacking a campaign for ‘going negative’ completely misses the point. It is a fine line to walk between correcting fallacious information on an opponent’s mailer and using the fact that they sent the mailer as an attack on the character of the opponent. I don’t think either party has found that line yet. There are more effective ways to respond to negative mailers than to whine about the fact that a negative mailer was sent out.
I am not saying that I support negative campaigning; I don’t. But, I just don’t see the point of making your opponent’s negative campaign tactics a talking point of your campaign. I would rather see candidates contrasting their views and records with those of their opponents than resorting to a juvenile ‘he started it’ ‘no, he started it’ exchange, such as the one we witnessed in the gubernatorial debate on Monday. It is especially hypocritical when there are smear mailers and ads against both candidates. Can’t candidates find a way to criticize their opponents without criticizing them for being critical?
In short, Geraldine, I hope that in the future you will be a little more discerning in your choice of websites to frequent.
October 8th, 2006
The Iowa Democratic Party today announced a new web site, StopGOPSmear.com, that attempts to expose the Republicans’ smear tactics and respond to them with the facts.
One interesting feature of the site (which I’m sure will serve its purpose) is the link at the top left allowing visitors to report any attack ads or mail pieces that they receive to the Party so that our candidates can respond quickly. This is perhaps the most useful part of the site, because visitors to it will probably be good Democrats anyway. This is just a way for our campaigns to find out faster what the next big wave of attacks is.
Either way, it’s a worthwhile project, especially since there have been so many hit pieces put out by the Republicans already this election.
October 5th, 2006
Danny “I’m not that fond of democracy or gays” Carroll and the Repugs are at it again. Apparently someone has commissioned a push poll targeting the Democratic candidate for Danny’s seat, Eric Palmer. Since I definitely couldn’t say it any better, here’s the LTE in it’s entirety:
Last night I received a telephone “survey” regarding elections. The survey must have been commissioned by a Republican Party organization, the Danny Carroll campaign (House District 75) or the Jim Nussle campaign.
Toward the end of the survey, the caller said that she would “give [me] some information” and then asked me if that information changed my feelings about my vote in the race for House District 75. Each piece of information portrayed Democratic candidate Eric Palmer in a negative light.
One of the “negative” comments the caller made about Eric Palmer was that he has served as a criminal defense lawyer. The organization behind this survey, and everyone involved in it, should be ashamed. In our democracy, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. And in our democracy, even those who are eventually found guilty are entitled to legal representation.
Such representation exists to prevent the abuse of government power. We need only look at the world around us to see what happens when citizens are not entitled to protection within the legal systems in their countries.
Democracy is a fragile thing. “Surveys” such as this erode it. By criticizing Eric Palmer for providing criminal defense services, the sponsors of this survey demonstrate that they are willing to chip away at our precious democracy for the sake of potential political gain.
— Harriett Dickey-Chasins, Grinnell.
We’ve already seen reports of this kind of dirty politics in other races, but it’s really a shame to see it so close to home. You may remember that last election season Danny’s constituents received a mailing calling Grinnell College students “1,000 east-coast liberal kids” and implying that we don’t deserve to vote. Danny claimed not to have known about that slanderous mailing. Well, if Danny really wants to show he’s above this chicanery, he should openly denounce such tactics (and call off his henchmen). But I guess an issues-based campaign would be scary for him.
July 9th, 2006
We all know Bill O’Reilly and his friends at Fox News have done more to promote the harmful republican agenda than any other supposedly-mainstream news outlet. Yesterday, Media Matters released video clips documenting O’Reilly’s new intimidation tactic: his “smear patrol.” He has a list of the members of the media who his listeners and viewers should boycott and harass (including their contact information) on his web site, and he add to it whenever he gets smeared. From the article:
During the April 24 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly launched a “campaign to hold the smear merchants accountable,” because “some media people” allegedly “have been using personal attacks and smears to try to marginalize people with whom they disagree.” O’Reilly declared that “the committed left-wing media hates Fox News, along with me … because we provide a balance to the overwhelming secular presence in the media.” O’Reilly cited the Dayton Daily News and the Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York, as examples of newspapers that have recently “smeared” him, and added that he has posted “contact numbers” on his website for “[t]he villains at” the Post-Standard — publisher Stephen Rogers and editorial writer Mark Libbon, who O’Reilly called “unprofessional” and “incompetent.” Concluding, O’Reilly stated: “Any media person who uses smear tactics in any way … will be featured on The Factor and inducted into the billoreilly.com ‘hall of shame.’ … [B]eginning today, the smear stops here.”
Also read about how O’Reilly doesn’t even have an adequate phone sex vocabulary — and you’ll never see a common, delicious, and vegetarian Middle Eastern fast food item in the same way again. And also check out this montage of Keith Olberman clips on O’Reilly.
April 26th, 2006
