Wednesday, August 09, 2006

About the "Midnight Vote" Kerfuffle

Not going to say a lot about this except,

1. This was not a Republican "hit piece." Had Republicans been responsible the timing would have been different. I'm not really sure that Republicans are quaking in fear of a Gifford's win in the primary as some have believed.

2. I have seen many comments on many boards by a few people claiming that the writer cannot be trusted because he may have been, or associates with Republicans. The irony of this is delicious. Imagine a member of the press belonging to, agreeing with, being active in, and actually voting for another political party. Welcome to the world of Republicans, except it is not just a once in a while thing.

3. The fact that this is labeled as a hit piece at all is just hyperventalating. Newspapers do this schtick every election period. They see an add and fact check it. They will also do it for Weiss, Huffman, Graf, and perhaps Hellon if he buys any television time. Enterprising papers will also do it for debates as well. Everyone knows that when you put up an ad, you are going to fudge a little to place yourself in a good light. Just don't cite outright falsehoods and you will be OK. The Steve Huffman flashlight in his latest ad should have caused more of an uproar than this.

4. This entire uproar simply helps lend credence to my previous hypothesis. The only reason that this is of any moment at all is because Gabby will not separate herself from the people she is running against. If she were to show up to the next mixed forum and aggressively hound Randy Graf for the length of the forum the sniping would subside substantially. I'm not saying this would be an easy thing to do, but she will be facing a Republican in a month. Now would be a good time to confront Republicans outside of a thirty second television ad about an obscure parliamentary device. The next issue may be if she can face Republicans without yelling "quorum" and leaving town for three days to recover her calm.

Or perhaps it will be about the tenderfoot way she approaches the horses in her ads, or the weak tourqe that was placed on the lugnuts she used in her tire shop. The thing is, Gabby can end all this, but she will have to show up and lead and not rely on coasting.

1 comment:

x4mr said...

Well said, Framer, and clearly you are one of the voices of reason on these blogs, while we may have our disagreements.

I have only seen one blogger, although posting several times and in a few places and with two names, tag Scarpinato as possibly working with republicans. I remain far more suspicious of the nearly simultaneous release of a very polished product from Weiss. OK, fine, maybe they were tipped or knew people who knew.......

Haven't heard or seen a thing about last night's Forum or what got said, but yes, I think Giffords needs to start setting a more "commanding" tone. From my perspective, her campaign is doing an extraordinary job save this and the lack of signage around town.

I don't know value or influence of signage, but I would think it supports name recognition and, my opinion, they should have signs up.

Finally, just a general remark that I think a small number (maybe a dozen) of vehement bloggers cause these blogs to occur far more shrill and "violent" than anything happening in "reality."

At least for now these folks are staying away from your turf.

Thankfully.