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What if this is as good as it gets?

Posted at 9:19 PM on September 20, 2006 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

Campaign ads passed to the rival's campaign, press releases about a candidate's (incorrect) record in personal voting, congressional candidate aides greeting visitors to a competitor's event by shouting ethnic slurs, duck costumes.

And, of course, the subsequent outrage from the candidates who are just shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- that politics has fallen to this level..

Remember: we're trying to export this notion of how democracy works.

We can have better days. We just have to try.

Comments (7)

Passed?

Of course you mean stolen.

Posted by triple_a | September 20, 2006 9:50 PM

And it wasn't a press release that the National Republican Congressional Committee used to disseminate false information on Wetterling's personal voting record--it was at least two direct-mail hit pieces mailed out by the thousands into the 6th CD. Sadly, only a fraction of those folks will ever know the truth about that one. When is someone going to ask Bachmann about that one?

Posted by Karl | September 20, 2006 9:58 PM

Ya know, of all these things, the duck is probably the one that made me shake my head. The rest I can let wash over me.

And Karl keeps trying to hang the NRCC mailings on Bachmann, but for what it's worth, the mailings say "Paid for by the NRCC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

Posted by Jeff | September 20, 2006 10:41 PM

Actually, AAA, looks more like the ads were "found."

Nice security system your guy Mark has.

Posted by Jeff Fecke | September 20, 2006 11:02 PM

Here we go again with Bob's "a pox on all their houses" routine. I love his newscasts, but I don't understand how he can tar everyone with the same brush-the GOP clearly has the market cornered on dirty tricks

Posted by DG | September 20, 2006 11:40 PM

Jeff, I've worked in politics for many years, paid and unpaid. If you think there is no communication between campaigns and the national caucuses on these mailings, you probably believe in the tooth fairy too. NRCC money may have "paid" for the ads, but it was raised by Bachmann and earmarked for that specific purpose. NRCC may have "authorized" the ad but it was prepared with the explicit help of people from the Bachmann campaign and/or her legislative staff. Hate to pop your bubble, Jeff, but that's how this rotten-to-the-core system works. Just like legislative staff working on campaigns, which is another dirty little secret at the capitol.

Both sides do it, and the DFL will no doubt get down in the gutter eventually too with negative mailings. But as I said above, outright lying about personal voting records is a new low and Bachmann should be forced to defend or reject those mailings. Now, is there a reporter willing to ask her?

Posted by Karl | September 21, 2006 7:00 AM

It's crap like this back and forth that makes foul-mouthed bloggers like me sound ethical.

Now that I've seen how Kunin got in, this is about ten times less objectionable than Manuel Miranda's hacking into the Democrat's files on the US Senate Judiciary Committee server back in '04. And, it should be pointed out, Miranda is still getting paid by the GOP.

Posted by Mark Gisleson | September 21, 2006 11:26 AM

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