Political Shenanigans
[Guest post by DRJ]
SC Rep. and Democratic leader James Clyburn is concerned about political shenanigans such as whether Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene might be a Republican plant.
I don’t know if Greene is or isn’t a plant — there’s no evidence so far — but the Washington Bureau of the Chicago Tribune aka the Swamp notes that Democrats have admitted apparent political shenanigans in Iowa:
“According to a internal poll obtained by the Swamp, Democrats found [former Iowa Governor Terry] Branstad comfortably ahead in the Republican primary, leading Bob Vander Plaats, his closest challenger, by 42 points. That same poll, though, signaled that he had not closed the deal with an energized conservative base.
“We saw that If you give people the information, you can move the needle,” said a Democratic strategist who worked with an independent expenditure committee the party launched in the state, called Iowans for Responsible Government (IRG).
In the coming weeks, that committee established itself in the state cloaked as a Republican-leaning entity. It purchased some airtime – enough to get noticed – on Fox News Channel, and invested heavily in a direct mail campaign aimed exclusively at Republican primary voters. One of two television ads told viewers that Branstad had raised the state sales tax 60 percent and increased state spending by 231 percent as governor. A mail piece featured Branstad’s head as part of a mockup of a “liberal” Mount Rushmore that included Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton.
The idea of a Democratic-subsidized effort tacitly demonizing its own party leaders to strike a blow at a potential Republican rival may seem unusual to some.”
As is common with the mainstream media, the Swamp article is most concerned with whether these shenanigans might come back to bite Democrats.
— DRJ
how could Alvin Greene not win?
he personifies the Democrat base. 😀
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 6:35 pmThe suggestion that Greene is a Republican plant is ridiculous, since there is no evidence for it, it makes no sense, and it explains nothing that needs explaining.
Well, almost nothing. It would explain where the $10,000 registration fee came from, but that can easily be explained otherwise. It would not explain how he won with no other expenditures and with no campaign events. Perhaps because of his charm and charisma? Nah.
And why would Republicans give him $10,000 and then cast him loose with no further aid or guidance whatsoever? It makes no sense.
LTEC (7c27aa) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:03 pmThe Tribune’s Swamp consists of writers too liberal for Newsweek. They aspire to be the next Elanor Clift.
MU789 (0b69bd) — 6/13/2010 @ 8:15 pmI never saw the ads myself not having to live in his state but I have read that Al Frankin aimed a huge amount of his advertising at opposing the views of the Libertarian Party member who was running in that race. Every ad stressed how conservative the libertarians position was, with a subtext that his Republican opponenet was no where near as “bad” for the state. (i.e. good for the state to non-morons.) Frankin “won” by what, was it 300 votes?
Have Blue (854a6e) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:53 pmHow many people did he get to support the Libertarian who would have gone to the Republican. And this wasn’t even underhanded or unethical, just good marketing.
I live in Iowa and see constant Democrat dirty tricks, fraud, and attempted vote theft all the time.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 6/14/2010 @ 7:55 amReminds of me of Harry Reid’s fake Tea Party candidate.
They always go way overboard projecting. This Greene guy is no desperate attempt to get DeMint elected and they damn well know it. This is a sure win race.
They are just preemptively striking on the plant argument because they know in a few months they will probably be caught doing so in November. The plant Tea Party method is just too obvious and will probably be used in several races. They just want to get that trusty old ‘they do it too’ lie ready to go.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:05 amIS Clyburn’s arguement that South Carolinians would not nominate an idiot, or elect and idiot like Greene, when he is a walking refutation of his own position?
JD (43c16b) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:15 amAnyone see that Clyburn is now accusing Republican operatives of running Greene’s campaign? The operative’s response was basically that Clyburn is a clown.
JD (c66f4c) — 6/15/2010 @ 6:31 am