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September 11, 2006 07:23 PM UTC

Republicans Plan to Get Personal

  • 44 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

With polls showing voter dissatisfaction with Congress and the way the Iraq war is going, Republican strategists are getting personal. Check out this story from The Washington Post:

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to “define” opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin “Dr. Millionaire” and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

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44 thoughts on “Republicans Plan to Get Personal”

  1. A plan like this will obviously help America. The old school GOP better get a grip on the “win at all costs” faction of their party. If they don’t, I can’t imagine that they will be able to keep credibility with the American people.

  2. If all of their research and attacks are as laughably bad as O’Donnell’s swipe at Perlmutter over the insurance lawsuits, then there isn’t much to worry about.

      1. This research proves that Marilyn Musgrave has what it takes to stand up for Traditional Values and protect us from the liberal extremist agenda that wants to invade Colorado and undermine our families.

        1. “liberal extremist agenda”. What I hear mostly is:

          “Teachers are liberals and ruining our children” – well, I am the product of a public school education. I imagine most people entering education are fairly non-doctrinaire from a religious point of view. I agree public schools can be improved – I just don’t see the free market being the best place in this case.

          “gays are advancing their agenda” – having been approached – to their dissappointment, by a number of gay men in my life i always found a simple “may be your way but don’t do anything for me” perfectly sufficient. Not big on my list and not really worried my wife will run off with another woman – so what’s the big?

          “Illegals will rule the world” – sorry, as far as I can tell, the big failures in immigration control and the biggest consumers of illegal immigrant labor came from the Republican camp (my camp). Now, they are taking the only bigger mess than Iraq (also their ownership) and blaming it someone else. Until the Republicans can say “we screwed up immigration for 20 years for economic gain, what do we do now?” I can’t blame Democrats for saying we are all hot air.

          “Big spenders” – CRAP – I would rather see the Republicans in charge only of the House and Dems have the Pres and Senate – only way we get national Republicans serious about cutting spending is when they see political advantage to cutting of Dem spending. The jokers in DC are a farce – only way I agree with you is if you also agree EVERY Repub incumbent should lose their seat for voting these farces of budgets over the last six years.

          “Activist judges” – I’ll tell you what, I complain about Dem activist judges when the President of the US stops violating his oath of office to “faithfully execute” the laws of the nation. If he doesn’t like a law, veto it – have some balls, George. As a devout non-practicing attorney, I am ASHAMED of what this President has done to trash the US Constitution.

          When Republicans start behaving like responsible stewards of the country, I’ll reembrace the party I REFUSE to bolt from just because of the disgrace its current leaders have made of it.

          1. No really, Thank you. Of course the obvious response is that you are a RINO, whatever that means. I often wonder what it is going to take for republicans to stand up and say enough. You have elucidated the points which are repeated by democrats that never take hold for whatever reason. Again, thank you for saying enough.

              1. I hereby decree, by the power vested in me as Mr. Toodles, That El Paso Rockefeller Republican, by extreme agility of mind, grace and fortitude of backbone shall be known as Republican of the year (2006-2007). As such he is entitled to all awards bestowed upon him.

              2. I hereby decree, by the power vested in me as Mr. Toodles, That El Paso Rockefeller Republican, by extreme agility of mind, grace and fortitude of backbone shall be known as Republican of the year (2006-2007). As such he is entitled to all awards bestowed upon him.

          2. Maybe you are being sarcastic, but that is what I mean. Our schools are just a Big Brother institution, while the radical homosexual agenda is targeting our children by getting judges in black robes to legislate from the bench. Democrats favor an anti-American multicultural society that undermines our Judeo-Christian heritage and our roots in Western Civilization.

            Marilyn Musgrave is a Budget Hawk, while her opponent is just another spendthrift liberal who screwed over the taxpayer friendly Colorado Constitution to keep more of your tax dollars to fund her private Big Brother agenda.

            1. this is the equivalent of trying to debate a “Talking Barbie” doll – pull the string, hear the recording. I hate to say – I don’t have the time to spar with a marshmallow (lot’s of effort, no result, no competition and all you have at the end is the same gooey mess you started with). Consider me defeated by boredom – I’ll go talk to Republicans at their doors for candidates I believe in.

            2. If you can’t tell complete outrage at a bunch of talking gasbags that took a proud, viable party and turned into a chickenhawk, lying, spendthrift group of plutocrats swilling at the public trough that is verging close to its own internal facism from sarcasm – then the numbness from the Koolaid should be starting to hit soon.

              1. (read Abramoff) and a number of state and local leadership types. Walking the precincts still gives me faith that there is a core of thoughtful, conservative voters.

              3. based on your comments on this board, I would love to spend an hour or so, just hanging out over a beer (or scotch or bourbon, or whatever your choice might be) with you.  I don’t expect that we would agree on every topic, but I suspect you are the type that would enjoy a spirited, enlightened and civil conversation about our state, our nation and our democracy.

                It is the kind of conversation I used to have regularly with folks in the opposite party.  It was a conversation based on mutual respect and a belief that we were both striving for the best for our state and our nation, we just periodically disagreed on the tactics to get there – however the end was always the same, it was just that we disagreed on how we would get there.

                Oh how I wish for those days to come back.

                1. you are on. Tell me when you would be in El Paso County and that can be arranged. Hell, I’ll even provide more Dems for you to join – I enjoy the debate.

            3. Paccione was just given the Colorado Farm Bureau’s “Friend of the Farm Bureau” award — something given to only one Republican and one Democrat each year.  This year’s Republican recipient was state Senator Greg Brophy and the Democratic recipient was Angie.  Anyone who knows the Colorado Farm Bureau knows they are a very conservative, typically Republican crowd. I doubt if she is the “spendthrift liberal” you accuse her to be that the Farm Bureau would be anywhere close to her.

        2. Do you give her a complete free pass on her ethics, like when she voted to change House rules so as to weaken them and keep Tom Delay in his position as majority leader?  Just curious what your take is on that.

      1. These thoughtful videos raise profound issues about the threat to Our Way of Life from urbanite elitist liberalism. If the RINOs would stop their whining, they could get back to the business of reclaiming America’s civilization from the invasion of illegal immigrants and liberal urbanites!!!

        2. Uhhh . . . Okay, some framing shots of some plains, apparently in Colorado, then some footage from a gay pride parade and a blasting disco gay anthem.  Then the explanation that gay pride parades apparently constitute some sort of universal “New York Values” which Angie would attempt to enforce on the people that elected her.  Are you kidding me?

          Okay, so if a Southern candidate was running, would it be legit for me to run some footage of a Klan meeting and suggest that they were going to enforce those kinds of Southern values?  Perfectly ridiculous – and also stupid in that Denver has it’s own gay pride parades and activities, as do most other American cities, so it’s pretty dumb to suggest that it’s some kind of liberal elites only situation from the East Coast. 

          Here’s a thought for anybody that thinks this stuff is legit – gay people and gay families are everywhere in this country, including your hometown, and they’re not going anywhere.  You can attempt to legislate bigotry, but the country is growing more tolerent, and eventually you’ll lose.  Then, god forbid, your gay neighbors can get a piece of paper from the state allowing them the same rights and benefits that everybody else gets.  I imagine that the world will end shortly thereafter, right?

          That ad would get laughed away from major media before people even had a chance to realize how foolish and bigoted it really was – hence it’s current home in a remote corner of the internet.  And that’s just one video . . . I could go on.  The point is there’s nothing thoughtful, or even of decent quality, about a video like that.

    3. A couple of cartoonish shell websites full of videos and graphics that my 13 year old cousin could easily top?  That stuff is grossly amateur and just catering to the voters who already have their minds made up.  Anybody that appreciates that badly done and homophobic ‘Manhattan Values’ video wasn’t a likely Paccione voter in the first place.

      This isn’t a fluff story.  Is it suprising that the GOP is ramping up for a year of heavy personal attacks when they’re starting to become widely percieved as out of touch, irresponsible, and in serious danger of losing control of Congress?  No – in fact it’s expected.  Is it fluff to report on the fact they’re revving up for perhaps one of the hardest cycles of negative campaigning across the board that we’ve ever seen?  Not one bit.

      1. Someone was stupid enough to release a New York-bashing website video on 9/11, or shortly prior thereto?  You really gotta wonder about these people……

      2. Someone was stupid enough to release a New York-bashing website video on 9/11, or shortly prior thereto?  You really gotta wonder about these people……

    4. I’ve lost track — but wasn’t there a BIG to-do from the BB camp last week when he got an endorsement from a mega-law firm that typically endorses Dem’s???  If memory serves me correct the prediction was that this one lawyer alone could “single-handedly” bring in hundreds of thousands of donor dollars to the BB camp.  How is one mega-attorney “dailing for dollars” any different from the autractity you’re accusing the Ritter camp of doing??

    1. Is if this works, then we are in a sad state of affairs. I will admit that I am a partisan, but I research my candidates and if I dont like what i see than I research the others until I find one that I do like. Personal attacks satisfy the lowest common denominator in people. Its like a really bad car accident we cant look away. And, the saddest part, is that some people vote that way. What happened to the issues? Why are elections defined by the skeletons? God I hope this backfires, just so that the future of political races are more defined by what they stand for and not what they did 20 years ago.

      1. The extremists in the republican party have already used their 527s and personal attacks to load the ticket with their candidates. If you are a moderate, you’ll have a tough time finding someone to vote for no matter how much research you do.

        1. Im not a in CD-5 so I can only read about what happened down there and wonder that if this primary push to the hard right will actually work. Being a liberal dem, I already know who I am voting for, but I wonder how much of this money will buy votes. I remember talking to somebody who didnt want to vote for kerry because we would have to have secret service at all his houses. These ads can work off of a grating of the nerves who are lower middle class, but I just dont think that negativity will work for everybody.

          It just shows if you have nothing else, attack, attack, attack.

          1. You don’t have to live in CD5. The attack strategy worked for the extremists and their 527s in SD13 (Renfroe over Hall) and SD22 (Kopp over Traylor) also.

            As a liberal dem these results should make you happy.

  5.   We all knew this point in the election cycle would arrive.  We also know that no one can fling crap better than the GOP at election time.  (Not that Democrats don’t try to keep, and from time to time are successful in hurling a large turd at the Republican candidate.)
      Look at history:  IMHO, what may be the most offensive attacked was in ’02 when the GOP chicken hawks attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism and support for national security.  Cleland, you’ll recall, lost three limbs in Vietnam while others (who will remain nameless) served in the Alabama National Guard thanks to Daddy’s political connections.
      The next most nasty attack was probably the infamous, racist Willie Horton ad produced by the late dirtbag, Lee Atwater, to get Daddy Bush elected in ’88. 
      Couldn’t Atwater have found a white inmate who was released and then re-offended?  Of course he could have. but that would have only established that Dukakis was soft on crime (a fair point).  Using a black inmate energized the KKK wing of the GOP to turn out and vote. 
      Finally, for the sake of some degree of partisan balance, I include the “Daisy” commercial which Lyndon Johnson’s campaign ran in ’64 to scare the crap out of people thinking of voting for Barry Goldwater.  (But note that this ad was broadcast on one night only, and Johnson’s campaign pulled it the next day.)
      By today’s low standards, I cannot imagine the “Daisy” ad causing anyone to raise an eyebrow, but at the time it was considered beyond the cutting edge.

    1. OQD, you’re just being suckered by the Washington Post.  Just more of the liberal media trying to cast the GOP in a bad light.  I refuse to believe the GOP would engage in the politics of personal attacks.  They are, after all, the moral majority party of traditional values.

  6. http://time.blogs.co…

    “Next week, I’m informed via troubled White House sources, will see the full unveiling of Karl Rove’s fall election strategy. He’s intending to line up 9/11 families to accuse McCain, Warner and Graham of delaying justice for the perpetrators of that atrocity, because they want to uphold the ancient judicial traditions of the U.S. military and abide by the Constitution. He will use the families as an argument for legalizing torture, setting up kangaroo courts for military prisoners, and giving war crime impunity for his own aides and cronies. This is his “Hail Mary” move for November; it’s brutally exploitative of 9/11; it’s pure partisanship; and it’s designed to enable an untrammeled executive. Decent Republicans, Independents and Democrats must do all they can to expose and resist this latest descent into political thuggery. If you need proof that this administration’s first priority is not a humane and effective counter-terror strategy, but a brutal, exploitative path to retaining power at any price, you just got it.”

    God Bless the Republicans and their hate for the constitution.

    1.   They’re going to attack John McCain (probably the most popular Republican in the country and the party’s presumptive ’08 presidential nominee), Lindsey Graham (who’s a 50-year, old Boy Scout) and John Warner (elder statesman in the GOP).  This is their fall strategy?
        BRING IT ON!

      1. Rove often has the midas touch. Plus Sept 11 anecdotes are something the good people of america can get behind, much like anything that concerns children. Exploiting them to do away with our democracy is neocon MO. Just remember South Carolina and McCain, Max Cleland, and the Unifying and Strengthening American by Providing Appropriate Tools Required in Intercepting and Obstruction Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act.

  7. Instead of debating and explaining the Republican parties policies, as they should…which is something they owe Americans..They want to shift the focus to “personal issues” which have nothing to do with the issues of the American public. Republicans should take responsbilty for  their choices.

    Democrats need to prove to Americans they are ready for the challenges this country faces, and are willing to WORK for the American people…

    Actions Speak Louder Than Words…It has been lost in the mix.

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