How not to lie in politics

By Richard K. Barry

Joni Ernst (R) is running for the United States Senate in Iowa. She is currently a state senator and has been criticized for missing more than half of the votes in the Iowa Senate this year. When asked by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham why she missed so many votes, Ernst said this:

Well first, National Guard Services. I have had some days on duty that I’ve had to be with the National Guard. And those are times that I’ve been on orders ... so that is one thing you won’t hear them talking about, those that are attacking my voting record.

The problem is that these things are a matter of public record and such statements beg for an enterprising reporter to do the leg work. 

A review by The Gazette of the Iowa Senate Journal and her schedule obtained through a Freedom of Information and Iowa open records request from the Iowa National Guard, shows that few — 10 percent, or 12 of the 117 missed votes — came on days when she was on active duty.

Some will defend her by saying she never said that most, or even a significant number, of missed votes were because of National Guard duty.

No, but she implied it, and that's when her trouble began. If, as a candidate, you are going to tell a lie, for Pete's sake, make sure there isn't irrefutable empirical evidence to make you look foolish. And, oh yeah, don't wrap yourself in the flag while you 're lying. People hate that.

Behind the Ad: When did making fun of farmers in Iowa become smart politics?

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Mark Jacobs (R) Senate campaign

Where: Iowa (in Eastern Iowa cable markets)

What's going on: Last week a video surfaced in which Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) makes a disparaging comment about Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), saying that Grassley was "a farmer from Iowa who never want to law school." In the clip Braley is addressing trial lawyers from Texas. 

Mark Jacobs, who is running in the crowded GOP primary for the open seat Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will leave when he departs at the end of the year, has made use of the clip in a new ad. Braley is the only Democrat running for Harkin's seat.

Here are Braley's comments:

To put this in stark contrast, if you help me win this race you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice, someone who's been literally fighting tort reform for thirty years.

Or, you might have a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Because if Democrats lose the majority, Chuck Grassley will be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary."

Daily Kos reports that  there's a new Rasmussen poll, half of which was conducted after Braley's "farmer" comment came out: Braley: 41, Mark Jacobs (R): 38; Braley 40, Joni Ernst (R): 37; Braley: 40, Matt Whitaker (R): 36; Braley 44, Sam Clovis (R): 31.

Two things worth noting: Is it ever really smart to laugh at farmers in Iowa, and hasn't Mitt Romney's experience taught politicians that everything is now potentially being taped?

Behind the Ad: Republicans say having affordable health care will ruin your life

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive "Behind the Ad" series.)

Who: Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire

Where: New Hampshire

What's going on: A Republican super-PAC is airing its first ad attacking New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) over her support for Obama's heath care program. They call her the "deciding vote for ObamaCare," in an ad that features "a family deciding what to cut from a meal following hypothetical cuts to their income due to the healthcare law."

The ad is build on the "requirement in the healthcare law that employers have to provide healthcare benefits to part-time employees working 30 hours of more." Predictably, many employers have said they will cut hours so they won't have to pay the additional costs.

The point is that you shouldn't blame your employer for being a prick for slashing your hours in order to avoid having to provide health care. You should blame the president and those who support him for trying to make sure that unforeseen heath care catastrophes don't bankrupt you and your family for the rest of your lives. 

This is the same kind of thinking that says that the minimum wage should be kept very low in order to promote job growth. It may mean you can't feed yourself or your family, but at least you'll have a job. 

Unfortunately, in New Hampshire this kind of approach might work.

The Hill:

A near-majority, 49 percent, of New Hampshire adults oppose the [health care] law, while 34 percent favor it and 17 percent are neutral or don't know enough about it, according to a poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center last month.

Sen. Shaheen continues to be popular in the state and the GOP hasn't found a marquee challenger yet, so this may not have the desired effect. It's so damn sad that people can be fooled into believing that the big bad government is the villain because it wants to give people a chance not to have their lives ruined by potential medical costs they can't pay.

 

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

Behind the Ad: Gabriel Gomez shows how "dirty" is done

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Gabriel Gomez U.S. Senate campaign

Where: Massachusetts

What's going on: I hate this kind of ad. It's the worst. In it, GOP Mass. Senate nominee Gabriel Gomez complains that Democratic nominee Ed Markey has run ads comparing Gomez to Osama bin Laden and blaming him for the Newtown school shooting.

The Boston Globe:

“Negative ads from dirty Ed Markey, smearing Gabriel Gomez, comparing him to bin Laden,” a narrator says in the ad, which shows clips of two of Markey’s ads attacking Gomez. “Now, Markey actually blames Gomez for the Newtown shooting. Disgusting. Thirty-seven years in Congress. Dirty Ed Markey.”

Here's the reality:

Despite what the ad says, Markey has not blamed Gomez for the Newtown shooting. Markey has released an ad that highlights Gomez’s opposition to an assault weapons ban and to limits on high-capacity magazines, “like the ones used in the Newtown school shooting.”

As for the Osama bin Laden reference and a Markey ad that juxtaposes images of Gomez and the dead terrorist:

The Markey campaign has pushed back by pointing out that the bin Laden image comes from a video produced by the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a group that accused President Obama of trying to exploit the killing of bin Laden for political gain. Gomez was a supporter of the group, appearing on MSNBC in August 2012 to defend OPSEC and speaking to Reuters about its activities.

As they say on the playground, you started it. Come on, Gomez, twist the facts if you must, but this is just a lie.



(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

The SNL skit that wasn't

By Richard K. Barry

Political Wire reported yesterday that SNL planned to air a skit last weekend that ridiculed Senate Republicans' grilling of defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel but cut it from the show at the last minute.

It was later released online and I was able to grab it from YouTube. I haven't much cared for SNL since about 1978 but this bit was funny. Can't understand why they didn't let it run as planned.

A headline a politician just wouldn't want to see

By Richard K. Barry

There is a famous story about Lyndon Johnson's successful campaign for Congress in 1948. You've probably heard it.  As it goes, LBJ was running well behind his opponent and probably likely on his way to losing. He got the idea of having his campaign manager call a press conference to accuse his opponent, who happened to be a pig farmer, of being a little too familiar with the live stock. LBJ's wife, his children, his manager were all shocked at the tactic. His manager finally said, "We can't say that, Lyndon. It's just not true." To which LBJ is supposed to have replied. "Of course it's not. But let's make the bastard deny it." 

I was reminded of this story when reading about allegations against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez that a major campaign donor provided prostitutes and plane flights to the Dominican Republic. I doubt the plane flights would have made much of a story, but the other thing certainly did. Even though the headline in the Star Ledger takes a run at being fair, to wit: "Menendez denies prostitution allegations, says charges are 'politically motivated," the damage is still done.

I have no idea if the guy was partying hard on a donor's dime. I don't really care. Sorry. Whatever the case, his political enemies made him deny it. I've never paid a lot of attention to this particular senator, but when I do from now on, I can tell you what my first thought will be.