Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Oh my, my, my. This is very interesting (and unintentionally comical) indeed. Martha Coakley thought she was going to glide to the finish line in the Massachusetts Senatorial race. She's refused to debate one on one with Scott Brown and she's avoided the press like the plague to such an extent that she's earned the moniker "Milk Carton Martha." After all, thought she, what good could more exposure do her? She could only make a mistake and say something that would hurt her. But after last night's debate and the recent polling showing that Brown is creeping up on her, the long knives have come out with a lovely little attack ad. This is actually fairly risky, as not only will a lot of people see through the smears on this, but many will be turned off by it. And there's one other problem now running around the web like wild-fire -- Coakley's people misspelled 'Massachusetts' in her own attack ad! [Update: The ad has since been fixed.]
As to the ad itself, Coakley is obviously trying to tie Brown in with the evil Bush/Cheney Regime. One of the lows in the ad is her implication that Brown wants to "Deny treatment to rape victims," which is a clearly absurd accusation, but in abortion-crazy Massachusetts it has been an issue that Brown has had to be careful around. One of the moments in last night's debate that showed Brown as clearly uncomfortable revolved around this matter. In other parts of the country it may be hard to understand, but in Massachusetts, and while trying to appeal to middle-ground voters, pols must tread lightly. I consider myself pro-choice within limits, but outsiders must understand how prominent this issue is here, and how hostile many voters are to anything that smacks of religious limits on freedom to do...anything.
Brown's position is eminently reasonable. Yes, rape victims should have care, including emergency contraception, but it is also unfair, even monstrous, to force a health care provider to commit what in their mind is murder. Do you know how many hospitals and clinics there are in Mass? A lot, and not far from each other. A rape victim can easily get everything they need in one place except for a "morning after pill" which they can easily get elsewhere or have brought to them. To make this into a matter of forcing a person to sacrifice their soul as a matter of law just goes to show how crazy many people are over the matter of abortion and how hostile they are to even the simplest dictates of conscience. This is a matter of conflicting Rights, and absolutists are never fun to come between.
Brown has put out a classy ad in response to Coakley's attack:
On with the links:
At NRO, the Coakley ad is noted for the "Heil" salute that Limbaugh is almost giving in it. Yes, I noticed that, too, and I do believe it was intentional.
Yesterday's "money bomb," with an original goal of $500K was absolutely blown away wit a total currently standing at $1,303,302.50. Wow.
Crittenden notes that AG Coakely is getting tough on crime...by going after garden clubs. Seriously. He has a lot of other links, too.
Jeff Jacoby keys in on one of the most popular lines from the night as he highlights the differences between the candidates: It's the people's seat, and it's up for grabs.
Reaction to the debate at American Thinker and The Gormogons.
As it turns out, Martha Coakely paid union members to come hold signs outside the debate last night, but still, some of them are voting for Brown. Ouch:
I was one of the many Brigadiers at the pre-debate rally at UMass and when I got there, I was pretty overwhelmed at the trailer truck of Martha signs and hundreds of union members holding them. While speaking with one of the union guys holding the Coakley sign, he admitted that his union was paying him $50 to stand and hold the sign. I was blown away, I always thought that these guys were out in the cold like us, doing what we thought was the right thing to do, not that they were actually being paid a fee to do it.
The best part was when he admitted that although he was there because he needed the money, he was voting for Scott!!...
Byron York notes another attack angle the desperate Dems are taking: Desperate Dems try to Palinize Massachusetts Senate race
Frantic over the possibility that a Democrat might lose the race to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, the Democratic National Committee has sent its top spinner, Hari Sevugan, to the aid of Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, who appears to be rapidly losing ground to Republican Scott Brown. But what can Sevugan do to shore up Coakley's struggling campaign? Well, he spent his first day on the job trying to tie Brown to Sarah Palin...
At the Wall Street Journal, John Fund is trying to unravel the polling puzzle: Massachusetts Mystery.
At American Thinker, Richard Baehr talks about the polls and the implications: Blue to Red: Massachusetts Senate Race, as does Bruce Walker: The Second Boston Tea Party?
Finally (for now), At NRO, Daniel Foster notes that For Scott Brown, Winning is Half the Battle as the Dems are hinting that, even should Brown win, they will be in no hurry to certify him to he can be a vote against the health care bill.
Update: Meryl is in love.
Update: Here's a great blog post by some folks who were at the debate. Watch the videos and note the difference between the Brown and Coakley entrances. Also, I almost feel sorry for this poor union guy, the one who was paid to hold a sign for Coakley, but admits he's voting for Brown:
So Martha misspelled "Massachusetts" -- BFD. Nappy can be pretty persnickety about spelling but often prefers to just ignore little typos that or like Michael Graham's today ("That’s the lede from my Boston Herald column") or Solomon's recent reference to Sash Grey.
There are lots of good reasons to vote for Scott Brown and even more to vote against Martha Coakley. But she's not being graded on spelling.
Btw, the attack ad Sol linked to has been pulled from YouTube in the meantime.
In a televised debate, Martha also had this to say about terrorists in Afghanistan. "They’re gone. They’re not there anymore."
I would ask her to say that to the families of the eight CIA officers murdered in Afghanistan ten days ago. I don't think they were killed by extremist Amish from Pennsylvania. She sure looks like she's ready for the Senate.
Nappy, you are taking the spelling error more seriously than those pointing it out. Martha Coakley finally took a shot, and imagine, much of the impact has been dissipated by people's laughter. I take very seriously misspelling Sasha, however, and have corrected.
Did I mention that this is the type of ad the person who's trailing in a race puts out?
Indeed, Tom. She's unserious about security, but we expect that, don't we?
It would be fantastic if the GOP took "Ted Kennedy's Senate Seat." As if the Kennedy's own it, and it is now a hereditary title.
Check out this formulation, of which we are all battling daily. Its the same formulation that thinks that Israeli children shouldnt be protected by security fences that discriminate and inconvenience Palestinian Muslims.
Brave is sitting down calmly on a plane behind a row of suspicious-looking Arabs, ignoring your own fears, because you know those fears are irrational, and because even if there’s a chance that they are terrorists, it is more important to you to preserve an open and tolerant society than to survive this trip. Brave is insisting that Arabs not be searched more carefully in airport security than anyone else, because you believe that it is more important not to discriminate against people based on their race than to keep the occasional terrorist from getting on a plane. --- Bjørn Stærk Norweigan Blogger
The only thing the Moral and Cultural Relativist is willing to die for, protecting his rejection of Good and Truth.
We're in violent agreement about the significance of the ad. Misspelling the name of the state in the hectic slapdash effort to get the ad out is gravy, not meat and potatoes.
Wasn't the pathetic party hack who has to resort to such lame attack ads supposed to be a shoe-in?
Nappy is comforted to know that you now give Sasha, that young beauty, the respect she deserves.