McCain, DeWine, and the Two Towers Ad
Submitted by Jerid on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 8:56am.
My letter to Team McCain:
Danny,
Greetings. My name is Jerid Kurtz and I administer Ohio's largest community blog, the Buckeye State Blog.
I'm writing about your recent acquisition of former Senator Mike DeWine as Senator John McCain's Ohio Chair for his presidential campaign. Congratulations on picking up such a prominent name. However, I do have a question.
Your comments the other day to the Cleveland Plain Dealer implied that Senator McCain's campaign condones all of former Senator DeWine's actions during his recent campaign against now Senator Sherrod Brown. Specifically, the McCain campaign stated:
As for DeWine's loss, [Danny] Diaz said, "I think in a very difficult political environment, Sen. DeWine ran a principled campaign that focused on important issues, and we are fortunate to have him leading our effort in the state." (emphasis added)
I'm curious if you're aware of the ex-Senator's doctoring of images of the two towers from the 9/11 tragedy for a campaign ad. In case you're not aware of the incident, you can learn more at this CNN link. While I certainly believe that former Senator DeWine has run fine campaigns in the past, I do not believe his recent 2006 loss was of a principled nature. As such, I have to ask if the McCain campaign is tacitly endorsing such campaign tactics.
Once again, perhaps the campaign was not aware of the former Senator's actions, or perhaps I am misconstruing the campaign's official statement. Either way, please clarify your position for me and my readers so we can be absolutely certain where Senator McCain stands on this issue.
All the best,
Jerid
Yea, I know
Submitted by Jerid on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 10:41am.
That ad DeWine put out was low. People need to be reminded DeWine's not a good guy to associate with.
Thanks for agreeing PO.
Those points
Submitted by PoliticalOutcast on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 8:10pm.
...were scored by you. An error on one ad does not taint a whole man's career.
Normally I'd Agree With Ya' Re: Errors
Submitted by Jerid on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 9:00pm.
But the ad DeWine put out was utter trash, and he never took full responsibility for his actions. He added smoke and made the two towers photo look even more horrific than it already was. Give me a break - you can't defend that. It's sleaze. And that was only the first action in a long series of embarrassments throughout that entire campaign where DeWine took his more or less respectable name and flushed it down the crapper. Gutter politics and their worst from a truly desperate man.
Now, if the McCain campaign wants to look past that and say they picked up DeWine for some other reason (high name recognition, fundraising, whatever)...fine, their risk. But they didn't do that - they defended his sleazy record and said he ran a frickin' principled campaign!!!! Bullshit. Ya know, I'm sure we disagree on a whole host of things. But this one isn't a policy or issue up for discussion; we're talking about what's right and wrong in campaign behavior.
I gave the McCain camp an out (should they choose to respond...bawk bawk), I offered to let them clarify their remarks. Maybe they didn't mean to say everything DeWine did in the last campaign was principled. Either way, it's their call.
I know for sure
Submitted by jerrydues on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 10:38pm.
that DeWine had no knowledge of the smoke changes to the ad. He only saw the script of the ad before it went live. This was a blunder by the agency that created the ad. The facts were correct, the smoke was incorrect. The only "trash" in the ad was the smoke.
Yes, the campaign was not a great one, but you don't compare what people are like according to campaigns. DeWine has done more for AIDS in Africa, healthcare for children, and a compassion for those without voices than most folks. I wish you all would have seen the floor speeches Dick Durbin, Harry Reid, Rockefeller gave regarding DeWine before Congress adjourned in December. They simply admired what DeWine had done in his 12 years in the Senate. They all knew that if DeWine's numbers were bad, there was no way they could look the other way. That is politics, government is different. That is why you can't look at campaigns and make a judgement on one's legislative career.
Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap