Yearly Archives: 2010

Wow.

One of the things that is worrisome about movements like the 'Tea Party' is the potential for fascism. That's not to say fascism is part of the ideology, or an inevitable consequence of it, but there's a certain fellow-traveler feeling that is hard to ignore. Here's an example relating to the Tea Partyiod GOP candidate for Senate in Alaska: Miller security guards handcuff editor. Note that the guys imprisoning the reporter/editor are private security, not cops.

And from Florida (via Political Animal), where Florida congressional candidate Allen West (R) is running his nutty (and very successful) campaign against the estimable Ron Klein:

NBC News ran a report documenting West's background associating with a violent gang of criminals, which the Justice Department believes is involved in drug running, arson, prostitution, robbery, and murder.

Yesterday, things managed to get even worse, still. West spoke at a public park in the South Florida district, and a 23-year-old videographer was on hand to record the candidate's remarks, which is hardly an unusual modern campaign practice. But things got ugly when West's gang allies were caught on tape harassing and threatening the Democratic staffer.

As the local NBC affiliate noted, “Threats can be heard on the video tape. The West supporters forced him to get back into his car.”

The threats worked — the Democratic party decided to take “videographer off the campaign trail altogether yesterday” because they felt they couldn't protect him.

I tend to like tough Democratic ads, especially if they deliver the shiv with a gentle touch. I think this Joe Sestack ad (PA-Sen) hits the spot:

… but will voters agree, or will some be offended?

On the other hand, I suspect this Jack Conway ad (KY-Sen) will work for it intended audience, although it doesn't work as well for me:

Conversely, this Solomon Ortiz ad (TX-) has a good concept, but I don't think the execution is all it could be (especially as it stomps on the last point, which suggests the opponent could be a big target):