Coakley campaign’s calumny
In the heat of a campaign, politicians often shade the truth or at least partially misrepresent their opponents’ positions. But for height, depth, breadth, and pure poisonous brazenness of lie, the Coakley campaign’s latest is hard to equal.
The Washington Post reports on the story:
Republican Scott Brown charged Saturday that a Democratic mailing against his U.S. Senate campaign violates a Massachusetts law prohibiting false statements against a political candidate.
The cover of a four-page mailer sent by the Massachusetts Democratic Party says, “1,736 women were raped in Massachusetts in 2008. Scott Brown wants hospitals to turn them all away.”
Brown is a state senator, and in 2005 he filed an amendment that would have allowed workers at religious hospitals or with firmly held religious beliefs to avoid giving emergency contraception to rape victims. The amendment failed, and Brown voted in favor of a bill allowing the contraception. He also voted to override a veto issued by his fellow Republican, then-Gov. Mitt Romney.
A section of the Massachusetts General Laws prohibits false statements against political candidates that are designed or tend “to aid or to injure or defeat such candidate,” with a penalty of to $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
Unfortunately, that sort of sentence is a mere slap on the wrist when the stakes are so high.
So far, Coakley has been mum on the subject of the ad and the suit. What’s more, an earlier advertisement that bore her official stamp of approval made similar false assertions about Brown’s record.
The Democrat Party operatives who sent out these mendacious flyers timed them well: early enough so that the lies could do their dirty work before Tuesday’s election, but not so early that Brown’s camp would have enough time to successfully challenge them before that date.
And in the event of any such challenge, Legal Insurrection blogger and Cornell law professor William A. Jacobson wonders whether, as AG of Massachusetts, Coakley would be responsible under the statute for prosecuting such a case against—her own campaign.
If so, I think she’s fully prepared. After all, the Boston Globe (which couldn’t find room yesterday to talk about the lying anti-Brown rape ad) yesterday quoted Coakley as being ready and eager to fight back against the misrepresentation of a candidate’s record—as long as that candidate is Coakley, that is:
When I am attacked, or my record is attacked, or my record is misrepresented, I’m going to fight back. We are going to make every effort to make sure that people know what the real differences are between me and Scott Brown so they can make a real choice on Jan. 19.
Martha, I think people already know the differences.
On Tuesday this past week, I was reported by a veteran and an African American as being “racist” to my boss for forwarding an Obama joke.
It was a learning lesson.
After having Bush = Hitler and Bush is a monkey and seeing Condaleeza Rice jokes and Hillary jokes sent to me….. and feeling free with this group of people to send jokes back to them….
I’m no longer free.
And leave it to a “veteran” to take my speech away.
I was lucky. No action was taken against me. He just says he wants “it” to “stop”. Whatever “it” is.
Is “it” racism?
Let me just say this as plain as I can.
Liberals BELIEVE they know what conservatives “WANT”. For Coakley or her supporters to attribute to Scott Brown that he “wants” women to be turned away from health care after being raped is absurd.
For any liberal to attribute any negative desire or intention to conservatives is ridiculous.
99% of people want to solve problems and they want good results.
The only people I know who want to destroy and deny rights for women is extremists who claim to be Muslims.
Baklava, you probably need to watch your step. It might not be fair, but that’s the way it is.
I know it Oblio.
I’m not included in the “group” anymore of people who feel “free” to forward “jokes”.
Careful is not the word. I’m a non-participant now.
I’ve got the support of the DPM III and she has been impressed with how much I do and I’ll continue serving the team and the customer. Time will pass.
————————–
Obama is speaking – going on about KENNEDY.
A protester has interrupted his speech.
It’s a plant. It’s so obvious. Our side is energized. Our side does not need to interrupt the president.
Obama is talking about Brown’s ad’s.
“Driving his ‘truck’ around the commonwealth”
people chuckled…..
Obama says, “I don’t know” a few times about Brown.
But the INSINUATION was clear. Obama’s insinuation was ugly.
He called Brown’s ad’s “slick”.
Obama says, “forget the ‘truck'”. People chuckled again.
Bunch of Democrats that are dare I say, “racist”
Obama said, “He decided to park his ‘truck’ on Wall Street”
Obama places so much significance on this race. You can tell from his ugly speech.
Those many Wall Street bankers who supported Obama have to be feeling really duped about now.
Would you care to share the joke with us, Baklava?
IMHO, chain mails of jokes or of anything are not a good idea.
Maybe you could get someone to send your complainer a nasty Bush is a Nazi joke and see how he responds.
Obama said, “He decided to park his ‘truck’ on Wall Street”
After all the Wall Street $ NObama got for his campaign, he is saying THAT about Brown?
Toooooooooooo Much Fun !
Dem chickens be’a’comin’ hooooome tah roooost,’Yo ! FEAR is whut’i’smellin’,’Yo !
Get out there Tuesday, Pissed Off Massachooosians, and vote like ya never voted be’fo. Smells like…VICTORY. ‘Yo.
It’s official: Obama’s an idiot.
Coakley has already gone negative. The comrades love that, but they’re already in the bag for her, and her negativity has reportedly put off a lot of people. Brown also seems personally pretty popular, so going negative is a poor strategy for Obama to adopt.
He should have given one of his patented soaring but utterly vapid speeches about building a better America for us and our children, a world where dogs and cats live together in harmony, but that he needed our help, he needed Coakley to help him fight the good fight, and to win the fight for the memory of their fallen hero, the Hero of Chappaquiddick.. That sort of crap that appeals to the left half of the bell curve.
Instead he makes snide pickup truck references. Stupid. Profoundly stupid. And therefore utterly characteristic.
Baklava, working in a 90% liberal profession, I feel your pain. Verbal comments are much harder to take out, but I started pushing back on the emails a few years ago. My first response: political humor is not appropriate. Liberal retort: It’s not really political humor it’s about this country’s problems. My response to the second forwarded joke: If this keeps up, I’m going to answer, and no one’s going to like it. Liberal retort: (none.)
Bad use of italics-closing. Sigh
On Intrade, it’s 60-40 Brown over Coakley. It’s looking very, very good!
Which is what I figured when Coakley went so crazy over the top negative. True, she’s an incredibly poor campaigner, but this had desperation written all over it.
I talked to a friend in Boston and he said the TV is just saturated with negative ads, so much so that he think it’s boomeranging on Coakley.
The Daily Kos kiddies aren’t talking horse race anymore, just complaining about what a “scumbag” Brown is. No mention of leg tingles, 3-D chess, or the godliness of Barack Obama at the Boston rally today.
Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that. We may be looking at a whole new ballgame come Wednesday.
I do believe that Obama and the Democrats are having their Wily E. Coyote moment.
They have raced over the edge of the cliff and finally noticed that they are standing in mid-air and it’s a long, long way down.
It’s sheer arrogance, ineptitude and hubris that has brought them here. Obama said more than he knew when he declared about health care reform, “We are on the precipice of achievement that’s eluded Congresses, presidents for generations.”
What a maroon!
You’re right neo! Martha should know by now that people already know the differences between her and Brown. This campaign is really getting dirty and she has stained her bad reputation for such tactic as to distort the truth.
He should have given one of his patented soaring but utterly vapid speeches about building a better America for us and our children, a world where dogs and cats live together in harmony, but that he needed our help, he needed Coakley to help him fight the good fight, and to win the fight for the memory of their fallen hero, the Hero of Chappaquiddick …
LOL but you make a good point. What is he doing getting down in the muck? Just how incompetent a politician is he really? I’m beginning to suspect that due to the special circumstances of his election to the Presidency and of his machine-aided Chicago career, we could be watching the most incompetent politician ever to become President.
I didn’t hear the pickup truck comment, but if it’s true, then it’s just one more instance of the arrogance that BHO, and most liberals hold the common people. Totally in line the the bitter clingers line from the campaign. It will backfire and the report will rival anything heard from a poorly tuned 1985 F150.
Also, just saw this morning that BHO’s hall filled just 2500 out of 3000 seats, but Brown overflowed a 3000 seat hall in nearby Worcester.
physicsguy: Actually, that report about the Obama crowd was later corrected; he did fill the place, and there was an overflow crowd as well.