As if suggesting that Mrs. Cheney might be ashamed of her daughter Mary for being gay, as the wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards has done, wasn't enough to highlight liberal insensitivity, this piece of news really spotlights it better than anything Kerry's campaign has done:
Dave Dahl denounces Fitzhugh's attack of Republican voters
October 11, 2004Dyersburg, TN - Today, Republican nominee for State House District 82, Dave
Dahl, denounced a flyer distributed by Democrat State Representative Craig
Fitzhugh that attacks Bush voters and mocks those who are mentally
challenged (flyer included). "Hard-ball politics is one thing and everyone
expects tough battles, but using those who are born with mental disabilities
for political fodder is disgusting," said Dave Dahl on Monday from his
campaign office in Dyersburg.The flyers have been distributed for at least two weeks from State
Representative Craig Fitzhugh's campaign office on the town square in
downtown Ripley, which also serves as the Kerry-Edwards campaign
headquarters. Dahl said, "At first I really did not believe that Fitzhugh
and the Democrats would stoop to such gutter politics, but then people
started bringing the flyer to me at the end of last week. I was shocked and
disgusted."Dahl said, "In my first campaign against Mr. Fitzhugh two years ago, the
Democrats conducted a negative telephone poll on my then five-year-old
adopted daughter because she was born in Texas and not in Tennessee. I guess
I should not be surprised that Mr. Fitzhugh and his crowd would attack Bush
voters and call them 'retarded.' This is how the Democrats do business."
Dave Dahl continued, "The single minded plan for Mr. Fitzhugh and the
Democrats in Tennessee is to attack Republican voters, attack those
supporting Republican candidates and to ignore the real issues of the day:
jobs, prescriptions drugs costs, education, security at home and taxes."Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
1 - Claire
Mark, a very interesting and informative post. It is now a race on my "must track" list...
It sounds like Craig Fitzhugh needs a can of republican whoop' ass opened on him...I am just the person to stir up that stink...if I can I will :)
Claire
2 - andy marsh
I saw that flyer the other day and thought it was a joke...pretty low...I'm looking forward to reading the defense of this one as well!
3 - Michael Croft
Who would defend it? Craig Fitzhugh says it wasn't something they did. It's crass and unkind to people who overcome obstacles I've never faced.
It's pretty far downballot to expect it to be a big deal, though. Given that there was hardly any flap over the "Kerry is Osama's Candidate" bumper-stickers distributed by a Pennsylvania Bush Campaign office, I don't think a flyer that the campaign disavows should be a big deal. I'm not convinced it was a "republican dirty trick", but that is a possibility.
Here's an excerpt from that local paper:
4 - Mark Saleski
if you seriously think that the left wing has corned the market on nastiness, then you're walking around with one eye open.
there's a pile of this stuff in all forms of media on both the left and the right.
...and ALL of it is stupid.
I Hate John Kerry
Bush Is A Moron
5 - JR
I bet I haven't heard the end of this.
6 - Rodney Welch
Mark Edward Manning is a tool of Dave Dahl's smear campaign against Craig Fitzhugh.
7 - Shark
I don't believe that Fitzhugh or his campaign made these. It's too far out. No way. No politician in their right mind would have anything to do with it.
And Fitzhugh apparently denies having anything to do with it.
But that shouldn't stop Manning from spreading his standard BS.
Feh. ~Blogcritics' new version of Drudge meets O'Reilly?
8 - Mike Kole
Shark- you said it exactly: no politician in his right mind.
Of course, this time of year, most politicians are not in their right mind. Operatives from both parties are guilty of this sort of crap, and in the interest of full-on truth, I'm sure that as my beloved Libertarian Party continues to rise, our operatives will do stupid things like this, too.
It's disingenuous to say that Dems never do this kind of thing. Human nature is on parade, Dems are very human.
9 - Mark Edward Manning
Rodney Welch: "Mark Edward Manning is a tool of Dave Dahl's smear campaign against Craig Fitzhugh."
Bingo! You got me ... how did you ever guess???
10 - bob2112
The Right is low enough to have made this poster themselves to make everyone think Democrats are insensitive.
Republicans say one thing then do another when it comes to their stand on social programs/education. Cutting taxes that support social programs/education is their calling card. It is 'retarded' to expect anyone to believe Democrats made this poster!
Talk about sinister: "I don't want to pay for lazy, good for nothin' welfare mammies!" "Pick yourselves up by your bootstraps & get a service position that doesn't pay the bills!" "I don't want pay for a crack addicts' abortion!" "I want crack babies to grow up & break into my house!" "I want to pay for 3 more prisons to lock up the crack babies that robbed me!" "I want to pay higher premiums to cover the uninsured crack babies I didn't want to be aborted because it's a sin!"
Give me a fucking break!
11 - andy marsh
bob...what was that movie with mel gibson...where he had all these crazy conspiracy theories???
You don't have about a 100 copies of The Catcher in the Rye do you??
12 - bob2112
It's funny how a lefty, like myself, is so easliy cast aside as a 'nut case' when 'sensible' people are grounded in fact based reality. How peculiar it is to be written off as some kind of kook when 'reasonable' people call citizens of a country we occupy 'terrorists' At the same time if someone was on our soil killing our moms, dads sweethearts, & children we would be called 'freedom fighters'
I do not remember "Catcher in the Rye" eventhough it might have been required reading in highschool. I told you how long ago that was for me.
13 - andy marsh
in the movie conspiracy theory, that's the mel gibson movie I was refering to...gibsons character, believes all these wild conspiracies and he also happens to always have a copy of Catcher in the Rye with him, as did John Hinkley when he Shot Ronnie Reagan.
I never said you were crazy, I just asked a question...I'm just checking...
lighten up francis!!!
14 - bob2112
I know you didn't say I was crazy. But others are treating me that way. I'm OK with these labels, Andy. I am just beating my head against the wall to think I can change anyone's mind. I am pretty lightened up already, because I know it is an impossible task. I just want to make sure an extreme liberal view has its day in the sun, while the darkness of war prevails in the hearts of my fellow Americans. I'm still coming to get all you believers in death & destruction. I hope my style gives you all hard suffocating belly laughs that kill you with enough kindness to say in your dying breath, "Why didn't we give peace a chance?"
15 - andy marsh
I'm not sure I'd classify you as an "extreme liberal". Liberal, yes, but there are folks on here that are much more "extreme" than you. Or at the very least, much more caustic than you. It's actually been a pleasure reading your view points, even though I disagree with most of them, I respect the way you put them too me and because of that, I will always take the time to read what you have to say. There are some people on here that I've already started to ignore and I've only been here since last Friday!!!
Thanks again bob, keep up the good work!!! crazy bastard!!!