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Fair ~ High: 73°F ~ Low: 48°F Monday, May 21, 2012 |
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MO Governor Race 'News' BulletinPosted Thursday, August 21, 2008, at 1:18 PM
MO GOP Communications Director Tina Hervey issued a statement that reads:"...helpful reminder for everyone of the top eight most common phrases used to describe Jay Nixon."
"Opportunistic swashbuckler" "Disembowel his grandmother" "Ceaseless glory-hound parade" "Opportunism" "Spasms of self-aggrandizement" "Publicity shark" "Grandstanding antics" "A 10-year old boy kicking a trash can down a cobblestone street just to create a commotion" Let's look beyond the fact that 'opportunism' is not a phrase or exactly what a 'ceaseless glory-hound parade' is (a never ending parade of canines?). But honestly; who of us does not immediately think of disemboweling their grandmother when you hear the name Jay Nixon; or the memories of the cobblestone streets and the kicking of trash cans in the villages of our youth? I remember all the troubles it caused and I am afraid it will be seared into my memory permanently. Who among us does not list 'self-aggrandizement' and 'swashbuckler' as important qualities (we may or may not want)in our next Governor? The "most common" phrases…? My thesaurus lists common as: ordinary, widespread, frequent, familiar, regular, everyday, normal, nothing special, and conventional. In all fairness to Ms. Hervey, these "common phrases" were taken from various news publications from around the state. A closer look however, reveals the most recent reference to any of the above phrases is dated December 2000 and the oldest dates back to 1995. If they are so common why isn't a more recent 'news source' being cited/quoted? Is this the level of the debate we will be seeing until November? Is this what Missourians are wanting to discuss and hear about for the next six weeks? Is this the way we want our campaigns to be run? Let us join together and insist that all sides talk about what is important to the people and solutions to the challenges we face. Unless and until we make this demand, I fear it will continue to be "business as usual" in our campaigns and elections. We can and must do better. It is said the people get the government they deserve; I believe it is time to say we must do better and the time to act in now. Missouri and America deserve nothing less. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
Ron Monnig has more than 35 years of experience working with civic, community and political groups. He has served in elected, appointed and volunteer positions since high school. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History/Government from Columbia College. He is a Democratic party activist; VP of Saline County Democrat Club, Member of Democrat Central Committee of Saline County.
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Unfortunately, ugliness usually wins... humans are NOT rational creatures and this is not new... I believe someone accused Abraham Lincoln of child sacrifice, etc.
Which really brings into question almost the entirety of Western philosophy, since it largely posited on "man is a rational creature who acts in his own rational self-interests"... The last 28 years have certainly disproved THAT...;>))
No problem, Drew.
I'm one who wishes pollsters would keep their mouths shut, or even better, just stay out of it altogether. I'm sick of the ads and sick of the discussions and it's only August! And by the time the election rolls around, I'm pretty sick of the whole thing. It doesn't stop me from voting or from wishing that more people would get off the sorry butts and vote, but presidential campaigns are just about the ugliest thing in American society today.
The millions of dollars money spent trying to prove the "other guy" is a complete idiot bent on destroying our country would be far better spent on addressing some of the actual problems our country faces.
Man, I feel so much better now! :)
You know, speaking from a bipartisan point of view, it's not like the conservative standards aren't worth standing up for, it's just the fact they hire the stupidest people!
This is the "common phrase" Hervey was referring to (note the year):
"I know several prominent state Democrats who believe their party colleague, Jay Nixon, is evil. They think that the attorney general would disembowel his grandmother for a headline, that he's a publicity-seeking opportunist who doesn't mind destroying a reputation in his quest for personal political gain." (Henry Waters, CDT, July 2, 1995).
Appending my post: I incorrectly attributed the citation of information about McCain's gain in the polls to Ms. Fairchild. My apologies to Ms. Fairchild and to the Concordian Editor.
Drew Officer
Hmmm, yes, the polls. Kathy brought up an interesting point about the surprising jump in McCain's ratings, and that surge could be explained in more than one way.
I've always questioned the validity of the results, primarily because of the nature and structure of the questions being asked. If you've ever been persuaded to participate in telephone surveys you'll know what I mean. The pollsters would have us believe what they're giving us is gospel, when in fact the data could very well be statistically insignificant. We're willing to accept the numbers at face value and we don't even know exactly how they went about collecting the data.
Polls are no more than one form of scare tactics.
Drew Officer
The sad thing is there are some indications that these tactics work. When John McCain's campaign went dirty last month, pundits predicted it would favor Obama, but the polls showed a slight boost for McCain.
Missourians can say we don't want to see this type of campaign in our state, but as long as it works (or gives the impression that it works) we will be stuck with the muck.
"Disembowel his grandmother"??? This is the best the GOP "communications" director can do? Um, yeah, I think anyone smarter than a 5th grader can do better than that.