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PrintMay 17, 2010
The Self-discrediting Democrats
They're at it again. Democrats are caught red-handed playing dirty pool, in this case, spending substantial sums to gin up a decoy Tea Party in Michigan, in order to siphon votes from GOP candidates. Chetly Zarko, of the site Outside Lansing, uncovered the dirty trick op, with reports in two posts:
Zarko Research has learned that a nefarious unknown group calling itself "The Tea Party" at PO Box 23 in Richville, MI 48757 (near Flint) is circulating a petition on a paid basis, at roughly $1 per signature to the circulator. The group is so new that the Secretary of State has nothing on file as of this moment.The petition was mailed to known paid circulators in the metro Detroit area earlier this week and based on conclusions of proprietary knowledge to Zarko Research, the petition is being operated by a liberal-leaning petition management firm with ties to the Democratic Party.
He then reported in a follow-up:
Progressive Campaigns Inc. (PCI) has been hired to collect signatures to put on the ballot a "Tea Party" party. As reported below, actual paid signature gatherers have been offered real petitions at a rate of at last $1 per signature.... [snip]Progressive has been funded by Soros, the Michigan Democratic Party, and is most recently known for the crude attempt to re-game the Michigan Constitution for the Democratic Party in 2008 through the Reform Michigan Government Now petition, which also operated initially for its first several weeks as a "stealth petition" (a petition that does not go through the Board of Canvasser approval process before circulation, but rolls the dice and operates quietly as long as possible). It took two months before the Michigan Democratic Party and Mark Brewer's fingers were proven to be behind Progressive's RMGN effort, but eventually the truth came out on that.
Nice Deb points out why this will fail:
What these fraudsters don't understand is that the tea party movement is made up of a savvy, and alert citizenry...and the days when operations like this one, (which in years past would have operated successfully under the radar), can fool the American people, are ovah.
This is the year we conservatives can go on the offense and paint a narrative of the Dems as the phony manipulators they are. The Supreme Court has recognized the importance of political free speech. I would gladly contribute to independent expenditure groups that would produce hard hitting ads, for example featuring this incident, or AG Holder first saying bad things about Arizona's immigration law, and then admitting he hadn't read it. Pelosi has offered a number of golden moments.
Negative campaigning works. GOP candidates themselves can remain pristine and run positive campaigns. But that won't stop independent groups from buying TV time, creating internet ads, and otherwise driving home the narrative that these people are out of touch, incompetent, devious, and need to be thrown out of office. They have offered more material than even George Bush and the GOP in Congress handed the Democrats not so long ago.
Negative campaigning works. GOP candidates themselves can remain pristine and run positive campaigns. But that won't stop independent groups from buying TV time, creating internet ads, and otherwise driving home the narrative that these people are out of touch, incompetent, devious, and need to be thrown out of office. They have offered more material than even George Bush and the GOP in Congress handed the Democrats not so long ago.
