Article: Republican puds run the dirtiest campaigns in history

It's official: The Republican Party of today runs the dirtiest campaigns in history.

You can read it in none other than the Washington Post - a newspaper so mainstream and afraid to attack the Grand Ol' Puds that it supported the failed Iraqi invasion and endorses mostly Republicans for major offices.

In Friday's Post is a front-page story on how the dirty campaigns have intensified in recent years. The story here lays most of the blame on the Grand Ol' Puds.

"The result has been a carnival of ugly, especially on the GOP side, where operatives are trying to counter what polls show is a hostile political environment by casting opponents as fatally flawed characters. The National Republican Campaign Committee is spending more than 90 percent of its advertising budget on negative ads...."

The story quotes "experts" who say that in the past, negative ads were "usually more accurate, better documented and more informative than positive ads" since there was a higher burden of proof. In this age of shadow groups whose use by campaigns has been polished to a given by Rove and Bush in their low-road careers, ads can pretty much say anything without any proof. And candidates can claim they don't know about them, such as Bush did when the Swift Boaters lied about Kerry's Vietnam record in 2004.

Sure, Bush knew nothing about the Swift Boaters. No matter that members of the 2004 Bush campaign directly worked for the Swift Boaters in 2004 and Rove likely directed the Swift Boaters in a direct violation of federal law. No matter that the Maryland GOP head nazi-type recently offered as "proof" that the campaign of Democratic Gov. candidate Martin O'Malley was working closely with the Maryland Fund, a Democratic 527 group that has run anti-Republican ads, that a staff member of the Maryland Fund worked for O'Malley's campaign way back in 1999.

A ha! A Democrat now at a 527 who worked for a candidate's campaign seven years ago gives us more proof of laws being violated than a Republican working presently on both a candidate's campaign and a 527. At least that's the logic in these Grand Ol' Puds' eyes.

The latest example of the supposed party of responsibility not taking responsibility for its scumsucking, slimeball tactics is Republican National Committee ads that all-but accuse Tennessee Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr., who is trying to become the first African American Senate member from the South since Reconstruction, of having had sex with a white Playboy bunny.

Grand Ol' Pud Senate candidate Corky Corker said he was not to blame for the ad and knew nothing about who was, except for the RNC. RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, one of many closet gay puds, claimed he could not pull the lid on the ad since it was being funded through an "independent" segment of the RNC.

That "independent" RNC unit was headed by none other than Terry Nelson, a senior adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain and political director for Bush's 2004 campaign. And oh yeah, Nelson was chief of staff for the RNC. And oh yeah, the ad was pulled soon after some outcry only to be replaced by one that told more lies about Ford.

The Washington Post story detailed more examples of Republican lies in ads. Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Ron Kind was accused of paying for sex by the puds simply for not voting for a measure to stop the National Institutes of Health from doing medical studies related to sex. Kind's opponent also ran ads claiming he would "let illegal aliens burn the American flag" and "allow convicted child molesters to enter this country."

Then, in perfect Grand Ol' Pud hypocrisy, Kind's opponent claimed he didn't engage in negative campaigning since the attacks weren't really personal.

Other examples:

* In New York, an ad accused Democratic House candidate Michael Arcuri, a district attorney, of using taxpayer dollars for phone sex. It turns out that one of Arcuri's aides had tried to call the Division of Criminal Justice, which had a number almost the same as a porn line. The misdial cost taxpayers a whopping $1.25.

* In Ohio, GOP gubernatorial candidate and 2004 Katherine Harris wannabe Kenneth Blackwell, accused Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland of protecting a former aide who was convicted way back in 1994 on a misdemeanor indecency charge.

* The Republican Party of Wisconsin tried to link Democratic House candidate Steve Kagen to a convicted serial killer and child rapist simply because the murderer's lawyer had once done some legal work for Kagen.

* In more than 20 congressional districts, a political action committee supported by white Indianapolis businessman Patrick Rooney is running ads saying Democrats want to abort black babies.

The Post surveyed ads run by Democrats and could only list weak examples of attacks against the puds. Pennsylvania Democratic House candidate Chris Carney is "slamming" the "family values" of pud Don Sherwood for having a mistress who accused Sherwood of choking her.

Well, guess what? Sherwood admitted he had an affair with a Peruvian immigrant who was 35 years younger than him. He also settled a lawsuit filed by the woman who accused him.

To make this more surreal - but par for the course for the puds - Bush campaigned for Sherwood smack dab during the week Bush officially dubbed "National Character Counts Week." He even called Sherwood the "right" man for the job and claimed Sherwood possessed a "record of accomplishment." Typically, he did not mention what those accomplishments were.

Sherwood's mistress mentioned a few in her lawsuit, saying that in a Washington, D.C., apartment in 2004, Sherwood beat and choked her. She had "facial lacerations, bruises about the head, neck and other portions of her body, a head injury, injuries to her teeth, mouth and gums, back and neck strain, and injuries to her scalp," according to the legal document.

Sherwood claimed he merely gave the woman a "back rub." You know how it is with many puds, they like their "good, clean fun" rough.

Another diabolical trend is the return of Stevens, Reed, Curcio & Potholm, a Virginia media consulting firm that created the Swift Boat liars ads. The company has been several ads for Republican campaigns, including one featuring a corpse that accuses Democratic Maryland Gov. candidate O'Malley of being responsible for Baltimore's violent crimes.

Never mind that violent crime is down in Baltimore or that the Republican governor has done little to help O'Malley combat crime in Baltimore during his four years in office in that same city.

Never mind that the Republican governor pissed off people of color unnecessarily by calling multiculturalism "bunk" not just once, but twice - the latest in early October on a radio program. Never mind that the pud governor has accepted contributions in recent years from political action committees related to disgraced puds Abramoff, DeLay and Foley, the outed pedophile who was once called this governor's "pal" during a fundraiser on Capitol Hill. at one point.

Never mind that the pud governor opposed a measure to allow Maryland residents to vote early, as he feared that would increase voter turnout for
Democrats in the state. Never mind that he claimed to be a fiscal conservative as his budgets have increased taxes, fees and spending at a substantial rate, or that he claimed to have helped the environment as he cut $480 million from the Open Space program.

All that matters in the puds' eyes is that their scumsucking slimeball is a fellow pud. You're either with the puds or you're against the puds. And if you're against the puds, the puds have the right to do any lowball act and say any outrageous lie because, well, because you're against them.

That's what it has come to in the past six years. The puds have taken the slimeball, dirty campaigns to a new low simply because we let them. I don't know if they will steal some more elections - I'll keep working against the puds and hoping enough votes are counted against them come Nov. 7 to drive a bunch of them from office, as will many other anti-puds.

But even if the puds hold onto Congress through their outright cheating tactics, I hope many anti-puds do not give up the good fight against them. That's exactly what the puds want - they want you to get discouraged and give up, drop out.

Don't give the puds what they want, no matter what happens. Don't give up in this battle for our kids' future, for the very survival of our nation and our planet.