More on the Goodman Ad

Apparently some people are getting the impression that Emily Kreider missed these votes in the course of her duties as an elected official. Which is a little frustrating because she's never been an elected official.

That's how the ad takes an incredibly lame "offense" and misleads viewers into thinking it's actually something to be upset about. Ugh. Keep up the slimy campaign, David. Emily's name rec goes up, your unfavorables go up, your financial advantage gets squandered.

Actually, what I find most funny is a complaint I've now heard twice: The American Flag is hanging the wrong way. I don't have a screen-cap, but some folks who pay attention to these things get quite distracted and irritated when they see it.

Why I don't make ads

See, Bob Shamansky cuts right to the heart of issues people care about. Unlike my questionable-judgment-riddled, righteously-idignant satire below, Bob's team points out something wrong with the Tiberi record that everyone can understand and nod along with. Straight up, Bob will make a great returning Congressman.

Pat Tiberi tried to murder your child

Most of the time, I try not to write things that are easily misconstrued to mean the exact opposite of the point I was trying to make. I do speak them all the time. A sizable proportion of listeners are offended by what they think I am saying. I quickly realize that I didn't make my point clearly enough. I'm afraid that this is going to be one of those times, so I'm giving this punchline-killing milquetoast intro to the post.

The Point: Republicans put out misleading and cynical ads about Democrats being weak on terror. Admittedly, Tiberi has not been the biggest offender on this front (if I were including the Senate race in my focus, this post would have a different title), but his recent vote for torture is consistent with the Republican policy of Terror as Politics. Many Republicans are planning on using votes against the odious new tribunal bill to paint Democrats as wanting to give "terrorists more rights." People seem to forget that there is a difference between "terror suspect" and "terrorist." I am proposing (and by proposing I mean something like a Swiftian "modest{ly} propos{ing}") the following ad that will either clarify the distinction in the minds of voters, by making them see that without due process, anyone can be labeled a terrorist (unlawful combatant), stripped of their rights and assaulted on the say-so of others who may have ulterior motives. Or perhaps it could win votes from anyone too mentally challenged to admit a difference, who would believe that Pat Tiberi must want to kill children (no matter how little credibility a reasonable individual would grant such a ludicrous accusation) if an authoritative-sounding voice says so:




Pat Tiberi Attempted to Murder Central Ohio Children
Pat Tiberi is a terrorist. He is ruthless.
He has secretly plotted with Jihadists to kill between 100 and 500 children in central Ohio.

You might say this is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence.
But you are wrong. He is a terrorist. No evidence is necessary.
Even so there is evidence. We can't show it to you (and never will).
But there is evidence. Trust me. Why would he be accused of terrorism if there wasn't rock-solid evidence? Look at these edited documents:

It will be difficult to have him detained by a Republican-Controlled Justice Department while the GOP is trying to retain control of the house. Of course, if he confesses, the FBI will have little choice. Citizens are urged to use initiative and imagination in persuading Mr. Tiberi to confess. It is our duty as Americans. We love our country. He's a terrorist. Should he have more rights than we do? No. You have the right to save your family by whatever means are effective and necessary. Defenders of freedom will be retroactively exempt from prosecution once Congress is free of terror.

Pat Tiberi has tried to kill your kids before, and he will try again. Will it be an elementary school in Westerville, or a day care center in Reynoldsburg? We don't know. But if you don't remove the threat now, those deaths will be on your hands.

OMG

The negative ad is seriously... Emily Kreider has not voted in every election.

Guess what - I am Emily Kreider.

And now, yes, something good about Goodman

It turns out that Goodman's campaign does have a website. Silly me, I wasn't expecting it to be keyworded:

'meta HTTP - EQUIV = "keywords" content="Emily, Kreider, Ohio, Senate, District, 3, Three, Westerville, New, Albany, Canal, Winchester, Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Groveport, Worthington, Gahanna, Bexley, Franklin, County, David Goodman, David, Goodman, Democrat, Republican, progressive'

If I only spent more time looking for progressives named Emily Kreider, I would have stumbled upon it much faster. Anyway, the thing that pops out most quickly is that yes, he was once a member of our city Council, although he spells it incorrectly:

As a former Bexly City Councilman, ...


The second thing is the lack of substance. Spend more on education while cutting lots of taxes. Jobs good. Sexual predators bad.

Luckily, there is a site that gives more info on Mr. Goodman, and even discusses some of his accomplishments. It's EOPAC, or the political action committee of Equality Ohio. At first I was confused, and thought that this was one of those cynical appropriations of positive terminology, but no, Mr. Goodman is legitimately endorsed by a major LGBT advocacy group.

Apparently, Mr. Goodman was one of the only Republicans to vote against the gay marriage ban. Good for you, Mr. Goodman.

So, I can't help but wonder, given that he does have an example of something that looks like leadership on his resume, why is he not running positive ads based on his support of gay rights and opposition to discrimination? Why doesn't he mention this endorsement on his website? Why is equality not an issue worthy of being listed alongside holding public officials accountable for corruption on his list of positions?

EOPAC lists several criteria that they look for when getting involved in a political campaign. The very first one they list is:

elect candidates to office who champion (not just “support”) equal rights

Is that actually David Goodman?

Has anyone seen Goodman's attack ads?

I caught the line "How can we trust Emily Kreider..." at the tail end of an ad as I was flipping through news programs this morning (On one of our local Sinclair-Owned affiliates... has anyone studied whether there are ideological patterns of ad buys across local broadcasters in any of the major media markets?), but I missed the bulk of the ad.

Then, later this morning, it came to my attention that someone had found my blog by searching on the terms emily-kreider-failed-to-vote. This made me think that this was an attack line being used.

Once again, I'm flabbergasted. Yes, I said flabbergasted.

Before I enumerate my points of flabbergastation, I need to find out more info on the attack ads. If you know anything, leave a comment or better yet, come to the fundraiser tonight and tell me in person.

What's so good about Goodman?

Seriously, I've been trying to figure this out. The guy's got no campaign website, his supporters say things like this: "David Goodman is a good STate Senator and is supported by both Democrats and Republicans. We need more elected officials like Goodman.."

Goodman is a good man? That's the best you've got? Okay, so there's a television ad with more...

David Goodman supported the effort to keep Ohio’s children safe by helping establish the state’s Amber Alert system for missing or abducted children. Goodman voted for mandatory sentencing for sexual predators to put them behind bars where they belong. "David Goodman, leadership for a change."

As the Dispatch AdWatch points out, he did not lead the push for the Amber Alert law, he joined in the Unanimous Support of this bill in the legislature. Is there any better example of NOT providing leadership than simply going along with an overwhelming majority? And leadership for a change??? He's a Republican, in a State Senate that has been Republican for the political equivalent of geological epochs.

I like Emily Kreider. I am a Democrat. That was enough for me to get involved. I'd like to make rational arguments as to why Emily would be better than Mr. Goodman. Right now, Mr. Goodman's claim to goodness is that he doesn't like sexual predators going after children.

Mr. Goodman, not even sexual predators are in favor of laws that would allow sexual predators to go after children.

Emily Kreider has a background not only in social work, but in running a child-oriented business. It won't take voters long to figure out who cares about children.

I'm starting to think that the conventional wisdom, that having a debate is always a greater benefit to a challenger, might not apply to the upcoming Oct. 04 debate at Otterbein. As far-fetched as it seems, Mr. Goodman might finally say something that would give someone (anyone!) an excuse to vote for him. Stranger things have happened.

Ummm, Pat? Our neighbors prefer the spelling "Eastmoor"...

The Bexley door-to-door wasn't the first time that Pat's been out our way this campaign season. At least I don't think it is. His website has a bunch of pictures from the door-to-door event in 'Eastmore.' Actualy, 10 pictures. Same spelling in all 10 captions.

Perhaps there's another neighborhood somewhere called Eastmore. Perhaps Pat's campaign is having a hard time with the place names in that foreign country known as Franklin County.

John Glenn makes ad for Bob Shamansky

Is there a better personal endorsement out there?

UPDATE -- There's an echo in here... The 9/26 Dispatch coverage of the ad answers my rhetorical question: "it doesn’t get a lot better than a personal endorsement from a former astronaut and U.S. senator from Ohio considered an American hero by many."

h/t psychobilly dem

Hey Guys, You Missed Me!!!

Apparently, Mr. Tiberi and friends didn't get to my block (from the Franklin Co. GOP website, h/t to EastsideDems):

Sunday September 24

Pat will be walking Door-to-Door with Senator David Goodman this Sunday in Bexley and would love for YOU to join him. We will be meeting at the home of Michelle and Todd Appelbaum , 190 Stanbery Avenue, Bexley, OH 43209. Sign in and refreshments will be from 12:30pm to 1:00pm and we will be walking Door-to-Door from 1:00pm-3:00pm. If you get lost, please call Jason at 614-571-0310.

This is not Republican territory. I have not seen a Republican yard sign yet in our city. Of course, the Republican base here in Bexley might not be the type to put yard signs up. The house at the above address looks like this, and that's an awfully pretty lawn to be sullying with signs.

Still and all, even though 11/12 precincts went Kerry in '04, and that was when W was actually approved of by a majority of Americans, they must have gone to some people's houses, even if they didn't get mine. I'd love to hear from anyone who chatted with one of the candidates yesterday (leave a comment or email jason dot m dot sullivan at gmail dot com).

Dispatch Q&A

I'm an unfortunate sucker for this type of "interactive" content. The Dispatch hosts a weekly Q&A on Ohio Politics, including one at noon today (updated with link). Last week's transcript, along with a link to submit a question for this week, can be found at Dispatch Media's OhioElects Site.

Mine:

There is national interest in our Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, along with several of our U.S. House races. Do down-ticket candidates feel that this outside attention and the money/campaigning that comes with it are swamping their ability to get their messages out, or is this nationalization freeing up local resources that would normally be focused on the marquee campaigns?

Jason,
Bexley, OH

I think that it's both, but I'm curious to hear more of an insider take on the issue.