Family Values

When Jerid Kurtz of Buckeye State Blog posted the phone number of a top GOP official earlier this year, many of his peers thought that he had crossed a line by posting what they felt was private information, or at least was an implicit invitation to harrassment of a public figure. Others were of the opinion that lobbying a public figure on an important issue shouldn't be restricted to those with access to contact information that was semi-private at best.

The GOP had no such moral dilemma. They responded by publishing Jerid's mother's phone number. Not Jerid's. His mother's. I know two things about Jerid's mother. The first one is that she received harrassing phone calls from right-wingers because of something she neither did nor was even aware of, and the second was that she once had to fight tooth and nail to get out from under the predatory lender she had turned to in order to buy Christmas presents for her children.

Recently, Matt Naugle, the most widely known right wing blogger in Ohio, was taken to task, even by Conservative Republicans, for his attacks on Mayor Coleman's wife. He has claimed and will claim that his attacks were on a state employee and her boss, in much the same way that he claimed his attacks on a college student's party photos were meant to embarrass a low-level campaign staffer, not that staffer's high-profile mother. Just like nobody bought that, nobody bought this either, as he went out of his way to re-publicize his own attacks on Frankie Coleman from the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, and link them together.

Upset that even his supporters thought he had crossed a line, Mr. Naugle responded. By respondeded I mean dug up a twenty year old DUI conviction belonging to Jerid Kurtz's father and posted it on Right Angle Blog. Not Jerid. His dad. Once again, Jerid Kurtz has found himself explaining to a loved one why their private life is now public (short version: because, for some reason, right wing bloggers think it should be). So now I know more than two things about Jerid's dad. He had a DUI twenty years ago, when Jerid was about 4 years old. He's recovered from two broken hips and hip replacements. He's amused that Jerid is the grandson of a former Republican mayor of Miamisburg. And he loves his son Jerid. Wanna know how I know? I heard it. Jerid has posted an audio file of a phone call in which Jerid talks to his father about the conviction and today's posting.

Most rank-and-file Republicans really do value Families, especially their own. We often disagree on what, exactly, that means. But I can't imagine that any of them would be proud of the disregard and contempt that the Ohio GOP shows toward families. Mr. Naugle,

Shame.

Shame On You.

Shame.