It's always sad to see a person fall into a funk of despondency over politics, especially from my point of view, where I generally expect the worst to begin with. Sure, it may be characterized as a sense of hopelessness, or that evil will prevail over good, but to me that seems a bit of a misnomer: it's hard to talk about "good" when the folks under consideration seem more like varying degrees of bad.
Besides. The eventual heat death of the universe and the siren call of oblivion would seem to settle such matters in due time. Is it ultimately all meaningless? A distraction from my inevitable demise? I suppose.
Anyway...I'm not too familiar with any possible partisan bias in the Phoenix paper, the Arizona Republic. My friends joke about the paper here in Tucson being the Arizona Red (Daily) Star, but that's Tucson. We do what we can to balance the wackiness from up north. Phoenix? Well, naturally I expect the worst. Take this interesting pairing of an attack on Democrats and the bemoaning of cynicism that followed...
So, first I see this piece busting on Democrats for an amusing sort of reverse-psychological something or other, stealth defense of Kyrsten Sinema, running for re-election to the House. Since there's (still) a libertarian spoiler candidate out there, they sent out a mailer in hopes of enhancing the spoilage. It's kind of execrable rhetoric for a Democratic organization to employ, even in...jest?
The mailers use language appealing to conservatives, pointing out that Gammill believes in eliminating foreign aid, funding for abortions and gun laws. "If he had his way, not a single cent of government money would go to fund an abortion for any reason," the mailer reads.
Naturally, Republicans are vexed, but offer their best spin on the situation.
A spokesman for Sinema's Republican opponent, Wendy Rogers, said the mailers are a desperate ploy.
"If everything is hunky-dory, they wouldn't be mailing this," James Harris said. "It's deceiving of voters. It's highly unusual. ... It shows how nervous national Democrats are."
As this expression of distaste for cynical political strategy -- okay, that's likely redundant, I admit -- was clearly insufficient, I see they had a columnist
attack it again today.
I support unlimited political speech on liberty grounds. The utilitarian argument, however, runs into real-world difficulties. In politics, often people aren't really prompting ideas they believe it. They say whatever they think will help their side win.
Rarely is it as raw as the campaign mailer the Arizona Democratic Party recently sent out in the Ninth Congressional District. The mailer didn't promote its candidate, Kyrsten Sinema. Instead, it touted the Libertarian candidate in the race, Powell Gammill, in hopes he will siphon social conservative votes from the Republican challenger, Wendy Rodgers.
Oh, poor Robert Robb, valiant journalist of the
AZ Republic! I too lament the passing of the halcyon days of noble political struggle, which I would peg in actual human history as occurring...well, let's say never. Because Mr. Robb was soon obliged to add a little P.S. to his diatribe. :D
Addendum: No sooner had I posted this than reports came out that the Arizona Republican Party did the same thing in a mailer against Ron Barber in his congressional race, criticizing him for voting for budget cuts Republicans support and even thought should be deeper. Making the case for cynicism about politics is certainly a bipartisan endeavor.
Reports! Hah! I
got that mailer -- today!
Vote Against Ron Barber! How? Uh...heh.
The other side, btw, is a Ron Barber Halloween mask you can cut out. Looks a bit small for my head.
And who exactly says the Ryan budget was, let's see...
- Terrifying
- Bone-chilling
- Hair-raising
I mean, how dare the Ryan budget cut veterans' pensions. Food assistance. Unemployment insurance! Who can we turn to in these dark times? Who, I say? Of course, they don't actually say. Perhaps because under that cutout Ron Barber mask, it's...the Republican Party!
(And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids.)
Considering you're the ones responsible for that P.O.S. budget in the first place, I never knew you cared! I mean, obviously you don't, but you know how it is...it's funny. Or cynicism-inducing. Whatever.
How'd that Republican spokesman put it again?
"If everything is hunky-dory, they wouldn't be mailing this," James Harris said. "It's deceiving of voters. It's highly unusual. ... It shows how nervous national Democrats are."
Any GOP types sweating up in Phoenix today? Well, it is a warm day, I suppose. I am no fan of Ron Barber, of course. I really miss being in Raul Grijalva's district, being able to vote unconditionally, happily for a pretty good liberal. Barber, like Giffords before him, is a blue dog. To the extent that he's courted moderates and independents and that I could pretty well piss off, I suppose I have. If you think they can get you re-elected, Ron, feel free to try. But I did
vote for him already, since I get the mail-in ballot.
So, Republicans...I'm afraid you're too late!