Wednesday, November 7th, 2007...11:01 am
A Thorn to Them, I Guess
One of the things that bothers me about coverage of political stories is the “plague on both their houses” attitude that seems to emerge when there is a negative campaign. This happens whether or not the attacks are substantive, or even whether or not both campaigns are engaged in it.
Take the Rodney Glassman - Lori Oien race. Near as I can tell, I can’t remember Glassman’s supporters grousing about Oien’s finances or who her parents are. Even in coverage of the “baby doll” incident, where Glassman pointedly chose not engage in name calling, the Star headlined the story “So whatever happened to the issues in Ward 2?” as if both candidates were wallowing in the muck.
This has continued this morning in the “Thorns & Flowers” section. Yeah, I know, criticism of the Thorns & Flowers is fairly useless given that the pieces are useless. This morning, we were treated to this gem:
THORNS to the Rodney Glassman-Lori Oien debates that devolved into discussions on personal finance, abortion and in vitro fertilization. Too much information on some topics, not enough information on matters of importance to the community.
So, Oien and her supporters tossed all this mud, but it’s Glassman’s fault his suit got dirty? Puh-leeze.
13 Comments
November 7th, 2007 at 11:21 am
The irony in all this, I think, is that Oien could have given Rodney a run for his (all-in-$20’s) money if she had actually talked about the issues more. Crime is a major issue in the City, and she could have run a strong anti-crime campaign. Instead, she decided her best chance would be to question the character and upbringing of her opponent. The voters predictably (to everyone but Lori’s campaign) responded negatively to such fervent avoidance of the issues. I heard Rodney trying to discuss them on any number of occasions. He should be proud that he ran a clean campaign that largely avoided personal attacks on his opponent.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Michael, if I were getting 160K/yr in farm subsidies I could be a real sweetheart myself. There’s something about not having to work for a living that affords one the luxury of being magnanimous.
I just hope it works out since I live in Ward 2.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Well, I have to say this, I listened to the KUAT debate on the radio…replayed on Sunday before the election. There was a lot about issues from both candidates and no smears as far as I heard. Oien sounded practically liberal…and Rodney sounded impressive…really.
Guess the Star wasn’t really listening to the debates and issues.
November 7th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
All of this stuff about Rodney being a trust fund baby and his farm subsidies got really old, really fast. I am just glad the election is over and that he will be taking a seat on the council. The fact is, there are working class people and wealthy people in both parties. How a person of either of those demographics enacts policy is what matters. I don’t mind one bit welcoming wealthier people into the Democratic party because I know that they will work for everyone and not just people like themselves.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Yes, that’s great incentive to make more money…so that the government can give more of what you make to other people.
Well, a big thank you to Ted who DID keep this one on the issues: what kind of horse Lori has, what outfit she wore when she rode it once, and the odd plastic doll that was put “near” a Glassman sign by somebody with a few too many minutes on their hand. You did cut right through the clutter, my man.
A dandy race indeed run by Rodney. Now he can concentrate on getting the cops not to enforce any laws on school grounds–drugs, immigration, sex between teachers and students (as long as it involves someone in the country illegally–the student, the teacher, heck, both). A wet dream for Ernesto “Lobotomy” Portillo.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:27 am
I’m not familiar with this particular race (living in northern AZ) but I am very familiar with what you are complaining about.
I call it a combination of pure press laziness and a paranoid perspective that if they don’t appear ‘fair’ by throwing stones at both sides, they will get castigated for calling the guilty party out (probably right on that last one.)
Dang, can you imagine what things would have gone like if the current press was covering Watergate?
“The President and Congress are spending way too much time on this whole investigation thing, and the President and Sam Ervin need to quit digging through all of these tapes. The Republican President and his supporters look very bad from the accusation that he obstructed justice, but a spokesman for the President said the whole thing was just ‘a partisan witchhunt’ and the real problem was that G. Gordon Liddy was an electrician working overtime fixing fuses in that office. FOX News therefore contacted Mr. Liddy in order to get an unbiased eyewitness account of the events of that night.”
November 8th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Flipper -
Yeah, Rodney is all about teachers having sex with students. It was the centerpiece of his campaign. We Glassman supporters were particularly enthused when Mary Kay Letorneau came out to campaign for Rodney. Polling showed that a whopping 80% of Glassman’s voters voted for him because he supported teachers having sex with students.
Word has it that Mitt Romney is seeing what a popular issue this is and will be coming out for teacher sex over the coming weeks.
November 8th, 2007 at 10:49 am
If a Republican candidate were getting 160K/yr from farm subsidies, it would be a much more compelling issue to the Democrats on these local blogs.
I’ll tell you what gets “old really fast.” It’s the Democratic apologists for all of these Democratic candidates who really need a little more scrutiny than what they get before they are elected.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:50 am
I live in Ward 2 also and am confident that it will all work out for the best. Thanks for your concern, Liza.
I feel I can be pretty magnanimous even when I struggle to make ends meet. But maybe that’s just me.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I don’t know how old you are, Michael, but trust me on this one. Getting a guaranteed 160K per year that you didn’t have to lift a finger to work for goes a long way toward relieving a person of life’s burdens. And, farm subsidies are paid by taxpayers. There’s a tendency for those hawking their favorite candidates to make light of these kinds of issues and Democrats are no better than Republicans. That is my point.
November 9th, 2007 at 9:57 am
What does my age have to do with anything? And I know a thing or two about getting money from the government - grant writing is no easy task. Writing grants may be different than earning subsidies, but there’s still a process involved, the government just doesn’t hand it over when you ask for it. And how much of that $160K went directly into the family’s pocket? They got subsidies for something - farming - so presumably much of that money was spent on the actual business of farming.
But that’s really all beside the point, since apparently the point you were trying to make is that Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. I tend to look at what people - candidates and non-candidates alike - do with their money if they have the means to live comfortably. Rodney runs a foundation that supports children’s causes in and around Tucson. As someone who works with non-profits, I can tell you the support of foundations like Rodney’s goes a long way in helping strengthen the social safety net. He may have a lot of money, and you may not like how he came about it, but he does good work with it to help people in this community.
That’s MY point. But apparently my point may not be valid because of my age.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:33 am
You are entitled to your point, Michael, regardless of your age. My point which I assume I am entitled to as well, is that Democrats on these LOCAL BLOGS seem to overlook certain characteristics of certain favored candidates that would be more compelling issues if those characteristics were associated with Republican candidates. If Tim Bee has farm subsidy income do you really think he is going to get a pass? Yeah, right.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I guess I don’t really care much if somebody gets farm subsidy income. I have other compelling reasons not to vote for Tim Bee, and I had other compelling reasons to vote for Rodney Glassman. And that’s pretty much what I said in my very first comment on this thread - that talking about issues would have served Oien’s campaign far better than trying to drag Rodney through the mud.
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