Monday, August 02, 2004
TELLING SLEAZY TALES
As someone who never reads campaign fliers anyway (they go in the trash, along with real estate agent pleas to sell my house, or have me buy a new one), I am baffled by why local Democratic state representative Phyllis Kahn bothered to steal Republican brochures (Reg. Req. or BugMeNot). Embarrassingly, she was caught red-handed and had to aplogize:
I assumed this petty theft was a News of the Weird-style aberration until the next day, when an old Democratic Happy Warrior felt moved to write an article bemoaning the good old days of:
And how does he view this incident today? No, there's no shame at his youthful sleaziness, only regret he's too lazy to continue the game today:
Kahn wrote to [the Republican House member] offering "apologies for picking up a few of your lit pieces." Kahn added that she was "interested in seeing what you were saying. I'm sure it will have little effect on your campaign, but I know it was wrong and I am sorry."She must have been quite interested as, when stopped, she was found to have three pieces of campaign literature in her car and five with her. (Remarkably, her husband's explanation for the whole affair was that the "Police Department seems to be interested in publicity.")
I assumed this petty theft was a News of the Weird-style aberration until the next day, when an old Democratic Happy Warrior felt moved to write an article bemoaning the good old days of:
distributing campaign literature for a Don Quixote-type challenger of an entrenched state senator, fighting the good fight, gently toeing the opponent's fliers, inadvertently of course, off the doorsteps into the arborvitae or under the doormats ...He recounts later meeting up with a Republican House incumbent who suggested that they all save time by splitting up the neighborhood and each distributing both parties' lit. He proudly rejected the offer of bipartisan cooperation, with the old one-two: (1) a clever lie: "[w]e'd drop your literature along with ours"; (2) followed by an unsupported accusation: "but as soon as we're around the corner, you'd take our stuff over to the lake and feed the carp."
And how does he view this incident today? No, there's no shame at his youthful sleaziness, only regret he's too lazy to continue the game today:
We lived on the edge once, and it was a glorious time. And now we pretty much watch from the sidelines and maybe write a check once in a while or sign a petition ... except for Earl. He's still out there in the early evening, fist full of passion and truth, walking for the cause.And I thought the Democrats are trying to make values an issue in this election ... but presumably not in the Republicans' favor. Oh well.
