Image by All Glory To The Hypnotoad via FlickrUnbelievable!
At first I didn’t believe this.
I found a story about a mailer circulating North Carolina which, in essence, was a horribly despicable attempt to attack Kay Hagan, who is running against Elizabeth Dole for one of our US Senate seats. (It’s been a nasty campaign, yes. But, as you’ll see, these attacks were not only unfounded, but in extremely poor taste.)
I found this story on a site that I trust for their due diligence. Still, I always try to do mine. I looked around for corroborating stories for over an hour and found several, but without exception they all used the same root article as a reference. I have a rule, and it’s a loose one, easy to follow: Must have more than 1 independent reference for me to even consider it might be true.
So I kept looking, until I found a second independent story about the exact same thing. Sheepishly, I must admit, I found it in Kay Hagan’s backyard. Not literally, but think about it: shouldn’t I have just scanned recent headlines in the bigger towns in NC? Starting with the biggest, Charlotte.
Due Diligence Paydirt
Sure enough, when that finally did occur to me, I immediately found what I was looking for. The Charlotte News-Observer describes the mailing this way:
Sponsored by the N.C. Republican Party, the mailer features a photograph of two men’s hands, with both wearing rings that say “guy” on them.
“With Kay Hagan and liberal judges, we’re one step closer to legal gay marriages,” the mailer says.
Inside, next to a picture of two figurines of men wearing black suits, it says that Hagan opposed an amendment to the state constitution that would have banned gay marriage.
It also repeats claims from another mailer about Hagan’s ties to a group that promotes the rights of atheists, saying that Hagan has “a radical homosexual agenda for North Carolina.”
The mailer does not mention the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would add a similar ban to the U.S. Constitution.
Spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said Hagan opposes both amendments.
“Kay believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, and this is fundamentally a state issue,” she said. “She would not support a federal amendment defining marriage. Here in North Carolina, there is a law that she supports that says marriage is defined as a relationship between a man and a woman, and she sees no reason to change that.”
This sentence is a link to the pdf version of the flier that’s been mailed around NC. I recommend you go and look at it, but be forewarned – It Is Offensive.
Disclaimer/Claimer
I am not gay, am not an atheist. Plus, I’m a registered, voting, active Republican. Have been since I was a Young Republican back in the mid 70s.
And I find this so repugnant, I am embarrassed (to put it waay-too-mildly). It’s not just the narrow-mindedness of it… it shows an utter lack of respect for other opinions and beliefs, not to mention a complete disregard for personal freedom. I expect this kind of idiocy from the national guys, after all we got Bush, Chaney, McCain and Palin from them.
But this from the local guys, my neighbors. What the hell were they thinking?
Look, I’m not voting for Dole this year regardless. I am Jon and I really don’t like Lizzy Dole. This is not a defense of her.
And it’s not a defense of Kay Hagan, either. She’ll get my vote for one reason and one reason alone: I cannot vote for Dole.
What I’m saying here is this: The folks responsible for these kinds of completely out of left-field ads have thrown Lizzy to the wolves. I don’t know if it’s intentional but I do know that this is the final nail in Lizzy Dole’s expensive political coffin.
To those folks, I want to say ‘Thanks’. Truthfully, Lizzy probably could pulled this one out if you guys had not done this. You’re outspending Kay by 3 to 1 and that usually means votes. But this time, you screwed up. You insulted us.
I am Us/You Are Them
I say ‘us’, because I am a resident of North Carolina. I say ‘us’ because I am a voting member of your party, of Lizzy’s party. I have many legitimate reasons for not supporting Ms. Dole, but I have never thought she was stupid. I have never thought she would use blatant fear-mongering as a tactic to win an election.
I guess what I am saying is I don’t respect her as a leader, but I have respected her as a person. You guys at the NC Republican Party have now cast a doubt on that perception of her. I don’t know if she approved the message or not, but I do know that in these times it’s always best to err on the side of caution.
I am not the only one who thinks so. Watch the net for all the negative feedback you’ll get.
Oh, I forgot… you’re republicans. You don’t care about the feedback.
I am Jon, and my last Republican act will be November 4th, when I choose to vote for the PERSON, not the party.
The party lost my vote a long time ago.
