There’s large field of Republican candidates in Nevada looking to take on Harry Reid in November, but the consistent frontrunner has been Sue Lowden. This has led to a flurry of vitriol against her, and it’s really disgusting.
Reid supporters and Democratic operatives have run wild with all kinds of mischief about Lowden supposedly having an idea about bartering with chickens to pay doctors. Then, the typical anti-conservative meme comes out: this candidate is stupid (just like they said about George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, etc.) and she’s just a pretty face who isn’t qualified for politics (just like they said about Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, etc.). This attack is cheap, petty, degrading, and sexist. Note to liberal critics: if a claim that appears to substantiate a Republican’s alleged stupidity seems too perfect, it is!
Lowden didn’t say that we should try trading chickens for health care, she just pointed out that generations ago people used to do that kind of thing, and the new health care bill might lead to new rounds of bartering today (which many doctors have said they absolutely have had to). That’s all. Please stop all the Sue Lowden chicken jokes.
Here’s the actual quote, by the way: “You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say I’ll paint your house. I mean, that’s the old days of what people would do to get health care with your doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I’m not backing down from that system.”
But far worse than this is the attack ads coming from GOP second place candidate Danny Tarkanian. I liked him, too, until these ads started running. I think negative ads can have their place if they’re accurate and give critical information, but the two big anti-Lowden ads he’s endorsed are both extremely trashy.
The first claimed that she was soft on abortion, though even the ad itself couldn’t get away from acknowledging that this was decades in the past, and that she’s been solid on it ever since. This is the same smear that rivals used against Mitt Romney in 2008. The new ad is even worse: Lowden apparently gave $1000 to Harry Reid in different campaigns, and a clip of her is shown where she says she supported him “early on.” The ad ends with pictures of Lowden and Reid side by side and an announcer noting that Lowden is rich. The implication is this: these two are business buddies and Lowden’s in on Reid’s corruption club.
What rot! The audio of Lowden saying she supported Reid clearly has her using a tone of voice that tells us that she’s about to go on and clarify what she’d just said, but the clip abruptly cuts her off at the convenient spot, and the insinuation that a few $1000 donations were significant for Reid, much less helped Lowden make some kind of sweet, shady deal with Reid, may be the most absurd, baseless accusation I’ve ever heard.
So I’ve lost all respect for Danny Tarkanian.
It’s been my experience that the louder and dirtier people are when they gang up on someone who’s a threat to the system, the more that person deserves respect and support. These lousy anti-Lowden ads, from across the political spectrum, have only made me like her campaign more.
Gently Hew Stone 