GOP retreat.
The new message: Cool it on calling Jeff Golden a racist!
The GOP attack backfired on the GOP and its candidate, Randy Sparacino. It looked like what it was: Dishonest Fox News-style fake outrage.
It only took four days for the GOP to realize that Republican candidate Randy Sparacino was the main victim of the party's opposition-research attack on state Senator Jeff Golden. The local party sent out an announcement telling GOP activists to abandon this line of attack. It was helping Golden.
Oregon's Republican leaders tasked with electing Republicans to the Oregon state senate had piled onto the Fox News "exposé." They decried Golden's supposed "open racism and hate." They called it "vile," "unacceptable," and "outrageous." The attack made Golden look good. Worse, it made Sparacino look bad.
It was off-brand for Sparacino. He is trying to look like a reasonable, moderate nice guy. The attack on Golden exposed the very point that Sparacino is disguising. He is a loyal and compliant Republican, running a Republican campaign, funded by Republicans PACS that are perfectly happy to get down and dirty and say anything to elect members of their team.
The attack backfired instantly because it was so off-brand an accusation about Golden. Golden a racist? For gosh sakes, he spent a summer as a 20-year-old, weeding watermelons in the heat and humidity of Georgia on behalf of a civil rights project to help Black sharecroppers. He used the spelled out word in the context of opponents to his work calling him a "N-----lover."
The GOP attempted damage control. Here is their statement, exactly as written:
Jackson County Republican Party Statement:
It has been brought to my attention that a current Oregon State Senator (JG) has written a book about his life, using some unsavory words and comments. With many encouraging a statement denouncing these words and anyone who would use them. The JCRP whole-heartedly agrees, these words and sayings are unbecoming and we denounce any person in public and private office who would use them today. Having said that, we believe making a broad public statement about something said a long time ago would give unnecessary (although, bad) attention to our opponent, to his irrelevant distant past and detract attention from his poor and failed policies and representative voting record. In true Reagan politics, our focus can not be broken, our opponent will not get any free publicity from us but rather our attention will go to the answers and solutions to the current issues and concerns of our time.
Sparacino has a dilemma. As with earlier pronouncements by the local GOP, where they adopted the full-Trump message and declared the 2020 election fraudulent and Biden illegitimate, Sparacino has two bad choices. One is open disagreement. But the attacks on Golden came from the Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopf and the State GOP. They have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign. Disagreeing with them is a bad choice. The other bad choice is to give silent consent to the attack, and continue to have the Sparacino brand associated with the least savory behaviors of Republicans in a state senate district with a Democratic majority. Trump continues to shape the GOP message by dominating the news insisting that he won the 2020 election. Meanwhile, Republican state legislators, when they get a majority, advocate for total bans on abortion from the moment of fertilization. And now he gets muddied up from this attack on Golden.
For now, Sparacino is staying silent, apparently fully aboard the Republican Trump train. It means he continues to get all that Republican money and the support of the Trump voters in his party. But he gets the baggage, too.
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12 comments:
https://www.mailtribune.com/top-stories/news/2018/10/12/offensive-video-shocks-both-candidates/
There was a racism charge when Jeff Golden ran for the state senate against Jessica Gomez in 2018. See the article link above.
It's unfortunate that candidates can't talk about the real issues, and instead fabricate fake issues.
In Randy Sparacino's case, he's being managed by the SAME Chamber of Commerce crowd who managed Jessica Gomez's 2018 campaign. In BOTH campaigns, the GOP candidate has REFUSED to disclose their positions, and they run vague campaigns about themselves, while smearing their opponents. Unfortunately, they have nothing to offer the voters.
Why vote for a candidate (Sparacino) when they REFUSE to tell you where they stand on the issues?
I disagree with Jeff Golden 99% of the time, but at least you know where he stands on the issues.
We live in interesting times. We got rid of Trump because we were sick of his hateful lies. Republicans responded with everything from an armed insurrection to embracing the delusion that he won. Throughout it all, Oregon remained relatively rational with a few notable exceptions, such as the Oregon Republican Party’s claim that the Capitol attack was a “false flag operation” and Jackson County Republicans’ declaration that Joe Biden is “an illegitimate president.”
It’s been a crazy time, and now out-of-state Republican PACs show their support for Randy Sparacino by running shamelessly deceitful attack ads against Jeff Golden. That’s how they spread their crazy. Jeff doesn’t take money from PACs and is doing a fine job. There’s no good reason to replace him but there are serious reasons not to, especially with someone from the Insurrection Party. Let’s keep Oregon sane.
Darn campaign consultants who have a limited bag of tricks for campaigns. Usually a result of "experts" who have no clue about what's important to the constituents.
In other races, for example, there's way to much focus on abortions.
It would be great if town halls, debates, and other venues could focus on looking forward and actually discuss what candidates would do to address the issues of the day
“Meanwhile, Republican state legislators, when they get a majority, advocate for total bans on abortion from the moment of fertilization.”
I consider this shibboleth as dishonest as the charge that Golden (for whom I have no good regard whatsoever, politically) is racist.
The important issues include the competence of countless Oregon governmental agencies. Someone ought by now to have compiled a list. It would be long. It’s why even the standard Republicans I know (all of them) would like to see (former longtime Democrat) Betsy Johnson in the governor’s seat. She has the same kind of budgetary acuity and competence that Dennis Richardson had. And it’s sorely needed.
Sally, thank you for your comment. I have repeatedly urged Sparacino to clear up his abortion view. He doesn’t. I witness the decision in Idaho, Texas, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states. Sparacino won’t vote like them? OK, please say so publicly.
I will happily report his position on abortion, on 2020 election denial, on whether Trump is correct and GOP legislatures can and should ignore the popular vote and award states to Trump. His local party leaders said that this is GOP policy. Really?
It is not hostile or unfair to ask him how he stands on this. If you have spoken directly with Sparacino and are free to represent his views, please do us all a favor and tell us what his positions are.
Peter Sage
Peter, no I haven’t spoken to Sparacino personally.
I consider all these issues non-issues in Oregon. And a good bit of why the Oregon GOP has largely reduced itself to irrelevancy. Too bad in a state that desperately needs balance against its one-party rule.
I agree that the GOP attack on Golden is at best disingenuous and at worst reprehensible, given all that is known about Golden and the honest context of his “offensive” usages.
That said, the Democrats need to grasp that the gravaman of the accusation, by their own standards, lies not with the controversial content, but in the credentials of his accusers.
Reflexive Democratic moralizing considers only the latter, and that’s too bad. Were this a contested primary with his opponent black, Golden would be finished on the same facts.
Notice as yet there has been zero defense of Golden—that I’ve seen, anyway—by a prominent black person in Southern Oregon. Any black person. An accurate diagnosis is best.
LD said,
… the Democrats need to grasp that the gravaman of the accusation, by their own standards, lies not with the controversial content, but in the credentials of his accusers.
Reflexive Democratic moralizing considers only the latter, and that’s too bad. Were this a contested primary with his opponent black, Golden would be finished on the same facts.
This episode demonstrates that the tactics of woke denunciation practiced by Democrats will not necessarily work for Republicans. When Democrats wield the rhetorical sword of “racism“ at their opponents, they can count on support from woke influencers, regardless of the merits and relevance of the accusation. Republicans trying the exact same tactics will not get that same support. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Ibram X Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, and the rest of the race hustler DEI crew are unlikely to show up to help Republicans.
As Peter said, abortion, election denial and how states conduct elections are relevant to every state in our republic, if we want it to remain one. We've seen what Republicans have done to red states and would be idiots to allow them to take over this one.
Supposedly accusing Jeff of "racism" is some kind of payback for Democrats opposing hate speech. What a crock. Sometimes things are called racist because they are. This is just a lie.
After almost 50 years, abortion is now a major issue across the country (again) thank to our activist Supreme Court justices who lied at their confirmation hearings.
Plenty of Republicans oppose abortion in all cases -- zero exceptions. Just ask U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Clarence Thomas, just to name a few. Abortion is not a fake issue, although the N-word issue is fake. Nice try
The professor who described the Chinese word equivalent to “um” to his class was called a racist because the word sounds something like the Forbidden Epithet for blacks. False and bad faith accusations of racism are quite common these woke days.
Government needs transparency to be held accountable by us voters.
Apparently Sparacino is against transparency. He is no leader.
If you love this country you don't want to vote republican. That party is trying to destroy America.
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