Heads up to Democrats: It looks like a nasty hit piece by the Hicks campaign.
That's only half right.
It is bait, to trick Democrats into throwing away their vote and thereby elect Brad Hicks, the Republican candidate.
Here is the two-sided hit piece sent to Democrats, shown as being paid for by the campaign committee of a Republican state senator who has been funneling big blocks of money to Hicks:
Here is what is going on: The front side brings up 20-year-old allegations, later dropped as not prosecutable, against a person working at a Colorado-based campaign consultancy firm that Denise Krause employed in the primary election. Why she hired an out-of-state firm is beyond me, but she did. No one claimed that Krause had anything to do with anything improper, but it was an attack point in the primary election in part because the firm she hired advises Republican candidates, too. Hicks brought it up again. That is the hit: You cannot trust Denise Krause.
The trick to fool Democrats is the supposed "warning" about the third-party candidate Clay Bearnson. If it were a real warning, the Hicks campaign would have used a grainy, distorted photo of Bearnson the way it does in genuine negative ads. This "warning" is an invitation to leftist Democrats to support Bearnson. It tells them that he is a progressive who supports universal health care. The ad presents this as a negative -- and Republicans do in fact oppose it -- but it is signaling to Democratic voters that if, for some reason, you don't like Krause, then vote for Bearnson. And see his happy, smiling face. What a nice guy! And pro-cannabis, too!
Hicks has abandoned the Mr. Nonpartisan, nice-guy message. His advertisements reposition him into a Republican streetfighter in his attacks on Krause. People who hate Democrats and relish liberal tears will be happy to see Hicks has taken off the gloves. He has solidified the Republican vote many times over, and he has given everyone else reason to be disgusted by him and his campaign. Krause is a retired healthcare executive, but he likens her to a sleazy lawyer from a TV show -- take that! Ka-pow! Associate her with someone else's sex crime -- another Ka-pow!
I suspect that GOP polls show that Hicks' effort to get independent, non-affiliated votes failed. Democrats and non-affiliated voters aren't voting for Republicans this year. His only chance for Republican victory is to get Democratic-leaning voters not to vote for a Democrat.
How? Put serious money into promoting a third-party spoiler by portraying him as someone Republicans dislike. The Democratic voter in favor of progressive policies who wants to say "NO" to MAGA and Hicks can do it by voting for an alternative candidate -- thereby electing Hicks!
The irony is that Krause is progressive herself and supports healthcare for all, and in Hicks' negative ads about Krause he calls her "extreme" for holding views like that.
The trick is to get Democratic voters to sabotage themselves. The ad reveals the purpose: The Bearnson option is bait,
Clever. Diabolical.
It will work if Democrats fall for it.
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5 comments:
The run up to election has a name in my book - silly season. Up is down and black is white.
I admit to a bias but it seems like republicans lie a lot more than democrats. Having a lack of morals is a sickness that is more profound than first realized. Inmates in prison come to that realization when they experience facing a long prison sentence. Will republicans also gain that insight without prison teaching them?
Brad: how low can you go?
I can’t believe there’s not much discussion, not many people talking about, the fact that Hicks wants to reduce the minimum wage! while he’s pretending and lying to run on affordability. All he stands for is funnel wealth from everyone to the people who need it the least. He is already corrupt before he’s even in office. This guy is just a puppet for the rich in the powerful to literally steal from all of us. I don’t think I’ve seen the worst candidate in my life down here in decades. How can anyone be against the minimum wage when people are not even able to survive on the minimum wage in this area?
And then on top of that, he has the gall to lie about it and pretending to be for “affordability”.
And he cowardly chooses to not even show up to a single debate or townhall.
-Just a concerned citizen
(I have no affiliation with any campaign. I’m just a concerned neighbor who is tired of the choice of constant lying. All to extract and be predatory against the vulnerable. And arrogantly believing they can just buy elections and avoid town halls.)
Also, I just want to note the Medford chamber pays dues to the US chamber, the US chamber is extremely regressive. Look at the history they were against women having the right to vote.
They were against all sorts of things that are basic human rights.
I don’t understand this idea that Hicks represents, where the wealthiest just want to extract from everyone. It’s stealing, it’s exploitation. And after the wealthiest, one of the best for themselves, they wouldn’t be operating under this unsustainable extraction model. Their businesses are built on public infrastructure. It’s time to stop being unethical, stop dodging taxes, and start being part of your community. (actually, giving back with no strings attached)
The wealthy, who accept public subsidies, are often the same people who are opposing subsidies for the poorest among us.
I wish the Republican Party had centrists, but that is no longer the case. They’re now the party of super extremists. And they’re trying to cheat, steal, and buy votes, just to act against the interests of everyone, including themselves.
The “billionaires“ of their time opposed the New Deal. Today there wouldn’t be Billionaires if it wasn’t for the New Deal.
What happened to balance? Hoarding money (beyond a point) is a disease. And the people who have this disease act parasitic and like they are the host of a parasite as well and even act against their own interests. They become blinded.
At some point, they eat themselves, and the whole system collapses.
We should be moving from an extraction based unsustainable infinite growth (Where money is hoarded and sits stagnant (Like tax cuts for the wealthy), and we should move to a value based model again, where money is circulated. (businesses create value rather than being middleman (rent-seeking). And wealth has actually created rather than just extracted.
Thanks for hearing my stream of consciousness. I know my writing could be better, but I at least wanted the conversation to be out there.
Because Republicans and Democrats do agree on a lot of things. And we could have all boats float together rather than a zero sum game.
Carl
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