Running Against the Man

Today's Democrats have no salable platform and they know it. They have an impressive list of accomplishments but most of these are unpopular. The stimulus is generally judged to have been a failure. The country remains deeply suspicious of the health care reform bill that was passed. The steps that they say were needed to save the economy from another great depression look like bailouts for the rich to a vast swath of the population. President Obama whose coattails they rode on two years ago now has an approval rating below 50%.

With nothing to offer, their strategy is to tear down their opponents. This means going through the opponent's background with a microscope looking for anything that might be turned into a negative. Christine O'Donnell is the most prominent example of this.

It is harder to fund juicy quotes from most candidate's past. When this fails, the Democrats are taking things out of context and blowing them up. Ads running against Steve Stivers claim that he wants to eliminate the income tax and replace it with a 28% sales tax on everything. Stivers never said any such thing but he did check "yes" on a questionnaire asking if he would support replacing the  income tax with a value added tax (VAT). He did not elaborate and the specifics came from an unrelated proposal from a few years ago.

An ad against Rand Paul claims that he is for decriminalizing theft, drugs, prostitution, and burglary. This came from an interview where he was talking about things like motor cycle helmets. He felt that the government intruded too far into people's lives and said that anything non-violent should be legal. Within the context it was obvious that he was talking about areas of personal responsibility and not suggesting repeal of whole sections of laws. This was also an isolated statement and he has since clarified what he meant. Regardless, his opponent is still running the ads.

Alan Grayson of Florida has taken this to a whole new level - that of outright lying. In one ad he accuses his opponent, Daniel Webster, of being a draft dodger. In fact, Webster was given deferments for being in high school and college then declared medically unfit because of foot problems. As a follow-up, Grayson ran an ad comparing Webster to the Taliban. This features clips of Grayson saying that women should submit to their husbands. The clips came from examples that Webster gave of the bible verses that husbands should not use, even though they are in the bible.

The Democrats are desperate to hold onto power but they are unwilling to make their case based on how they have governed. In creating a national strategy based on personal destruction rather than issues they have violated numerous promises about elevating the campaigns and have effectively conceded that their time in office is not worthy of continuing.