MORE CAMPAIGN GAY-BAITING After

MORE CAMPAIGN GAY-BAITING

After all the blogospheric fuss about gay-baiting by Democrats in Montana and South Carolina, how about this? Andrew Sullivan has it. I’m waiting to hear from Glenn Reynolds.

And while we’re at it, a former Republican Governor of Michigan, and a major newspaper which had endorsed the Republican candidate for Governor this year, are both criticizing what they call “race-baiting” ads by the Republican in that race.

Any hope that these Republican dirty tricks are going to attract any criticism at all from the right blogosphere, to match the pounding that Baucus and (especially) Sanders took on the left? Not much, I’d guess.

In fact, even on the left there’s not much fuss being made. I hadn’t heard of either of these until I found them at Media Whores Online. And there’s more. Joshua Micah Marshall has a solid story about Arthur Finklestein doing “push-polling” (that’s making fake polling calls, trying to slime your opponent by asking questions such as “Does Senator Snort’s habit of molesting little children make you more likely or less likely to vote for him?”) that no one has picked up on yet. Thinking it Through found a really horrible, but well-documented, press account of how Clinton-bashing led Gov. Huckabee of Arkansas to arrange for the release a convicted rapist, who then turned around and committed at least one rape-murder in Missouri. Again, not much echo. (I picked it up from the Daily Kos, who got it from Atrios.) The Democrats need to learn the fine art of scandal-mongering.

UPDATE

The Minuteman responds, and I reply.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

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