Crazy talk
Most observers agree that Randy Kuhl hurt himself in the 2006 election by engaging in too much of what I call “crazy talk”. I’m referring specifically, for example, to his misty-eyed stories about lobster tail at the mess halls in Iraq and the time he screamed about people who are “trying to kill all of you.” Randy’s at his best when he’s playing up his big lovable lug Dean-Martin-with-a-perm persona, not when he’s repeating right-wing talking points that neither he nor anyone else living north of the Mason-Dixon line believes.
That’s why I’m surprised at the direction he’s taken with his campaign. Check out his blog: many of the posts are about some bogus NASCAR controversy (I’m not making this up) and arguments against SCHIP that simply won’t appeal to people living in New York State (okay, it’s possible that there’s _no_ arguments against SCHIP that will appeal to people living in New York State).
So, in a way, it’s no shock that he’s begun a Karl Rove-like jihad against Eric Massa’s character. Here’s some clips where Kuhl accuses Massa of betraying the soldiers in Iraq:
kuhl01.mp3, kuhl02.mp3
And here’s Massa’s response:
massa.mp3
What is strange is that Kuhl would want to bring anything about personal character into the debate. Massa doesn’t talk about Randy’s character, e.g his sordid personal life, and neither do we or the other blogs that cover the race.
Why on earth would Randy Kuhl want to make personal character an issue here given his past?
The “bogus” NASCAR controversy is right. Notice that was only in the media for one day and then it disappeared. The reason was because the media tried to make it sound like a Democrat was telling his staff to get all these shots before going to a race.
In reality, they were going to tour a medical facility AT a NASCAR race, if I’m not mistaken. There’s a big difference…
As for Kuhl, he’s desperate. The governor called him out, along with Reynolds. People know that he has voted against SCHIP the whole way… so why would they support him?
SCHIP needs to be a campaign issue from now until Nov. 2008. I wrote on TRW about Reynolds and how last year he cared about children when he was linked to a sexual predator but this year, he said “screw ‘em.”
Oh well… we can welcome Eric Massa and Jon Powers to Congress.
One of the ads that I think captures the essential Kuhl- the gunsight ad. For those who missed it, the ad was a misleading commercial about social security, and it used a roving gunsight focusing on a crowd of people - like the view we get on TV when we’re being shown a sniper’s perspective. Thanks to youtube, which has preserved this ugliness so we can all understand the real Kuhl -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Py2AT4bbNo
Why is Kuhl going after Massa on character? It’s Rovian - attack the strengths!