Day 3 - the D&C op-ed board finally weighs in on Minarik’s hate mailer - the word lightweight comes to mind
To recap - the mailer hit the streets on Thursday. We posted it Thursday afternoon and it was picked up statewide shortly thereafter. The D&C response?
Well, Joe Spector - picked up the original photo posted on RochesterTurning (Joe, that photo is from RochesterTurning, give credit next time please, otherwise it is called plagiarism) and posted about it in the political blog on Friday morning. That is the statewide political portion of the D&C blog and Joe doesn’t even work for the D&C anymore so the clock still ticks.
Crickets chirping on the Editorial blog - where their purpose is stated thusly:
Here Editorial Board members can get away from the newspaper’s institutional view and express their personal opinion about, well, whatever.
Between the posts about mentoring, and journalists being packrats, Mr. Lawrence tells readers to
Also look for what we have to say about a local Republican Committee sponsored mailing that has negative images of Muslim men as terrorists and “welfare coupons.”
Then it’s back to nose and tongue rings.
Nothing on Saturday - I guess the editorial blog writers have no personal opinions on the mailer.
Today is Sunday - drum roll please
You can see the entire editorial and possible story chat comments here.
In summary - some unnamed campaigns are putting out hateful mailers - the message is fair game but the presentation is the problem. Fair Election Practices Committee can do something but only voters can make a difference on Tuesday. No wonder that Muslims are offended by this hateful mailer. Vote on Tuesday.
Mr. Lawrence, you missed the boat again.
First off, it’s not just Muslims who are upset and offended by this mailer. Why use them as the only example. This type of divisive crap put forth by people TRYING TO GET ELECTED coarsens our culture more than gangsta rap ever could.
Lawrence writes that “It played on fears stirred by [Spitzer's] proposal.” This fear is manufactured by Republicans, not “stirred” by Spitzer. In short, we have had migrants since forever and we only recently added SSN to the licenses (in 2004 I believe). This fear is manufactured by the likes of Minarik in order to avoid ACTUALLY DISCUSSING THE ISSUES.
Finally, there is no mention of specific candidates -0nly a simple mention of a party and no mention of the man behind the curtain Steve Minarik. No calling on the Republican candidates to denounce this mailer? No mention that the D&C endorsed most of the candidates supported by this particular party. Frankly, I think the D&C editorial board would have been better served calling out (like the city newspaper did) the Republican machine under Steve Minarik.
Instead, the D&C puts the onus completely on voters to vote the bums out, which conveniently discharges the D&C op-ed board of its opinion leading responsibilities. Sorry D&C - yes, voters do have a say - but given gerrymandered districts we will likely get more of the same. And, oh, Minarik is not on the ballot.
No, they should call on Republicans (in this case) to forgo those who provide this and support these tactics. Namely Steve Minarik.
But when the D&C endorses candidates that support the status quo - Steve Minarik will still have power over the local GOP and next year - we will be reading about more of the same garbage.
Mr. Lawrence - you need to actually take a stand instead of trying not to upset people. Stop trying to thread the needle of “feel good” and “waffle”.
An edited piece from the D&C follows below the fold, illustrating the points above:
(November 4, 2007) — … some local campaigns figure it’s an ideal time to sling mud. By the time they’re exposed, as this kind of dirty-trickster thinking goes, the election is over.
[snip]
Perhaps the most serious breach of this election season arrived in the mail in Monroe County late last week. It played on the fears stirred by a proposal that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain New York State driver’s licenses. With images of a “welfare coupon” and two Muslim men, including one holding an Uzi, the flier urges voters to say “no” to Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature and to “Vote Republican.”
While the message is fair political fodder, the way it’s presented goes too far. It stirs not only fear but hate. No wonder local Muslim leaders such as Muhammad Shafiq, imam at the Islamic Center in Brighton, are offended.
When candidates commit a foul they should be reprimanded. The Fair Campaign Practices Committee should weigh in, even on Election Day, if necessary. And of course, so should voters.
Related posts:
Jim let them get away with it, plain and simple. Great job on this post, stlo7.
I’ll have more to add later.
Anyone know if Morelle is putting in a call to FEPC?
Great post.
What a waste of an editorial. Basically, it says, hold them accountable, whoever they may be. What???
“By the time they’re exposed, this kind of dirty-trickster thinking goes, the election is over.”
Gee, I wonder why? Could it possibly be, because the D&C isn’t doing its job? In other words, your admitting to giving these folks a free pass. At least your honest, sort of.
“While it’s reassuring that independent panels such as the Fair Election Practices Committee are prepared to accept complaints through Monday, it’s voters who can do the most to discourage this kind of despicable behavior.”
I guess the D&C has no role to play in clarifying whats going on, so the voters are fully informed come Tuesday?
“They should remember candidates who play loose with the facts and make a mockery of campaign fairness.”
And they can thank the D&C for not informing them of what candidates are playing loose with the facts. I guess it would take a lot of editorial space to list out every Republican that is up for election this year. Or you could just be honest with our community and point out that this was a mailer put together by Minarik (who put together almost the exact same visual for the entire state Party last year), which is now being used by the Republican Party as a whole.
“…the message is fair”
Wait a minute! “They should remember candidates who play loose with the facts and make a mockery of campaign fairness.” So which is it? Are you totally incapable of forming an opinion? Or did you consciously choose to say two different things in less than five sentences.
Apparently, the D&C has adopted Maggie’s definition of fair. Let’s look at the facts, since the D&C tries to avoid this kind of thing.
“The county legislature Democrats want to make illegal immigrants legal by giving them a driver’s license that looks exactly like your’s and mine.”
This claims is not true for four different reasons. Wow, four lies in one sentence, and the D&C didn’t catch any of them.
1. When did the county democrats say they wanted to make illegal immigrants legal? Never.
2. When did the county democrats say they wanted to give illegal immigrants licenses? Never. This is Spitzer’s plan.
3. Having a license does not make you a legal resident.
4. Their license will not look like yours and mine. I think other news outlets have made this pretty clear. Perhaps, you might want to pick up the paper (that would be the New York Times or Washington Post).
“Now illegals could even get welfare benefits costing taxpayers millions of dollars!”
I didn’t realize that I could get welfare benefits by having a drivers license. Pretty cool. Let me go check… Two hours later, the Republicans lied to me! They weren’t going to give me welfare benefits unless I was willing to undergo extensive means testing, which I would fail. But I’m sure all those illegal immigrants are going to be willing to expose their private illegal life to obtain welfare benefits (which they wouldn’t receive, because they are illegal).
“Worse yet! Democrats are making our county more vulnerable to terrorist attacks by weakening the security of our driver’s licenses.”
Hmmm… Chertoff seems to disagree. Let me see, who do I believe more? Steve Minarik or Michael Chertoff. Well, since I don’t work for the D&C, I’d have to say Chertoff, otherwise, I’d believe both.
Ok, so where does this leave us? Is there a single fact in the piece that is true. No, but of course the message is fair, at least according to Maggie and the D&C.
Yo, D&C editors… when you look back at what you’ve written, don’t you feel ill sometimes? I know I do. Why waste editorial space, if you don’t have any point to make? I wish I could do this when I try to get published. Would make my life so much easier. Actually, I’d just feel nauseous that I would be willing to do such a thing.
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