Oh Lordy. This is getting painful. I know politics is humiliating, and I truly feel for everyone who gets into the field — even the barely-competent, even those who are “just happy to be here, folks”, even the small-minded and laughable. There but for the grace of God …
So, there’s this. Gomez responds to Markey’s very normal, sober, and fair ads, with a flailing one of his own.
Today Gomez calls Markey — yes, this is true — “pond scum” for actually airing an ad based on Gomez’s attempted Swift-Boating of Obama with regard to the killing of Bin Laden. Yup, Gomez went there, wherever *there* is.
Now, let’s take a look at what Gomez really objects to: Purportedly, it’s that his face was shown opposite Osama Bin Laden’s in Markey’s web ad. I guess without seeing it, if you squint your brain really hard, you could entertain the possibility that there’s some kind of subliminal guilt-by-association going on there …
OK, but really. Look at the ad. LOOK AT IT.
Who shows up opposite Gomez’s face right before Bin Laden? The dude with a 61% approval rating in Massachusetts. For crying out loud, Markey might as well have had Gomez next to a picture of Ted freakin’ Williams and a case of Sam Adams. (You want a dirty Bin Laden juxtaposition? Try this one — never been surpassed.)
And in other events, David Bernstein notes the genius work from the Parachute Patrol at GOP HQ:
Eye-Roller of the Day
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) put out a release today screaming that “Ed Markey is the first to violate the “People’s Pledge.”” That would be the pledge that is not in effect, because Gabriel Gomez refused to sign it.
I mean, wow.
Here’s what it all boils down to: Gomez has a problem, kind of a Martha Coakley problem, actually: He’s got no particular reason to run. He doesn’t really know why he’s in this, except that gosh he’s a really swell guy with a nice resume (Navy SEAL – at least party true!) and he wants to be a Senator well just because it’s the next thing to do.
And so he’s attacking Markey for not signing something he himself refuses to sign. He’s making goofy, easily and widely disproved accusations. He attacks Markey for, well, a long and distinguished career in public service, by campaigning with another fellow with a long and occasionally-distinguished career in public service.
And so we have an utterly trivial campaign so far — at least as presented in the media. Markey goes around the state talking about the Brain State, climate, guns, innovation, yadda yadda and it’s all great — good sensible things I like to hear. And yet his opponent — who strategically needs to start a fight, in order to get attention — engages him on the level of such inanity. Imagine the campaign that we *could* have, as if ideas and policy actually mattered. But this goofiness exists because Gomez has so little to challenge Markey with.
I accept the challenge. Who’d you serve with, Gabs? Give me names.
Is the title of your post a Singing in the Rain reference?
“Fit as a fiddle, ready for love …”
If this is the best Gomez can come up with, he’s not up to running for statewide office in MA. He might as well run an ad saying “Um – – I got nothing.”
I never thought that this was a serious campaign. I always figured that Gomez was essentially auditioning for the Republican affirmative action program, where someone with money who isn’t white is guaranteed a head start in a winnable race. You gain entry into the program by not embarrassing yourself in a hopeless run — and Gomez is struggling to clear that bar.