. . . in other news the sun will set later today.
We received more of those large post cards last week from the Jacobs campaign. The tactic of Jacobs consultant Steve Grubbs / Victory Enterprises is familiar. The format is 6″ x 11″ + card stock mailers, uber-critical content i.e attack pieces, with no reticence about being petty. Throw in a bombastic accusation and you have the formula. They are easy to “absorb” which is of course why they are used.
Friday’s card was ostensibly a comparison piece and was, as is to be expected, less than even handed although certain of its critiques of Ernst were on the mark. But first let’s deal with the pettiness.
Compare and decide card face: Quotes from the card are in italics. Our annotations are set in regular font.
The Jacobs picture: smiling, looking straight at the camera, hair well coiffed as he is known to take time to do. Certainly posed.
The Ernst picture: shall we say, is not a photo courtesy of the Ernst campaign. It shows her looking askance, not directly at the camera, looking a little vacant. Ungentlemanly in its pettiness, although Jacobs looks dandy.
The card’s message:
Under the Jacobs’s photo it says “business leader, outsider with new ideas.” Hmmm — outsider – well he lived the last thirty years outside of Iowa returning only two years ago, almost immediately getting the bug to leave Iowa for Washington. We suppose that does qualify as an outsider, except to Iowa as well.
The “new ideas” statement. . . we really haven’t heard or seen any, his issues and “plans” are stock conservative doctrine. All fine, but hardly new. We don’t think he means his “new ideas” are with regard to his approach to politics — which is standard Washingtonian – people buy a seat at the table, to do business.
Jacobs “opposes tax increases, says the federal government spends too much and we should eliminate waste.” But does Mark Jacobs oppose tax increases and government cost impositions? He was for cap and trade, willing to impose it on the entire country for an advantage to his company. He was willing to save some jobs at his company, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the rest of the country.
Jacobs piece also says “government spends too much and should eliminate waste” — now there is an original thought and promise, a real plan.
The rest of the verbiage attached to his photo is tedious even in its brevity, standard stuff. Jacobs statement that he is the only candidate with a jobs plan is simply false.
Regarding Jacobs statements about Ernst, we see valid charges stemming from her voting record. Ernst has voted for tax increases – on gas and the Internet. She has now apologized for the gas tax vote although there is reason to suspect it is not a commitment not to raise taxes in another guise. She has spoken favorably of other transportation taxes and fees.
As Jacobs correctly points out, Ernst has an attendance problem – having missed forty per cent of the votes this session she simply has no good excuse. Indeed Ernst dissembled about the charge early on in the campaign, which Jacobs also points out. Her current response, not addressed in the card mailer, is what amounts to a rather lame excuse that she used to do better, upping her average.
Saturdays Card — Seems to question Ernst’s Republican bonafides on Obamacare
The card boldly states; “The defining issue in the Republican Party is Obamacare.” It continues with a sort of soliloquy:
You can already hear it. Voices of surrender inside the Republican Party saying, ” Well, we can’t repeal Obamacare . . . let’s try to make it better . . . it’s useless fighting any more . . .”
When given a chance to stop Obamacare in Iowa, Joni Ernst voted to implement the law. Even the state Democratic Party is thanking her for her vote.
Obamacare needs to be repealed, and we need to start over with real, pro-market, pro-consumer reforms in healthcare (sic) that address escalating costs and institutes eight patient focused model.
If Republican elected officials — such as Joni Ernst — can’t agree on that, but why are they Republicans?
In bold again: If Joni urged won’t fight to repeal Obamacare, what will she fight for?
We heartily agree with the entire statement. The only problem for Jacobs, by his own standards, are his own bonafides as a Republican — having helped to sustain Democrat hegemony in the Senate by giving substantial personal contributions to Democrats Corzine and Specter and overseeing more contributions to other Democrats as chairman of a PAC. R Mall
