Dear Friends,
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE PROGRAM
(02:15) Trump’s takeover of Venezuela is about oil and control – LISTEN
(31:37) Trump vetoes two bills sponsored by his Republican allies – LISTEN
(43:15) Politics shouldn’t be a “blood sport” – LISTEN
(53:45) Study on glyphosate not so scientific, with Kathy Byrnes – LISTEN
“What the heck is that, Ed?,” you ask. Read on, I shall explain. But first, related:
Ah, Facebook. A reservoir of so many sweet family pics and cute pet vids — yet also a cesspool of caustic comments and divisive half truths.
In the latter category is a recent remark by Kimberley Strope-Boggus, a Democratic Party activist who wrote: “Well meaning folks don’t understand that politics today is a blood sport. Everything is on the table and it’s fair game. Don’t like it, stay on the porch.”
State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott
That’s just shameful, and wrong. Polls have shown that the vast majority of voters strongly disapprove of negative campaigning. Anecdotally, on my recent 220-mile Save America March, rural voters I spoke with frequently shared their disgust with the negative tone of many political campaigns.
Strope-Boggus’s comment is in response to criticism of a column written by her father, Francis Boggus. That column is a negative attack on State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott, one of two Democrats running to take on Representative Zach Nunn to represent Iowa’s third congressional district.
The other Democrat is State Representative. Jennifer Konfrst, whom Boggus and Strope-Boggus are supporting (although Boggus doesn’t mention that in his column).
Full disclosure: I’m with Sarah. Partly because she’s running a positive campaign. Partly because she’s very responsive. Mostly because she’s won three elections in a county carried by Donald Trump.
Sarah wins because she doesn’t demonize Republican and independent voters. She wins because she works hard to build relationships across the political spectrum. She wins because she shows up.
That’s exactly what it will take for a Democrat to win the third district in November. And it’s precisely Sarah’s proven ability to connect with a broad universe of constituents that Boggus attempts to undermine in his column.
I’m personally familiar with this type of political hit job, where desperate politicians and their surrogates attack a candidate on their strengths. When I ran for governor, one of my opponents painted me as anti-woman, anti-labor, and anti-gay.
(Yes, anti-gay! Despite testifying in support of marriage equality before the US House Judiciary Committee. See this C-SPAN clip from May 18, 1996. I have hair.)
The attacks were even worse when I ran for Congress. I was painted as a money grubber. I was accused of causing the Iraq War (for real). I was branded as a friend of sex offenders (that’s what the above photo is about.)
Sadly, negative campaigning often works — but only if voters, candidates, and the media don’t push back against it, strongly and persistently.
That’s why I’m bringing Boggus’s attack on Sarah to your attention. Boggus argues that Sarah is unelectable because she demeaned rural voters in a speech she gave about the first wedding she performed as a Lutheran minister. If you listen to that speech (and I highly recommend you do — it’s about a beautiful, transformative moment), you’d be hard-pressed to come away with anything but a positive impression.
What are your thoughts on, and experiences with, negative campaigning? Are you in the “blood sport” camp or “this crap must end” camp? If the latter, and you live in Iowa’s third congressional district, I highly recommend you support Sarah Trone Garriott in the Democratic Primary on June 2nd.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action.
Ed Fallon
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