Beneath Contempt

As the election twilight so readily approaches, some candidates have come to a point of utter desperation in order to hold on--or win, seats in the House and Senate. These moves are justified to them based off of circumstance, but they truly diminish everything which our nation is by supplanting a civil arena of debate and argument with a pathetic catering to fearful and uneducated voters. 


Take for example a new DCCC ad which is running in the Fairfax County area--itself a news broadcast sponsored by the Democrats that ends with the reporter noting "Keith Fimian opposes a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother." Not only is the committee only scantily mentioned, but the entire attack is read by a news reporter, as if it is an objective current events report. 

Then, Attorney General Jack Conway seems completely capable of adding bitter icing to the election cake, with his ploy in an advertisement accusing his opponent, Rand Paul, of not maintaining Christian values in life. To Conway, the sleaze is far game, despite the cries from his party when Republicans used negative tactics to defend their own seats in 2006. 

Negativity has its uses, and in no way does the National Alliance Foundation believe it should be suppressed, yet the angle of the attack is always an issue. Elisabeth Dole's low blow ad questioning Kay Hagan's faith did not help her or the state of North Carolina in 2008, and most believe it led to her humiliating defeat as Obama swept to victory in the southern province. Similarly, Mike DeWine's use of Osama bin Laden to smear Sherrod Brown backfired dramatically in 2006, costing him his seat to the Democrat. 


And despite all of this, campaigns cannot seem to get by the reality that said ads are both ineffective and unhelpful to the political process. They fail to educate or present solutions, rather just blurring the lines between truth and partisan disparagements. 


Democrats need to stand up for the morality and civility for which they claimed to advocate for in 2006 and 2008, or they will lose the trust of the people to be mediators who can rise above the vicious fray and help fix the problems facing America. It is not enough for them to simply complain that the Republicans are not helping--they must show the leadership for the nation based on what the country desires and feels is necessary  in this day and age. Being above the radicalism and furor will help the Democrats to succeed, otherwise determining a minority fate by 2013, including within the Whitehouse. 

Ayla Samadi

National Alliance Vice President for Domestic Affairs