Washblog || Why I never trusted Mike McGavick

Why I never trusted Mike McGavick

By emmettoconnell
Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 01:11:55 PM PST
Section: Stories In Progress Topic: Alternative and Community Media

There was always something there that made me not trust him.

His call for civility should have appealed to me, but it never did. It seemed fake.

And it was, I now I know why. He never talked about improving voter turnout, because he actually never cared about getting more people to vote. The "civility thing" was never about improving politics, getting more people to the polls, it was about him winning.

For all his faults, Kinky Friedman said it a lot better than McGavick ever did:

We think that it's not Kinky Friedman vs. Rick Perry. It's Kinky Friedman vs. apathy. If we get a big turnout, I win. Almost everybody agrees with that. The last thing Rick Perry wants to see is a big turnout. That's the last thing he wants to see. And that's a shame because our elected leaders ought to want to see democracy in action -- instead of the last turnout, which was 29.3 percent. For governor! $100 million spent, 29 percent vote. It's sick. If we could get it up to 40 percent, I'm governor.

Now, who is fighting in the Senate to make campaigns civil? Not the party of McGavick (hat tip to the DNC):

But they also are taking a glance back at the 2006 campaign that awarded them the six-seat net gain they needed to take control -- and decrying negative campaign tactics they pinned on Republican candidates.
"We have to do everything we can to make elections more civil," said Harry Reid of Nevada, newly chosen by his Democratic colleagues as Senate majority leader, at a breakfast Wednesday sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
"Somehow, constitutionally, we're going to have to figure out a way to stop this," Reid added, saying he would support measures through whichever venue would be most effective, whether administratively or through legislation.

< The Continuing Battle for Hearts and Souls | Why Darcer Burner lost, the Digest >

Why I never trusted Mike McGavick | 3 comments (3 topical)

In my view

you can't pass laws making campaigns more civil. They've been, and always will be, awful. The last thing we need is somebody like Danny Westneat wringing his hands, crying about "all the tv ads", wha wha whaaa.

Here's the kicker: make the campaigns shorter. Other countries do this, and they have no idea why we put up with these campaigns that last over a year.

That's crazy.

For the record, some of earliest campaign attacks were against Thomas Jefferson, saying he was a devil worshiper. Abraham Lincoln was called 'retarded' and a simpleton and a mongoloid and all sorts of shit. Same shit, different century.

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by Belltowner on Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 01:21:30 PM PST

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its the way that you do ti by emmettoconnell, 11/17/2006 02:00:27 PM PST (5.00 / 1)

I trust you are being philosophical.

From a philosophical standpoint the goal of civil campaigns is a good one and I am all for this, philosophically. For all I know Mike? also is in favor of civility in campaigns.

But lets be clear, Mike and his advisors never expected the campaign to be civil and never had any reluctance to cross the line in an effort to win. What Mike's crew knew from day one was that he had much more baggage than they would ever dredge up about Sen. Cantwell. So his campaign was about civility for the only reason that they knew he would be faced with negative ads.

Speaking about campaigns in general and from a practical standpoint, a rigid commitment to civility in campaigning is a guarantee for failure in today's campaigns. Even so, and as Mike? knew all to well, he could "stay civil" and be 100% sure others would express every attack they could dream up against Sen. Cantwell. And the papers would give McSafeco far too much credit while giving him extended slack about any issues raised about him.
Ah but we put a stop to this clever little plan now didn't we? "Cut a yellow light a bit close my ass" The flying skateboard myth and so on.

Our democracy is what it is and works the way it does. If we want the government to reflect our views we simply must place practicality over civility since we can count on the other side doing the same.
Peace.

by Particle Man on Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 10:58:43 AM PST

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Why I never trusted Mike McGavick | 3 comments (3 topical)

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