Ken Berwitz
We have finally found a sleazy campaign strategy that the left wing blogosphere is up in arms about.
I hope you don\’t think it\’s one of those overtly racist mailers which suggest, among other things, that if you don\’t vote Democrat Black children will be shot in the street. That wasn\’t a problem to this crew.
Nope, the problem is a mailer sent by the Republican Party of Kentucky to voters in coal country. The left is collectively having a cow over it, claiming that it is an intentional effort to suppress Democrat voters by scaring them into thinking that, if they go to the polls, they will be doing something illegal.
Ok, let\’s take a look and see what is causing this ruckus. Here is the envelope, and the letter:
How upsetting is this? Well, Mitch McConnell\’s opponent, Democrat Allison Lundergran Grimes, is sufficiently angry to have filed suit over it.
But do she, and her leftward pals, have a legitimate gripe?
Well, it is true that the envelope says “Election Violation Notice”. But it says nothing about the recipient of the letter being in violation of anything.
Directly under those words, we have “The information enclosed contains facts related to a fraud being perpetrated on citizens across Kentucky. This document is intended to be read solely by the citizen named below”.
In what way would it possibly cause anyone to think they were in violation of anything?
And the letter itself makes it clear right from the first sentence, that it is referencing “fraudulent information that is deliberately being spread to voters in your area”. Again, nothing at all, whatsoever, about the reader doing a thing wrong.
Is it written in a way that might cause concern or anxiety on the part of readers? Yes it is.
Do I like the way this information is being presented? No I don\’t; I never like political advertising that tries to look like it is some kind of official document – which, of course, it is not.
But, that said, is there anything, anywhere, that in any way suggests the reader should have any qualms about voting? Absolutely not.
In other words, the left\’s “righteous anger” is a pile of gunk. And, believe me, I\’m thinking of a different four-letter word than gunk.
On the brighter side, however, there actually is an element of (presumably unintended) humor here. At crooksandliars.com, contributor “karoli” informs us that “Chris Hayes featured this mailer earlier tonight. His guest pointed out that East Kentucky already has about 25 percent of its vote suppressed because felons can\’t vote.”
Did I read that right? Is Hayes\’ guest – apparently with no thought from “karoli” that it might be just a bit out of whack – telling us that 25% of the voting age people in Eastern Kentucky are convicted felons?
You\’ll pardon me if I find this claim somewhat hard to believe. Like about 100%.
Hey, maybe Allison Lundergran Grimes and the crooksandliars.com folks can put out a mailer on it…….
