Now I'm as eager as anyone else in South Dakota to stop Gordon Howie's effort to refight the Civil War, or the Revolutionary War, or whatever other Christian persecution fantasy is playing in his head.
But I don't have much time for an anonymous website that doesn't have the guts to take full ownership, by real name, of its words. You want to participate in public discourse? You want to attack a person by name? Using your own name and showing your willingness to take the same heat you dish out is a fair price of admission to public discourse and a good check on unsupported mudslinging.
My interest in inviting the website's message into the public discussion of Gordon Howie's unfitness for the South Dakota governorship completely disappears when I click on the Stop Gordon Howie "Contact Us" page:
3375 Edison Way
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (415) 555-5555
Fax: (415) 555-5515
info@homestead.comOut-of-staters with fake phone numbers running a smear campaign on a South Dakotan. I'm not sure this helps. Until I see a name on the attacks, I'm positive it doesn't help. Keep your anonymous baloney to yourself, Menlo Park. If you want to beat Gordon Howie, I've got it covered.
Cory, that's the address of the place that helps you make homegrown websites. I'd say the people who did this are working for one of the other Repub Candidates. Look closer, man. I'm just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I posted on the War College:
ReplyDeleteOpposition research like this costs a pretty penny — maybe $25k or more. It’s a pretty thorough smear job, going back quite a long way.
Never mind that the site looks homegrown.
That’s the idea… part of the camouflage.
A good guess would be that whoever is doing this is really worried about Howie’s numbers in the primary.
Hmm… let’s see now… that would be…um somebody who thinks Howie’s about to upset their apple cart, right? Somebody who doesn’t see the right percentage of primary votes coming to them any other way.
Very interesting development. I told Howie he should have run as an Indy.
He must have forgotten that some of his playmates in the Repub sandbox have a tendency to eat their young ;^)
You've exercised commendable judgment regarding this anonymous smear, all the more commendable because Howie is about the last person you would support in the gubernatorial race.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this responsible statement.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteUnless you have some facts, you are falling into the trap. Get out of it now. To ascribe this to one of Howie's opponents is as likely as it is Howie himself.
I don't have any facts at all, Troy. I just have a feeling this isn't as amateurish as it's made out to be. I could be completely wrong, of course.
ReplyDelete