There is no question that Wisconsin's Republican primary race for U.S. Senate has become a slime fest.
Three of the four candidates, Eric Hovde, Mark Neumann, and Tommy Thompson, have launched negative attacks and responded to negative attacks.
There's been a whole lot of negativity.
Jeff Fitzgerald has been spared wallowing in the ugliness. The other three Republicans are leaving him alone, probably because he's not seen as a threat. That puts him in the position of not having to defend himself. Would he be running such a positive campaign if he were under attack? I don't know. But the fact remains that only Fitzgerald is running a positive campaign.
Back to the negative nature of the race--
In early May, Eric Hovde went on the attack. I was put off by Hovde's decision to attack Tommy Thompson when most of Wisconsin was focusing on the recall of Governor Scott Walker.
I found Hovde's decision to go ugly so early very disappointing, especially since so much was at stake in the recall election.
It was inappropriate and distracting. The timing was terrible.
Here's Hovde's email, subject line: "Tommy the Taxer?"
Friend,
At a U.S. Senate candidate forum earlier this week, Governor Tommy Thompson was asked about government spending.
His response?
RAISE TAXES.
Believe it or not, Governor Thompson said:
“I advocate that we start drilling in America…put a fee on the drilling…”
Because I’m not a career politician and I will call things as I see them, I called out Governor Thompson for wanting to raise taxes because the government already gets enough of our hard-earned money.
Just minutes later in a classic example of political double speak from a Washington insider, Governor Thompson claimed he had never advocated for a fee on drilling but instead wanted a permitting process.
Given that as governor, Tommy Thompson raised taxes and fees by $400 million and grew state spending by 118 percent, this should come as no surprise.
And this is exactly why we cannot afford to send another career politician to Washington.
The problems we face are too great to elect folks who will say and do anything to get elected—just to turn around and change their minds once they’re in office.
We need a leader accountable to you and not the Washington insiders, and you can show that you’re tired of politics as usual by contributing today.
With a donation of $5, $10, $25 or $50, we can send a message that we’re fed up with career politicians like Governor Tommy Thompson and Congressman Mark Neumann by sending a private sector, citizen legislator to our nation’s capital.
Please, donate today so that we can right America’s financial ship and provide a better future for our children and grandchildren.
Sincerely,
Eric Hovde
P.S. You can read about Governor Thompson’s textbook political flip flop by checking out this news article. If you agree that we simply cannot afford any more of this nonsense, please contribute today!
So it was back in early May that Hovde chose to send out an email called "Tommy the Taxer."
Did Hovde go negative first? He certainly went negative at the wrong time, when conservatives were rallying together to defeat Tom Barrett and secure a victory for Scott Walker.
It truly bothers me that Hovde is pretending that all along he's been running a clean, positive campaign. It's so disingenuous. It's sleazy.
I can't stand it when someone lies to me. Don't lie to me.
That's exactly what Hovde is doing when he denies that his campaigning is or has been negative.
His comments smack of dishonesty.
I expect campaigns to get rough. I expect candidates to go on the attack. I don't like it, but that's the way it is. That's politics.
I'm very concerned about Hovde's lies about his own tactics, very sleazy.
Listen to Charlie Sykes interview Eric Hovde, August 7, 2012.
At about 7 minutes into the interview, Sykes asks Hovde about the negative campaign.
CHARLIE SYKES: OK, now you're saying you're responding, and there's been a lot of talk about how negative this campaign has become, how toxic this campaign has become. You obviously have been the subject of some negative ads. You've engaged in negative attack ads yourself. In fact, you have an ad where you talk about, 'Here it comes again. They're attacking me.' You're going to focus on Tammy Baldwin. But almost everything that you have been doing lately has been not an attack on Tammy Baldwin. You have been attacking Mark Neumann and Tommy Thompson. So aren't you doing exactly what you're accusing the other candidates of doing?
ERIC HOVDE: Uh, I fundamentally disagree with what you just said.
SYKES: OK.
HOVDE: Um, look, I've had two negative attack ads by the Democratic party. I've had three by Gov. Thompson with his shadow group. I've had probably two or three by Mark Neumann, two different ones from the Club for Growth. My ad was, uh, the mud ad where I'm dodging and weaving. I throw a couple little pokes back at 'em. And, uh, the only other thing is I have an ad talking about where Gov. Thompson really stands, in my view, on ObamaCare, and how he was involved in helping bring about ObamaCare because he was lobbying on behalf of a lot of the pharmaceutical industry, which the Wall Street Journal has completely documented, how they pushed it and were benefiting from ObamaCare. But other than that, Charlie, I haven't, uh, been spending my time... I've been trying to stay positive. In fact, I've got a new ad coming out today that's out with my wife and me.
But, you know, this is what happens. You know, I'm an outsider. The career politicians - what do they try to do? They try to tear you down because I was leading, and still am, fortunately, but not by a lot in the polls. And they try to tear you down.
...
SYKES: A lot of the candidates, including you, have engaged in [negative campaigning]. We just talked about that. You have an ad about Tommy Thompson, about his role in ObamaCare, in which you have a series of sound bites. You have a sound bite where he supports the individual mandate. You have a sound bite where President Obama is thanking him, and then you have a sound bite where he says that ObamaCare is not going to be repealed. And you suggest if he will not repeal ObamaCare... Now that sound bite is taken out of context because it's after the 2010 election where he's talking about as long as Obama's in the White House, as long as the Senate Democrats are in control, you're not going to repeal ObamaCare. So, you are talking about the deceptive ads aimed at you...[break in audio] Isn't that deceptive on your part, to take that comment out of context from Tommy Thompson? He's talking about a different... I mean, are you saying that Tommy Thompson would not fight to repeal ObamaCare now?
HOVDE: I don't know if he'd fight to repeal it now or not, but the simple fact is he... the talk about the mandate? He had more than a few interviews where he expressed the need for the mandate. There is no question Tommy and a lot of the pharmaceutical companies he was lobbying for with Akin Gump on the boards benefited from it.
Now let's take [sic] about that sound bite that you're saying I may be taking out of context, that it said, well, because President Obama would veto it. That doesn't mean you cannot continue to fight to defund aspects of it. If Scott Walker took that same approach, Scott could have decided, 'I'll implement it here in the state of Wisconsin.' Scott said, 'No.' And there's a lot of senators out there trying to fight tooth and nail to defund certain aspects of it. So, I don't think it's taken out of context.
This is sleazy.
Hovde's actions speak volumes.
I'm so sick of Hovde yapping about "career politicians," as if choosing public service is necessarily something bad. There's a disturbing inconsistency with that. Hovde often praises Scott Walker, trying to ride his coattails, I presume.
Hey, Eric! Our great Governor Walker is a "career politician."
And when it comes to being negative, even Mark Neumann asked Hovde to show some decency and apologize to Tommy Thompson for the negative remarks.
Also, I don't like the fact that Hovde DIDN'T BOTHER TO VOTE when he lived in DC.
HE DIDN'T PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS.
That's not good. That's really, really not good.
This "I'm not going negative, I'm Mr. Clean" routine from Hovde is ridiculous.
He's insulting the Wisconsin voters by insisting he's not doing what he blatantly is.
I don't like it. It's so dishonest. He's being condescending.
Hovde is not taking on Tammy Baldwin. He's slinging mud, and in a very pompous fashion. That's the reality.
Bottom line: I don't want Tammy Baldwin, a radical Leftist, to represent me in the U.S. Senate. If Hovde wins the primary, I will vote for him in November. No question about it.
However, I'm definitely NOT going to vote for Hovde in the primary.
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