Thursday, August 17, 2006

Harry Mitchell has a [reality] check for Hayworth

Responding to the Hayworth campaign's charge that Harry Mitchell kept a campaign contribution from Charlie Keating all those years ago, the Mitchell campaign released documentation (including a copy of the check) that shows that he gave the $2500 in question to the Valley of the Sun United Way.

In 1990.

The Mitchell campaign's press release is here.

Plugged In's coverage is here.

The EV Tribune's coverage of the ethics dustup between the two campaigns is here.

In other CD5 coverage, the Phoenix New Times' column, The Bird, written this week by Stephen Lemons, has a take on the "JD and his idolization of anti-Semite Henry Ford" situation a few weeks back. He defends JD as a "boob," not an anti-Semitic bigot.

Well, like the rest of us, Mr. Lemons has the right to have and express his opinions.

My problem with his column is this line (emphasis mine) -
... that's the insinuation of the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, the Arizona Democratic Party, the Arizona Republic, and countless blogosphere crackpots...

A couple of points here.

One, for the record, I have never referred to JD as an anti-Semite, just as someone who idolizes one. Most of the local bloggers covering this have handled the issue similarly.

JD's own book, and his defenses against the criticisms sent his way over this, prove our point.

Two, while I haven't read every blog out there (not enough time in the day to do that, and say, breathe :) ), most of the ones I read are well-thought out and well-written. Not 'crackpot' at all. Even the ones I disagree with, like Espresso Pundit.

Three, Mr. Lemons? Even if you were correct in calling us all "crackpots", you don't exactly have a lot of credibility in this area.

Exhibit A: in your column, you refer to yourself as "[t]his rascally warbler."

Pot, meet kettle. :)

Later everyone! Time to go buy books for the upcoming semester!

3 comments:

TimWilsonAZ said...

Interesting how the author of that article would call us crackpots when they are defending a man whose hero was HENRY FORD!!

Ridiculous.

Craig said...

Yeah, I saw the column last night and was ticked off enough to comment then, but I was also too tired then to do it right.

Today, though, it's just water off our backs. It's just a bit of MSM grousing about talented, enthusiastic, amateurs (yup, that's us, lol) doing a better job of covering the stuff they think is beneath their professional stations in life, but is very important to most people.

I always thought the JD/Ford connection, while interesting, wouldn't really have much effect on the race.

JD's insistence on trying to paint Harry Mitchell as ethically-challenged as he himself is?

*That* could really backfire on JD, especially if the Mitchell campaign just keeps coming back with documented facts.

TimWilsonAZ said...

I think it will backfire. Dramatically. J.D. isn't going to fool voters by pointing to minor scandals nearly two decades ago. And he won't be able to run from his Abramoff connections or his record.