Menendez Smear Campaign Caught On Tape
Fausta describes how desperate the Bob Menendez for Senate campaign has become and provides a link to a must see report by WCBS TV on the anatomy of a smear campaign against Tom Kean by Menendez. The report entitled Behind the Scenes of a Political Smear catches the Menendez team in action. Check it out.
Update: Step 9 - Tom Moran writes: Listen to military families? Not Kean
Update: Step 9 - Tom Moran writes: Listen to military families? Not Kean
Posted by Enlighten-NewJersey @ 8:48 AM
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10 Comments:
I e-mailed that You Tube clip to Bill O'Reilly this morning. Bill eats stuff like that up!
Why is this a smear job but "The Tape" supposedly involving Governor Corzine wasn't? If it had turned out that Governor Corzine had been taped by a member of the Forrester campaign, and that he was speaking to someone that Forrester had brought to whatever event it was, would you call that a smear job too? Isn't what's important here not who brought her or who was taping, but that Kean Jr. walked away from a mother with a son serving in Iraq without answering her questions? Do you think Kean Jr. would have done any different in a different situation with no one taping? I believe (and I could be wrong, and if I am I apologize ahead of time) that this site stated that if "The Tape" existed the people of New Jersey deserved to know about it. Don't they also deserve to know that a woman with a son serving in Iraq feels she can't get answers from a man who wants to be a United States Senator? Sorry so many question, but I'm honestly having a hard time understanding the problem with this video--she wasn't an actress, she was a real person with real questions, and Kean Jr. walked away--those are the facts, regardless who tapes it.
Funny that politicsnj.com links to the original youtube video, but not this one.
Does this surprise anyone?
Anonymous #1,
WCBS called their piece "Behind the Scenes of a Political Smear". The CBS report shows a staged and coordinated series of events by the Menendez campaign to create a scene with Kean over the Iraq war issue. The TV report adds perspective and interest to the stunt.
Perhaps you found the Menendez video compelling - we found it dull – “candidate walks away from heckler”. Now, if Kean had taken a swing at her, swore at her – something dramatic, the Menendez video would have had some impact. He didn’t do that, so CBS went with the more interesting take. So did we.
We don’t have a problem with the tape being broadcast and we don’t have a problem with the CBS report pointing how Menendez was tryig to create anit-war buzz and news fodder to use against Kean.
Aside from finding out how the anti-war activist/military mom got into the post debate press room, what’s newsworthy about this episode? The candidates’ positions on the Global War on Terror and the mission in Iraq are well known and have been covered in the debates between Kean and Menendez.
Whether people think the “walking away” story reflects well or poorly on either candidate remains to be seen. Military moms with “unanswered questions” is a political tactic, most people recognize it for what it is – publicity seeking. People can look at the tape and the CBS report and judge for themselves.
We’re not sure what you mean by your question, “Do you think Kean Jr. would have done any different in a different situation with no one taping?” If you’re asking if we think Kean would have walked away rather then get into it with JoAnn Sohl, cameras rolling or not - our answer is we don’t think taping would have made a difference. We think he would have walked away regardless. Kean knew who she was and her purpose – he’d spoken to her group before.
We have a question for you. Do you think JoAnn Sohl would have been there if no one was taping? We think not. She’s a Menendez supporter and is trying to help him get elected. Nothing shocking or special about that is there?
In any case, more New Jersey voters probably saw the CBS report than the debate and the Menendez video combined. If it makes you feel any better, we’d say it really doesn’t matter one way or the other.
First, to answer your question: Yeah, she is a Menendez supporter, but I also think she's sincere about her views on the war, and she believes that Menendez represents them more than Kean Jr. Would she have been there if there was no one taping? I think so--I think confronting someone who has expressed support for the war is a form of protest for her, and I think she wants to be heard by people in positions of power. I don't think she's a puppet of the Menendez campaign, and I don't think she was taken advantage of, and I think listening to people who disagree with you is part of being a responsible elected official.
Secondly: We obviously have some political differences, and I usually disagree with your positions on this site. However, its been my experience that you're willing to engage those who disagree with you, and you do it with respect. By that I mean (from what I've seen) you make an argument instead ad hominem attacks, and you usually are level headed, without insults or vitriol. I respect that. Don't get me wrong, I still disagree with everything you stand for, but you seem like an okay guy.
Anonymous #1
Or gal, as the case may be. Thanks, that's why we blog.
As a stunt, it was pretty weak stuff. The Menendez camp should have instructed her over and over ahead of time that no matter what happened, she should never turn her attention away from Kean.
The stuffing went out of the whole set-up when Kean’s campaign manager engaged her in conversation, and she began responding to him. Tom did not walk away from her – she turned her attention to trying to contradict Brian’s intervention, and the whole little planned skit fell apart. Once Brian quite clearly made the point on camera that Tom indeed had met with them, it then degenerated into a "Ya did, Ya didn’t" spat over whether Tom had answered all her questions.
People who volunteer to engage in this sort of pretend indignation are just not convincing, especially after Cindy Sheehan kept popping up for a couple of years. She just wouldn’t give up the limelight, slipped the stage hook, and ended up really embarrassing Democrats with her hugging Hugo Chavez appearances.
You know what I would like to know? JoAnn Sohl's son is currently fighting in Iraq as we speak. Does she speak for him? Furthermore, how does he feel about his own mother aligning with a slimy Party Boss Politician like Bob Menendez that wants to embolden the terrorists he's currently fighting by setting superficial timelines for a troop withdrawal?
Does JoAnn Sohl, like Bob Menendez think that her son is fighting for nothing? That he's merely fighting "George Bush's War of Convenience"?
Bob Menendez needs to realize that his little Hudson County Parlor Tricks aren't going to cut it on a statewide level. This stunt is going to backfire on Bob Menendez and quite possibly on JoAnn Sohl in a bad way.
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