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Friday, October 06, 2006

 

CHARACTER MATTERS

This is a guest post by G. Glass. If you ask me, this Romone dirty tricks campaign has the stink of Dave "Jr. Rove" Crossan all over it.
................
Last month Republican candidate Michael Ramone kicked off his fall campaign for the Eighth Senatorial District with a schoolboy-ish political dirty trick.

Ramone's dirty trick was this: On September 27 Ramone sent out a mass phone message accusing his opponent's supporters of stealing and damaging his yard signs, and claiming they had physically threatened Ramone supporters (transcript and audio link below).

There's just one problem: IT NEVER HAPPENED.

A quick call to the New Castle County Police the next day confirmed that NO incidents of any kind involving political signs had been reported to them recently.

If Ramone has any information about incidents of theft, property damage, or physical threats to anyone's safety, let's see the police reports.

But there aren't any police reports. Because Ramone made it all up.

Does Ramone think the voters are so stupid they would fall for an immature stunt like that? Did he think nobody would check?

What kind of a mindset does Michael Ramone have, to think this prank was a GOOD IDEA? Is this the sort of thinking we could expect Michael Ramone to bring to Dover?

This is not the thinking of a good neighbor and respectable businessman. This is the thinking of a calculating political operative.

Here is what Ramone said:

"Hello. This is Michael Ramone, and I am sorry to have to make this
call. However, over the past week, many of our yard signs have been
vandalized or stolen from your neighborhood. This call is to alert you to
this fact, and to ask that you please NOT retaliate by stealing or
vandalizing my opponent's signs. I am also asking that you not jeopardize
your own safety by trying to stop these occurrences - our signs can be
replaced. ...your personal safety is not worth the risk..."


There is no possible excuse for this slime.

When a politician asks for your vote, you deserve to be asked in a decent, honest and respectful manner. Not with insulting lies and insinuations.

Whatever the political differences, Dave Sokola is a decent person who has always run a clean campaign, and for Ramone to imply otherwise is inexcusable.

After the disrespect and arrogance displayed in Ramone's phone message, I am no longer interested in what he has to say - he's just like all the rest of the Republicans in Congress and Washington. That is unacceptable representation in our neighborhood, or anywhere in Delaware.

Political dirty tricks must not be rewarded with our votes.

Full audio is here: http://www.filelodge.com/files/room45/1282500/ramone.mp3

Comments:
If this is the kind of thing that you are grasping at, it must mean Ramone is polling extraordinarily well.

Having talked to him about it, I am not sure charges were ever filed. I'll try to get the real story for you.

This post is nothing more than accusations.
 
the sign thieves were 5 highschool boys.

they were caught by the police.

Mike spoke with their parents and decided not to press charges.

Mike is a great guy and will serve his district well in Dover.
 
also

this wasn't one or two signs, these kids were clearing entire neighborhoods.

the concern for his supporters safety was real, several of them had given chase when their signs were stolen and Mike was worried that they would get hurt, not in a physical confrontation, but simply by running through yards in the dark and tripping (or by over exerting themselves).
 
So the R bloggers are confirming Sokola supporters had nothing to do with it. Then why was that fact not noted in the phone blast? Why was the phone blast doen at all if not to capitalize on the situation politically?
 
Also note that the NCC police had no knowledge of any incidents, regardless of whether charges were filed.
 
The phone message was sent after the sign theft began, but before the miscreants were caught.

Democrat Claim:
" Ramone's dirty trick was this: On September 27 Ramone sent out a mass phone message accusing his opponent's supporters of stealing and damaging his yard signs,"

FALSE: the phone messages states that signs are being stolen, it does not assign blame.

" and claiming they had physically threatened Ramone supporters"

FALSE: the phone messages ask Ramone suports to call the police and not confront the thieves.

" audio link below "

all I heard was 62 seconds of static.
 
These are ridiculous excuses for the mass phone broadcast. There is just enough truthiness to deny the dirty trick - but it was one.

So he discreetly decided to protect these kid's privacy by phoning everybody in the neigborhood. Riiight.

And it must have been an accident or an oversight that he happened to insinuate that these were partisian incidents attributable to his opponents.

Insinuation = accusation in politics. This is the basis of negative advertising.

I know Republicans can be overheated sometime, but I don't think they need to be restrained from criminal acts by mass phone calls from their candidate.

I can't help picturing a troupe of Republican women in nightgowns with curlers in their hair, brandishing rolling pins and frying pans, huffing and puffing after a bunch of teenagers. Now THAT'S funny.
 
"If this is the kind of thing that you are grasping at, it must mean Ramone is polling extraordinarily well."

(FSP nods oversized head in agreement.)
 
it is funny because it is true.
 
Speaking strictly non-partisan I doubt Mike did this in any bad faith whatsoever. No way it is a campaign "dirty trick" IMO. Knowing Mike personally I do not believe he has it in him at all.

Even if he did he is certainly not stupid enough to try to pull such a high-risk/low return idiot maneuver that could be easily exposed if not genuine. Ridiculous! One tning Mike is is a cut above his chosen party and its hacks.

LIke I said I know Mike personally. But I am not in regular contact so I can only speculate what happened or what makes the most sense to me about why Mike would do this.

My guess is he became aware of the sign thefts because supporters were alerting him as they disappeared. No doubt many of them jumped to the easy conclusion that it was his opponent and probably shared their anger with Mike or Lisa.

In addition to these people just generally being hot and bothered about being ripped off it is probably a safe bet that some might have made comments about retaliating. At least something gave Mike legitimate fears this might actually happen.

I say fears because no matter who the real culprits were Mike would rightly worry that he would be blamed directly for any perceived or real retaliation tactics. He would be worried enough to want to head them off quickly.

My only lingering question is about who the calls went to. If it was anyone who did not have a sign or the call was a true mass "blast" call then Ramone needs to explain himself. I would like to hear the answer to this.

As I write this I am now curious if Sokola signs and others were equally stolen along with Ramone's.

The dirtiest trick I could imagine would be to pay some punk kids to rip off signs, prompting the very retaliation that would look bad for Mike if done by anyone of his supporters, even acting independently on some vigilante urge.

I can see the attack on him now : "Ramone Campaign Malicioulsy Retaliates On Opponent After Campaign Signs Stolen by Vandals, Later Found to Be Just Punk Kids".

Clever, no? Who would think any Democrat knuckleheads are capable of doing this in a close race?

They would nevvvvvvver depserately bait an opponent like this now would they?

I think anyone who knows Delaware politics and what the Dems have been willing to do in trench warfare in past years knows the answer.

I am not saying that is the case here and this is purely hypothetical. But it is not illogical.

Mike's a great guy and definitely one of the most earnest and honest guys I know running. I hope he can make it. I think this post's conclusion is really grasping.
 
such a high-risk/low return idiot maneuver

He doesn't need a high return. He needs 300 votes.

This is "three yards and a cloud of dust" plus a little holding and facemask-yanking.

Watch for more odd last-minute phone calls and lit drops from his campaign, just like 2004. Only this time they will instantly be available on the Internet and recorded for posterity.
 
So, did anyone catch what Jason's favorite two radio show hosts (Fulcher and Jensen) hinted at with this today? They only teased it and said they would follow up next week. It was about the kids involved, specifically who they (or one of them) are. Being fair, you can wonder how they got their info, but what does fair have to do with anything here?
 
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