Too Liberal?

Yes, I saw it. Yes, I intended to write about it yesterday after I first saw it. Unfortunately, Alabama Power decided that I didn't need my air conditioning between the hours of 7:30am and 2:30pm, so I had to grab my daughter and go. (But that's another angry rant.)

The thing I saw was the first attack ad from Governor Riley. I'm not impressed. It lists everything that the GOP can find wrong with the Democratic nominee for governor: She's a liberal.

That's it? Was this the best that Riley's team, part of the same team that smeared John McCain in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, could come up with? What's more, they couldn't even come up with one portion of her platform (or potential lack thereof) that would support an argument that Baxley is a liberal! Even if they had, the ad does not state why that is a bad thing. And for that matter, what kind of liberal would she be? Social? Economic? They really should specify these things since, after all, these are the guys who are into big government and big spending and define themselves as "conservatives". This particular ad was brought to you by people who want Bob "More Taxes" Riley to stay in office. Conservatives?

But that's it. Just a barrage of people saying the word "liberal." Because, as we all know, it's true if someone says it loudly enough over and over again. The main argument for Baxley's liberal leaning? She supported John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. A Democrat that supports other Dems. That's a shocker! And the ad even states that she called Hillary an "inspiration," though they don't bother to mention that when she said it, she was referring to Hillary's status as a working mother-- something that Baxley could relate to.

Before I go any further, I should say that I'm not a Baxley supporter. I'm a conservative-leaning moderate, which is why I'll probably be writing Loretta Nall's name on my ballot this November.

This nonsense only makes Baxley look better and Riley look worse. It also insults the intelligence of Alabama voters, playing on the hope that they don't know what the words "liberal" and "conservative" mean. I guess they're hoping for the Frankenstein's monster response: Liberal bad. Conservative good.

Then again, if you remember the read-'em-off-the-notecard approach to the 2004 presidential election talking points, you'll remember that Kerry and Edwards were "out of the mainstream" and "two of the foremost liberal senators of the U.S. Senate." Did anyone ever count how many times those exact words were used, by the way? It worked then. I guess it could work now.