Mitch PerryAttention political junkies: not every voter pays attention to politics until right before the election, which is why that ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee “dramatizing” David Jolly standing with Donald Trump was so egregious.
The ad — one of the most controversial of any produced this season in American politics — was immediately denounced by the Jolly campaign, who protested to local television stations to stop airing it. They did not. Nor did his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, say anything negative when called to denounce it at the time.
But beware the power of the Tampa Bay Times editorial page. On Monday morning, the Times took shots at that ad, and called for Crist to demand his new political party take those dishonest ads off the air. They also criticized other negative ads being aired against Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober and state Senate District 18 Democratic candidate Bob Buesing.
After reading the editorial, Crist did as the Times demanded and called on the DCCC to drop the ad. In his own words, Crist said he was “moved” by the Times editorial, and expressed contrition that he hadn’t asked the DCCC to take it down earlier.
But the damage has been done, and Jolly wasn’t “moved” by Charlie’s about-face.
“I’ll be blunt: Charlie is a liar, always has been,” Jolly said. “Charlie’s opportunity to be moved was two weeks ago when he was confronted at Eckerd College about the ad and he claimed the First Amendment.”
The fact is, we can’t allow any candidate or third-party group in the future to allow for such “dramatizations.” They’re outright lies, and there’s already enough of that on an everyday basis in our politics, and in our campaign ads. Faking pictures is going to a new low, and while it may not be illegal, it shouldn’t be allowed.
In other news …
Donald Trump returned to Tampa last night. We hung out with some of his supporters before he came on the stage.
Hillary Clinton returns to Tampa for her fourth time this year on Wednesday.
Marco Rubio began his Monday in Sun City Center, where he added “liberal” to the other epithets he’s been throwing at Democratic Senate opponent Patrick Murphy.
The Hillsborough County Republican Party recently gave a $1,000 contribution to the lone Republican in the Tampa City Council District 7 race, Jim Davison. However, according to the City of Tampa’s charter regarding nonpartisan races, that’s a no-no.
HART has received $1 million to study a driverless bus in the county.
And what happens if Hillary Clinton wins in November, and Barack Obama passes the TPP in December? Chaos in the Democratic Party? Local guy Frank Sanchez agrees with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn on supporting the TPP, for what that’s worth.
