Tark Again Caught with Pants on the Ground

(Chuck Muth) – I don’t know how much Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian is paying his high-priced out-of-state California political hack and his high-priced out-of-state Florida political hack, but it’s wasn’t enough to help him extract his foot from his mouth after securely wedging it in there again last week.

At issue this time was Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian’s “joint appearance” with front-runner Sue Lowden on the Alan Stock Show. Stock raised the issue of Danny’s scorched-earth negative campaign against Lowden (for which Tark reportedly threw a bit of a hissy fit after the show).

Specifically, Stock asked Tarkanian about him inferring that Sue Lowden was a “socialist” in a recent robocall ad. To which Tarkanian, with some indignation and irritation, responded:

“There was no ‘socialism’ word in there – you’re wrong on that. I guarantee you.”

But it was. Tarkanian had told yet another untruth.

The amazing part is that Tarkanian’s campaign manager, trying to prove and back up Tarkanian’s “guarantee,” released a copy of the robocall ad in which Tarkanian himself is clearly heard saying:

“With respect, I must disagree with my Republican opponent Sue Lowden when she and the establishment defended the Wall Street bailout. . . . That’s not freedom. Let’s call it what it is: socialism.”

I mean, it doesn’t get any clearer than that. Slam dunk. Despite his guarantee that he never used the word socialism in his robocall ad, he clearly used the word socialism in his robocall ad.

Caught once again with his pants on the ground, Tarkanian’s damage control operation went into full spin mode. Campaign MisManager Sidekick Bri (Brian Seichik) released the following to reporters and other interested parties:

“We have received numerous calls and inquiries wanting to hear the controversial robocall that Danny Tarkanian released last month about the Wall Street bailouts and Sue Lowden’s defense of them. As you can hear for yourself – Danny Tarkanian did not call Sue Lowden a socialist.’ Listen to the audio here: http://tark2010.org/uploads/view/922/ta_tarkanianfreedomwallst2.mp3 “

Of course, that’s not what Danny said on the radio. He said, “There was no ‘socialism’ word in there – you’re wrong on that. I guarantee you.” And as we all know now, that’s not true.

Nevertheless, adding to this Clinton-like parsing effort, Tarkanian’s California Minister of Propaganda, Jamie Fisfis, tried to spin Alan Blake of The Hill by saying, “Danny was wrong that the word ‘socialism’ wasn’t in there. He was asked if he had called her a socialist, and he didn’t.”

That’s not just spin, that’s bad spin. Real bad. Here’s how this works in grade-school math, guys: If A equals B and B equals C….then A equals C.

Tarkanian said the TARP bailout was socialism and that Sue Lowden supported the TARP bailout (not true, but that never stops Tark from making such charges), therefore, by extension, Tark said that Sue Lowden is a socialist. At least in the plain-English real world.

Indeed, FishFish himself admitted as much in a separate interview with the Las Vegas Sun.

“The TARP bailout, in as much as it essentially put government in control of banks — no reforms, just move as much money as you can into the system, taxpayer money — that is akin to socialism. And that’s (Tarkanian’s) point of view. If the implication you take from that is that Sue Lowden supports positions that are socialist, if that’s your point of view …” (His voice trailed off).

You’d think these guys would be at least a little red-faced after being caught red-handed like this. Not.

Instead, the campaign issued yet another follow-up press release hammering Lowden: “Sue Lowden apparently didn’t have enough positions on abortion, so she’s opened a whole new front for double talk: bailouts,” said Sidekick Bri, claiming to have discovered some third position on the bailouts that Lowden supposedly has taken.

Hmm. I think we all know just how believable and credible any such claim coming from these people is now, don’t we?

But just to prove there is nothing the Tarkanian campaign won’t distort or misrepresent against Lowden, Sidekick Bri plowed some new ground.

During the Stock interview, Lowden explained the kind of pressure one comes under from colleagues and lobbyists in legislative caucus rooms on controversial measures, noting that Danny wouldn’t/couldn’t understand such things because he’s never been elected to office and, therefore, “has never been in the caucus room.”

For those who may not be familiar with the U.S. Senate “caucus room” that Lowden was referring to, here’s the explanation from the Architect of the Capitol in Washington, DC:

“The Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building is an excellent example of the Beaux Arts style of architectural design. Grand, well ordered, and richly detailed, the room provides a dignified environment in which important political meetings and social functions are held. It is the oldest and one of the largest assembly rooms built for the Senate outside the Capitol. Before the construction of the Russell Senate Office Building, caucuses and other meetings took place in cramped committee rooms in the Capitol.”

But that’s not how Sidekick Bri tried to spin Lowden’s meaning. Here’s what this disingenuous, dishonest political hack put out in response to Lowden accurately pointing out that Danny “has never been in the caucus room.”

“The Caucus Room? Where have we heard that before? Oh – right. That’s the Washington DC restaurant where Lowden recently held a lobbyist fundraiser with ‘bridge to nowhere’ sponsor Lisa Murowski. I’ll bet most Nevadans have never been there, either.”

What a jackass.

Some Tarkanian supporters have written to ask why I continue to pound on Danny and his campaign like this. Here’s why: I don’t hold negative campaigning against a politician, but as John Wayne said in The Cowboys, I hate a liar. And I won’t stop telling the truth about Danny Tarkanian until he stops telling lies about Sue Lowden.