Snake Oil! Get Your Snake Oil Here!

(Chuck Muth) – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian is touting an endorsement by highly-regarded RedState.com blogger Erick Erickson.

“I’m supporting Danny Tarkanian for the United States Senate in Nevada,” Erickson wrote in his VERY brief and thin endorsement. “He’s a great candidate. His opponent has a troubling record that might make her a Republican, but should give conservatives pause.”

Pause…OK, sure. I think every candidate’s record should give conservatives pause, including Danny’s.

Oh, wait. That’s right. He doesn’t HAVE a record because he’s never been elected to anything. Silly me.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that Erickson’s endorsement is based on concerns about fellow GOP candidate Sue Lowden’s record that have been raised by Tarkanian. Only….most of it ain’t true.

Erickson’s endorsement came at the beginning of a column penned by Tarkanian’s campaign ghost-writers entitled, “A Conservative Call to Arms” which was published on Red State. In it Tarkanian levels a number of false and/or misleading and/or distorted assertions and/or accusations:

Tarkanian claims Lowden is the “establishment” candidate.

No, she isn’t. Unlike in other states such as Florida and California, the GOP “establishment” has clearly taken a hands-off position in this Nevada primary race. Tarkanian’s campaign hopes that by repeating this false assertion often enough it will stick; believing that the only way to win this primary is to be an anti-establishment candidate. But simply saying something doesn’t make it true.

Tarkanian claims that Lowden “is one of Harry Reid’s earliest supporters and campaign contributors.”

To the casual reader not familiar with the political scene here in Nevada, you’d think Tarkanian was talking about this current U.S. Senate race. He’s not. He’s talking about campaigns Harry Reid ran in almost THIRTY years ago when Tarkanian was still in high school!

However, it’s true that way back in the 1980s, when Lowden and her husband were just starting out in the gaming business, they made a couple of contributions to Reid before Sue became actively involved in politics. The donations totaled over a period of ten years, according to Tarkanian’s column, all of….$3,000.

What Tarkanian isn’t telling everyone is that once Sue Lowden became actively involved in politics around 1988, she and her husband have donated more than a QUARTER MILLION dollars to Republican candidates and Republican Party organizations in Nevada. I’d say the Lowdens have MORE than made up for their “sins” of the 80s.

Something else Tarkanian neglects to mention is the fact that he, himself, maxed out to Democrat Congresswoman Shelley Berkley comparatively recently. And to the best of my knowledge, the extent of Danny’s generosity to Nevada Republican Party organizations is buying some tickets once a year to some of their Lincoln Day dinners. Big whoop.

Next, Tark claims that Lowden has called Harry Reid an early “Reagan Democrat.” But the thing is, way back in the early 1980s, Harry Reid WAS considered a Reagan Democrat. The Lowden campaign notes that he voted for the B-1 bomber, voted to block federal funds for abortion, voted for equal access for student religious groups, and voted for the Volkmer-McClure gun-rights bill.

This was long before Harry went radical left.

Takanian also claims that in January of this year, “Sue Lowden stunned Republicans when she stated that she would have joined Harry Reid in voting for the Wall Street bailouts.”

Except…that’s not what she said. But again, Danny Tarkanian believes that simply saying something often enough, over and over again, will make it true.

Tarkanian claims that Lowden voted for Nevada’s “jobs tax” while in the state Senate. No, she didn’t. The jobs tax was passed by the 1991 Legislature. Lowden wasn’t even elected to the state Senate until 1992. So Tarkanian’s claim to the contrary is just a flat-out lie.

Oh, and by the way and for the record….Danny Tarkanian did NOT vote against the jobs tax in 1991.

Of course, and to be fair that’s primarily because Danny’s never been elected to anything.

Tarkanian claims Lowden tried to remove the pro-life plank from the Republican Party platform in 1996, citing a story in the uber-liberal Las Vegas Sun as his source. Lowden denies the claim and has members of the platform committee backing her up.

Tarkanian then has the cojones to question Lowden’s commitment to the Second Amendment when (a) Lowden has a concealed-carry permit is regularly packing heat on the campaign trail, and (b) Danny chalked up a big, fat “F” from the National Rifle Association (NRA) in his failed 2006 campaign for Nevada Secretary of State.

Tarkanian claims that Lowden, like Reid, has argued “that Nevada needs more pork, not less.”

No, she hasn’t.

Lowden has merely pointed out that Reid continuously argues that he’s the most powerful man in the universe and is the only one who can take care of Nevada. Yet Nevadans get back only 65 cents for every dollar they send to Washington. That has nothing to do with pork. It has everything to do with Harry being a lousy representative of our state….especially for someone supposedly with all the power of being the Majority Leader.

Or does Danny support having 1/3 of Nevadans’ federal tax dollars going to other states? Dufus.

Tarkanian embraces the Left’s “class warfare” envy by claiming that Sue Lowden “is using the wealth she has accumulated….to try to buy this race with an early barrage of television advertisements.” Except…it’s not true.

Sue Lowden entered the U.S. Senate race last October 1st. Between then and the end of the year she raised over $800,000. She didn’t contribute any of her own personal wealth to the campaign. You can look it up right on the FEC’s website. Sue Lowden simply outraised Tarkanian and everyone else. And that’s a bad thing? Especially considering the fact that Harry Reid is expected to raise over $20 million for his own campaign.

Oh, and since when is it the conservative position that we despise people who come from modest beginnings, worked hard and succeeded in attaining the American Dream, creating thousands upon thousands of jobs for other ordinary people in the process? I mean, after all, not all of us are fortunate enough to be handed life on a silver platter without having to earn it simply because of our father’s famous last name.

Tarkanian claims Sue Lowden broke the Taxpayer Protection Pledge “repeatedly as a state senator.” No she didn’t….because she never signed it. You can’t “break” a pledge you never took. In fact, according to the keeper of the Pledge, Americans for Tax Reform, there wasn’t a state legislator Tax Pledge way back in 1992; only a congressional pledge.

Anyway, Tarkanian also goes on to say that he’s “resoundingly beating Harry Reid in every poll taken,” while neglecting to note that he trails Lowden by 18 points in the GOP primary. Apparently Danny believes you can fool enough people at least one more time.

Now, I don’t begrudge people who don’t know Danny and don’t know Sue who have bought into Danny’s bull. Thing is, he’s very good at saying what people want to hear, even if it’s not true. He’d make P.T. Barnum proud.

My biggest regret here is that a great many good conservatives who are being conned by Danny might very well end up with egg on their faces when all is said and done in this race. I don’t blame them. They’re desperately looking for a cure for HarryReiditis. I blame the snake-oil salesman who preys on them.

I blame Danny Tarkanian.