(Chuck Muth) – The pressure is clearly starting to get to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian who at a town hall meeting on Friday repeatedly referred to Harry Reid’s 11th Amendment instead of Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment.
Folks at recent public appearances have also told me that he’s stuttering and stammering a lot more (than usual) and appears to be sweating his race, well, literally.
And before you Tarkanian fans go blaming me for this, it was Aaron Blake of The Hill in Washington, DC, who broke the story and reported it on Super Bowl Sunday. And it was somebody else with a new “AnybodyButTark” website who posted the clip of Danny getting flustered at a town hall meeting in Sun City on Friday, not me.
Here’s what Mr. Blake wrote yesterday:
The (video clip) shows Tarkanian, who is in a wide open GOP primary to face Reid this year, stumbling over his words as he apparently tries to talk about Reagan's ‘11th Commandment’ — thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. Tarkanian repeatedly says Reid's name rather than Reagan's and calls the pledge the ‘11th Amendment.’ It's rather bizarre, really.
Blake also provides a transcript of Tarkanian's exact comments:
I must correct the gentleman over here who made the comment about Harry Reid and the 11th Amendment. Harry Reid's comment about the 11th Amendment was, ‘Thou shalt not attack a fellow Republican personally.' If you remember Harry Reid, in his campaign against George W. Bush — George H. Bush — there was a lot of differences in philosophy that Harry Reid brought up and distinguished himself from. In this campaign, my campaign has done exactly the same thing.
You can view the entire clip for yourself HERE
How in the world does a Republican candidate for the United States Senate confuse Harry Reid for Ronald Reagan – not to mention mix up the Bill of Rights with the Ten Commandments?
But the real problem in this case is that Danny’s going around simultaneously claiming he’s the second coming (final campaign) of Ronald Reagan while incessantly slamming his fellow Republican candidates with inaccurate and misleading attacks – a rather un-Reagan thing to do.
I think some would call that “hypocrisy.”
But there’s more.
Blake also mentions another video which surfaced over the weekend in which Tarkanian proudly admitted being the “establishment’s” candidate of choice to challenge Reid back in 2004….which again raises the hypocrisy issue since Tark is now slamming Sue Lowden for supposedly being the “establishment’s” choice.
I guess it’s OK to be the establishment candidate as long as you’re the establishment candidate. Kinda like there being nothing wrong with a benevolent dictatorship….as long as you’re the dictator.
Make matters worse, Tarkanian actually wasn’t the establishment’s pick in 2004, again calling into question Danny’s truthfulness. In fact, the establishment’s preferred picks in 2004, in no particular order, were Jim Gibbons, Jon Porter, Lorraine Hunt, Brian Sandoval, Brian Krolicki and the late Kathy Augustine.
Indeed, Danny didn’t become the establishment’s pick until after all the good candidates opted not to run.
Anyway, all of this is why I thought a contested GOP primary for this U.S. Senate seat rather than an early “anointment” was a good thing. It will help Republicans avoid the mistake of nominating a candidate against Harry Reid who will fall apart next fall when the heat gets turned up.
That Danny Tarkanian is becoming increasingly flustered and flailing about over simple questions at town hall and Republican meetings indicates he’s not ready for prime time against the Reid machine. Can you imagine the gaffe-a-day campaign Tarkanian is likely to run once Harry starts raising all of those same old questions state Sen. Mike Schaeffer raised in 2004?
And if you don’t think Harry Reid is going to raise all of those old questions just because of that lawsuit which came down in Danny’s favor last August, you don’t know Harry Reid.
Then again, by confusing him with Ronald Reagan, apparently Danny doesn’t either.