Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks loves to nip at Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s heels from behind his keyboard.
He constantly swipes at the guv for not being more Trump-like and not pursuing more conservative policies like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But the thing is, Joe Lombardo is Joe Lombardo…not Donald Trump. And Lombardo actually won Nevada BEFORE Trump did.
In addition, Abbott and DeSantis have the luxury of GOP-controlled legislatures. Lombardo has been saddled with Democrats who enjoy near-super-majorities in both houses.
In other words, apples and ostriches.
And while Vic’s a pretty solid conservative when it comes to public policy, his lack of real-world experience as a candidate or campaign manager accounts for his misguided, ill-informed political advice.
Yet he continues to dispense it anyway.
Yesterday, Nevada GOP State Sen. Carrie Buck announced her entrance into Nevada’s 1st Congressional District race against Democrat incumbent Dina “I’m Not Happy” Titus.
Victor gushed over Buck like a lovelorn teenager.
Me? Not so much. And wrote so in Muth’s Truths yesterday. Which got Vic’s knickers in a knot.
In a tweet yesterday afternoon, he wrote…
“.@chuckmuth is attacking @CarrieBuck4NV for saying she will empower parents and bring accountability to government. Empowering parents is a common way to talk about school choice. And apparently @jdvance missed the memo that Republicans aren’t supposed to talk about accountability. Very odd.”
First of all, I didn’t “attack” Sen. Buck. That’s “fake news.”
And had Victor read for comprehension he would have understood that I wasn’t attacking “empowering parents” or “government accountability” either.
I criticized the messaging and wording of her announcement tweet – and whichever political consultant or campaign adviser wrote it for her. As Victor, a columnist, should know…words mean stuff.
Criticizing the “typical, warmed-over political pablum, surely written by some play-it-safe, content-free consultant” is not the same as “attacking” the messenger.
Though, to be fair, Sen. Buck DID hire them.
Secondly, according to Victor “empowering parents” is a common term used by voters to talk about school choice.
No it’s not.
It’s the way politicians, bureaucrats. and political insiders talk about school choice.
Regular people don’t say “empowering parents” when talking around the dinner table. More likely they’ll say something like, “a parent’s right to choose.”
“Accountability” is another of those political egghead terms and I never said candidates “aren’t supposed to talk about accountability.”
But “accountability” is meaningless if it’s just a generic political talking point and not backed up with action – like Joe Biden’s promise to “hold the Taliban accountable” after his embarrassing and deadly retreat from Afghanistan.
How’d that work out?
Indeed, Sen. Buck merely promised to “bring real accountability to government” without saying exactly what that means.
By contrast – and since Vic invoked our vice president’s name – here’s an example of how Vice President J.D. Vance talks about “accountability”…
“We’ve got to make sure that if we’re funding science with federal money, you’re actually doing good science. That’s called accountability.”
Ya see the difference, Victor?
In a follow-up tweet, the Sagebrush Sage wrote…
“Instead (of supporting Buck), @chuckmuth touts @imBobbyKhan as appearing ‘head-and-shoulders’ above his current primary opponents.”
First, Victor might wanna install a calendar app on his phone..
That “head-and-shoulders” quote was from a Muth’s Truths column written four days BEFORE Buck got into the race. She wasn’t a “current primary opponent” at the time of publishing.
Secondly, Victor went on to pontificate that “(Bobby) Khan isn’t electable.”
Which is the same thing the “experts” said about “mob lawyer” Oscar Goodman running for mayor of Las Vegas and “brothel pimp” Dennis Hof running for a seat in the Nevada Legislature.
Goodman served for 12 years, winning the seat by margins of 64%, 86%, and 84%. Hof won with 62% of the vote…THREE WEEKS AFTER HE DIED.
So maybe Victor should just stay in his lane as a public policy analyst and leave the political punditry to people who actually know something about it.
The bottom line: I don’t know if Khan can beat Buck, or if either can beat Titus. And neither does Victor. We have a long way to go, and others might still jump in this race.
What I DO know is that either would be preferable to Dina Tax-us.
But unless Buck steps up her campaign communications and abandons the content-free messaging of the establishment political class, she’ll suffer the same fate at the ballot box as those who went down before her.
And WE ALL have a stake in ensuring that doesn’t happen again.
