How's this for classlessness and hypocrisy?
Obama: "I just want to make sure that I'm leaving the door open to people who say to themselves, well, you know, I'm a member of the Republican Party and I remember people like Chuck Percy in Illinois, or Abraham Lincoln, a pretty good Republican. That there's some core values that historically have been important to the Republican Party, but just have not been observed over the last several years."
msnbc.msn.com
Why aren't there good Republicans like Percy any more? In Percy's case, it is because he got railroaded out of the Senate in one of the dirtiest campaigns in history. Who was the architect of that dirty campaign? Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod.
<<< ... Axelrod was once a political reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He quit to manage the Senate campaign of Democrat Paul Simon, who edged out incumbent Republican Charles Percy in 1984.
Even on Illinois standards, it was a dirty campaign--and the dirt mostly came from supporters of the guy who wore the bow tie from downstate Makanda.
Simon died in 2003.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan crushed Democrat Walter Mondale in the presidential race. The Gipper easily won Illinois--which was then a "swing state." Meanwhile Percy, running for his fourth term, was weakened in that year's Republican Primary by a candidate who questioned Percy's conservative credentials. Simon won the general election, but by just 88,000 votes.
How did that happen? Sources familiar with Simon's 1984 run tell me that the campaign spent less than $7 million. But a pro-Israel California businessman, Michael Goland, spent $1.2 million of his own money--a huge amount at that time--on attack ads against Percy.
But you didn't hear much about this story in Illinois. The media back then favored the Democrats--that hasn't changed--and was sympathetic to Axelrod, who of course was a former reporter. Simon was once the owner of a small downstate Illinois newspaper.
Percy, who by the way as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman achieved far more than the ineffectual Simon did in his 12 years in the Senate, filed suit after his defeat. Percy charged collusion occurred between Goland and Simon. The FEC fined Goland $5,000.
The worst was yet to come for Goland. Two years later Goland got caught illegally financing third party conservative Edward B. Vallen, who was running against incumbent Democratic Senator Alan Cranston. He donated $120,000 to the conservative, but Goland, who was a Cranston supporter, hoped that Vallen would pull votes from the Republican candidate. Cranston won.
Goland's cash was surreptitiously hidden in the guise of 56 individuals.
In 1990, Goland was found guilty of exceeding the federal limit on individual donations--which was then $1,000, he was fined, and served 90 days in jail ... >>>
marathonpundit.blogspot.com
Tom |
