Monday, June 14, 2010

Dan Seals: When You Have Nothing to Say, Create a Straw Man to Knock Down on BP Oil Spill

Poor Dan Seals. He's now in about his fifth consecutive year of campaigning for Mark Kirk's congressional seat. You would think that now that Kirk is running for the U.S. Senate, and Seals has a new opponent, GOP nominee Bob Dold, Seals would have spruced up his game, after having learned many lessons about campaigning over the years.

Apparently, not so.

One fairly amateurish strategy that some politicos use is that when you don't have much to say, you 'create an issue' by taking liberties with what your opponent or (in this particular case) their party says, and then attack them on it. This can be effective if the issue you create is not something that can be proven to be a fabrication of the candidate himself.

Recently, Dan Seals called out GOP house minority leader John Boehner for supposedly calling for taxpayers to pay for the BP oil spill cleanup.

House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner called today for the use of taxpayer funds to foot the bill for the clean-up. “I think the people responsible in the oil spill–BP and the federal government–should take full responsibility for what’s happening there,” said Boehner at his weekly press conference Thursday morning. Seals has consistently opposed the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for clean-up of the spill. [snip]

“Republican Bob Dold needs to reject the statements by Republican Leadership and take the same pledge that Dan Seals has taken: no taxpayer dollars for the BP cleanup,” said Seals Campaign Manager David Mason. “Dold owes Illinois taxpayers an explanation for his party’s plans to subsidize BP’s negligence.”


You can read Seals' statement on his website here.

Let's stop right there. Doesn't seem a bit incongruent for the leader of the House Republicans to call for an increase on the taxpayers' burdens? Um, yes, exactly.

So, let's dig into exactly what Boehner said. As David Weigel at the Washington Post explains:

Minority leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) is calling a foul on reporters circulating what he told TPMDC's Brian Beutler this morning -- that "BP and the federal government should take full responsibility for what's happening" in the wake of the oil company's disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, the GOP leader stood by what he's said since May 3 -- "Not a dime of taxpayer money should be used to clean up [BP's] mess."

"He's said for a month now that BP will bear the full burden of this disaster," said Steel.

The "responsibility" Boehner was talking about was not taxpayer money cleaning up the spill. It was whatever reform and restructuring comes after the leak is stopped. As Boehner put it this morning, his preferred plan of action is "figure out what the hell went wrong, and then have the hearing and get the damn law fixed!"


Um, okay now. So, Seals is railing over an issue that he basically made up.

If you are Bob Dold, how do you respond to something like this? It's easy to agree that taxpayer dollars should not be used for the BP oil cleanup. But, it's not very polite for a candidate to say to another candidate, you're a lying sack of sh*t.

So, we will. Dan, you're a liar. And you've been lying since before you were telling the people of the 10th District that you were a professor at NU months before you ever stepped in front of your first night school class as a lecturer. At least you had the decency to finally stop telling that lie.

I would have thought Seals would have learned a few lessons over the past three campaign cycles, but I guess that was too much to hope for.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I think you lose your credibility in identifying liars when the guy you've supported for the last several elections - Mark Kirk - has proven to be a serial liar and you've never had a problem with him. Having followed the campaigns of Kirk, Seals, and Dold, it's pretty clear to me who is honest and who is not.

You are clearly happier believing Kirk to be a moderate, thoughtful military hero (wrong on all 3) and you probably believe Dold is an entrepreneur who is pro-choice as well. Believe as you wish, but Dold is a Kenilworth heir who inherited an exterminating business an lives in his parents' house. He is also anti-choice, which doesn't fly in this district.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Seals is going to sue his opposition research team for malpractice.

Anonymous said...

So Robert Dold says he is pro-choice and Anonymous 10:48 AM says he isn't. Who to believe? Who to believe?

Anonymous said...

I'll believe the IL Federation for the Right to Life - they have endorsed Dold. They don't endorse pro-choice candidates. I think we can all figure out how that meeting went. Especially since Dold has said that he doesn't agree with Roe v. Wade but that over turning it is "unrealistic" at this time.

Anonymous said...

I attended a Dold event last week where he said that he was pro-choice, but against federal finding for abortions. That position is in line with our pro-choice President.

Anonymous said...

OK......I think it behooves some of you to actually check the website of the IL Federation of Right to Life. Did you happen to notice the asterisk after Mr. Dold's name? It CLEARLY shows that he is pro-choice. Check it out. Mr. Dold has repeatedly stated the same position as Mr. Kirk and his predecessor, John Porter. Federal funding is not what these gentleman have ever supported, but all are for a womans'right to choose.
And to the first poster who calls Mark Kirk a liar I hope that person understand the difference between a lie and an exaggeration. The haters of Kirk just never stop, but a few have gone way over the top. Kirk's outstanding military record as DOCUMENTED in his Navy Fitness Reports are lost on these nasty haters.
As for Mr. Dold and his business. What in the world is wrong with you wingnuts. He works in a business built by his family over several generations. He lives with his family in his own home. Talk about a liar.........why would you say he lives with his parents. You nasty people need to take a shower. I'm not sure even that would help. Bob Dold will win this seat and hopefully all of you hate filled creatures will slide away.

Anonymous said...

Wow, big suprise, Seals' oppo research team gets something wrong--looks like he fired all his staff except the oppo research guys.

Anonymous said...

dold should have been out front on this issue as a way to burnish his enviornmental credentials. In fairness mark spent most of 2000 doing what dold has done which is raise money and do events and his here's my 10 point plan on sunday thing didn't really start until eric elk took over the show.

seals is in a daily fight for me with alexi for dirtier less trustworthy slimeball. House Republicans have as much power over this issue as catlady has sanity, which is none.

seals does not have operatives he has rejects from the dnc,ofa,obama administration and team durbin. This is not a campaign studded with the future of the democratic party.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

And now you have Joe Biden coming in to overshadow the event he promised to Seals. Yes, he's doing a biggie for Alexi. Following on the heels of that one you can expect Arne Duncan to help Alexi, David Plouffe and Jim Messina piling it on for Alexi before the June 30th deadline. Seals who?
Foklaeps, I understand that the entire Seals team has been replaced. Let's see if this new team can make life spring from the rubble. Bob Dold is energized, working his tail off with a district wide bus tour this week that will culminate in one huge event that will be one of the most unusual events ever. The has been, who never was, seems to think that he can walk right into this Congressional seat. In THIS environment he's more of a liability than ever before. Bring on Joe Biden, bring on the whole White House team. Might be fun to watch.

Anonymous said...

Aw, don't worry. Maybe you guys can get Rumsfeld or Cheney to come stump for the Kirk/Dolt. That is, of course, if you can find their undisclosed bunker.

Anonymous said...

Your illiteracy is showing, Anon 8:31. You seem to think that you're funny or smart by your nasty false name ID. Bob DOLD is a stand up guy, a man of integrity who will become the next Congressman from the 10th District. How saw that you lack the respect to spell his name correctly. Your name might be nitwit as that seems to fit.

Anonymous said...

generally speaking a funder with a vice-president or first lady will tops bring a candidate 200k for house and maybe 300-400k for the senate. the problem for our team as you are seeing is that they have an entire administration of folks to bring in for alexi and seals-something they did not have in 2008.

I said several weeks ago that while the fabrications might not sink mark, they would put blood in the political waters and they have, alexi will do much better at fundraising but these next 6 weeks are critical for mark if he can put the campaign back on track and shut down the alexi surge from his resume mess.

FOKLAEPS

Anonymous said...

One wonders if Seals is a bit miffed that Biden is almost throwing Seals under the bus next week. Doing the Alexi event will surely suck the wind out of the proposed Seals event. I do share your concerns about posting great numbers on the June 30 report. Alexi knows he damn well better have a huge number. Conversely, the Kirk machine needs to be pulling out all the stops to exceed the huge first quarter totals.
The dash for cash could make anyone think more than a few times before ever running for any office these days. Couple that with the incessant digging into every facet of one's life is truly the last straw. Yes, Mark Kirk did exaggerate on that award 10 years ago. What John Chase at the Tribune has been doing, knowing that he is making unfounded charges, is just over the top, yellow journalism. It's ugly, Foklaeps, but Kirk and his team can and will weather the storm because Mark Kirk is the right guy to advance to the Senate. Count on it. I am.

Anonymous said...

Hey, TA, here's a great satirical article that could have been written about your boy, Mark Kirk:

Candidate may have lied about heroic death in Vietnam

I love the quote at the end of the article. It reminds me of you and the other Republican loyalists who frequently post here.

Anonymous said...

What is Dan Seals thinking with this type of thing? I agree--he and the DC hacks must think that he can just walk into this seat.

Looks like the new staffers are doing a stellar job. Does anyone know anything about his campaign manager, David Mason? I searched that name and came up with some guy who ran a congressional and lost it in Nevada and then went and lost in a state house campaign in Virginia. With great moves like this and the fact that Seals hasn't been out in the community like Dold has been, I'm sure Mr. Mason is well on his way to another another big fat L. Which I am happy about, let's finally put an end Dan Seals' candidacy.

Regardless of how big of a loser campaign manager this new guy is, you have to think with all the staff Dan Seals has gone through over his almost decade of running for office at the end of the day the one thing they have in common in Dan Seals......