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Rep. Ed Case's pet political ploy of writing rhetorical public
letters to his campaign opponents is becoming obnoxious.
Case has sent a series of such missives to Sen. Daniel Akaka
in their Democratic primary contest for the U.S. Senate, most
of them agitating for debates.
In the latest letter, Case repeats his demand for more debates,
asks Akaka to authorize unlimited rebroadcast of last week's
debate sponsored by AARP Hawaii and seeks a pledge that Akaka's
supporters won't "smear" him in the days leading up
to the election.
He rings disingenuous on all points.
- Debates are a dead issue that Case has pounded so many times
that everybody already knows he thinks Akaka is chicken to
meet him face-to-face. To continue pressing the matter as
a focal point of his campaign is starting to sound a lot like
whining and distracts attention from substantive issues that
should be driving the race.
- Case alleges in his letter that Akaka is holding up rebroadcast
of last week's debate after he, AARP and PBS-Hawaii agreed
to its release.
Not so, says Barbara Kim Stanton, director of AARP Hawaii,
who said her group is arranging to air a tape of the debate
on C-SPAN, the national political cable network available to
Hawai'i viewers.
She said AARP made clear to both candidates from the start
that it prefers to deal with non-profit broadcasters like PBS
and C-SPAN rather than commercial stations.
- It's a good idea for both campaigns to caution supporters
against smear tactics as the Sept. 23 primary draws near,
but for Case to make snide and unsubstantiated public insinuations
that the Akaka camp is planning to smear him is a slur in
itself.
Case used similar tactics in his 2004 reelection
campaign against Mike Gabbard, writing a series of public letters
to Gabbard predicting personal attacks against him that never
occurred.
The Case letters made intimations about Gabbard's personal
background and religious affiliation that were closer to below-the-belt
than anything Gabbard said about Case.
Dear Congressman Case: Move on. |
