Merkley's Lie Fails Truthiness Test

When Oregon U.S. Senate Democratic primary candidate Jeff Merkley promises to bring change to Washington, D.C., it's pretty clear he doesn't mean he wants to change the way political hacks play fast and loose with reality in order to obscure the truth or smear their opponents. On that point, Jeff Merkley's murky tactics mirror those of every other old-guard establishment politician who puts personal victory ahead of the truth.

The fact that Merkley does it rather incompetently makes it even worse.

Merkley used his appearance on Portland progressive talk radio station KPOJ today to disingenuously accuse his primary opponent, Steve Novick, of supporting or favoring Ralph Nader over Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004 and even Hillary or Obama this year.

The fact that Novick vocally and actively supported Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, and will support the eventual Democratic nominee this year, didn't seem to matter to Merkley.

(You can listen to the KPOJ "POJ" cast HERE. The Merkley interview begins just over halfway through the stream).

Here's the relevant text:

MERKLEY: "There was a difference of opinion we had come up recently, in which Steve was saying how much he liked Nader and how disappointed he was in Barack Obama and in Clinton. And I just have exactly the opposite point of view.

When Nader put himself forward saying that Democrats and Republicans are exactly the same, that Gore is exactly the same as Bush, that Clinton is exactly the same as Dole, to me that was just completely erroneous, completely about Nader, not about the truth, not about the facts because of vast differences on trade issues on health care issues on education issues. Huge differences. And so I have the reverse. I was very disappointed in Nader, and I'm very excited about our presidential candidates."

Wow! The bald-faced lie (always a sign of weakness) of that statement is mind boggling. The Merkley campaign, or its Washington, D.C., consultants, must have paid for a Lexis Nexis search to dig up a 10-year-old letter Steve Novick wrote to Willamette Week boasting that Portland was cooler than Seattle because it netted more votes for Nader in 1996. Bill Clinton routed Bob Dole that year.

Jeff Merkley wants to conflate Steve Novick's support for Ralph Nader in 1996 -- an election that everybody but Bob Dole knew Clinton was going to dominate -- as support for Nader 12 years and three elections later. Merkley knows that's not true.

It's shameless. Moreover, Merkley's little hack attack was handled so incompetently you can only wonder what other kinds of keystone cops advice he's getting from his high-priced consultants.

Is it really a good idea to go on liberal talk radio and bash Nader backers? How many of those listeners actually DID vote for Nader in 2000? Is it a good idea to lie about a candidate who most of the station's listeners support? The counter-productive setting in which Merkley tried to land his low blow is just another example of how politically tone deaf his campaign really is.

Republican incumbent Gordon Smith would pack Merkley away faster than a frozen pea at his dad's Pendleton plant.

Fortunately for Oregon, there's a candidate who's a little different and offers a real chance for change in the Beltway.