Monday Morning Flak Attack: Oh Crap, We're Losing

Shocking as this may be for some to believe, the forces of Jeff Merkley's U.S. Senate campaign, an effort that has earned the candidate the moniker of second most hypocritical person on the planet (right behind Bono Vox) by at least one local journalist, are this week's winner for Flak Hero of the Week.

And they should be applauded for really stepping up the effort. There was an incredible amount of flak coming from the Merkleybots. I guess that's understandable, considering the former front runner, who despite all the advantages of the establishment political machine, is polling in third behind Steve Novick and uber-underdog Candy Neville.

So when news broke that several major recording artists had stepped forward to endorse Novick, the search-and-destroy software in the Merkleybots flipped into high gear.

From Eugene Register-Guard reporter David Steves' blog:

Former Vietnam War hero and veteran U.S. Senator Max Cleland will be coming to Oregon this month to campaign for Democratic candidate Jeff Merkley.

His campaign sent word out today via email. And Merkley spokesman Matt Canter could not help but contrast this against the announcement earlier today from rival Steve Novick that he was being endorsed by a slew of rock stars.

“War hero in Oregon vs. musicians on the east coast…When a professional political consultant runs for office he can rollout endorsements from his high profile clients.

"When a fighter like Merkley is campaigning to change the direction of our nation, America’s most distinguished war heroes come to help,” Canter wrote.

Just to set the record straight ... the East Coast reference is apparently to the Novick campaign’s offer that campaign contributors can receive a premium ticket to an upcoming East Coast performance by Pearl Jam, whose guitarist is endorsing Novick.

As far as the geography of today’s endorsers goes, it’s true that R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe is from the southeastern state of Georgia, as is Cleland. And Rufus Wainwright is a New Yorker. And perhaps some Oregonians consider Austin Texas, home of Britt Daniel’s band, Spoon, to be back east. But the rest of Novick’s celebrity endorsers are from right here in the Pacific Northwest — Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney - Olympia), Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam - Seattle), Thomas Lauderdale (Pink Martini - Portland), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie - Seattle) Krist Novoselic (Nirvana - Seattle/Aberdeen), Dave Dederer (Presidents of the United States - Seattle).

So Canter, an import from Minnesota, is wrong again. And, given Canter's history of duplicity, I'll bet he knew that before he ever said it.

And of course, BlueOregon head cook and bottle washer Kari Chisholm, who counts Merkley as a paying client, couldn't help but jump on the bandwagon trying to tear down or taint Novick's success.

Huh.

Now, I'm a huge fan of almost all these bands (and have seen nearly all of them live), but this isn't exactly surprising. After all, Krist Novoselic and Stone Gossard are both clients of Steve's consulting firm.

It'd be surprising if they didn't endorse him.

Yeah, I won't argue that these endorsements are cool. Other than Garrett, I'm not sure many voters will pay attention - but yes, it's cool.

Meanwhile, Willamette Week adds more detail to the "Novick clients endorsing Novick" list.

Chisholm, who rightfully gets a lot of grief when he uses Oregon's largest liberal blog to openly shill for his paying clients, tries to taint Novick's endorsements by conflating his own obvious conflicts of interest with Novick being endorsed by people he's worked with at his communications firm.

In Chisholm's case, he endorses people who pay him. You'd expect someone to endorse his boss. It's commonly called sucking up, and he's got an economic incentive.

But when a former client of Novick's endorses his campaign, it's the equivalent of getting a letter of reference from a former boss. It's legitimate. They endorsed him once by paying for his services. Now they're saying they've worked with him in the past, and that experience leads them to believe he can get the job done. It happens everyday in the real business world.

Now let's look at Merkley's endorsement from the likes of Jon tester and Max Cleland. Do you think either of these guys knew who Jeff Merkley was before they got the phone call from the Democratic establishment machine asking for help? Doubtful.

So for those keeping score at home:

Endorsements stemming from a network of people who have worked with you in the past and know your work are somehow tainted and should be dismissed.

Endorsements from people in the party machine who don't know you from Adam are legitimate and carry a great deal of weight.

And that, folks, is an example of what common sense looks like to people with their heads shoved as far up the party establishment's butt as they can fit it.

Remember, flak doesn't have to make sense or be accurate, it just needs to fill the air.