Thursday, February 22, 2007

Anti-Semitism v. Anti-Brewerism

Nothing in this post is meant to belittle or make light of the seriousness of the alleged threats.

Yesterday, the media reported that Ald. Stone received a piece of anti-semitic mail -- a defaced copy of one of his mailers.

That same media report states that there are now allegations that Stone's own camp may have put the defaced mailer "stunt" in motion to garner sympathy and media attention to his campaign.

If that is true, how pathetic can you be. To exploit such a dire issue for your own political gain is... well, unspeakable.

On a different but similar note...

Greg Brewer's front page now reports a bomb threat that his office received "yesterday" (I don't know if the post was put up today or yesterday). Here's a screen capture of Brewer's front page in case it is removed.

Again, by no means do I belittle the seriousness of the matter... but what does this have to do with ward issues? Is it really important enough to get top billing on the candidate's front page? Meanwhile, correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't heard a well-developed peep from Brewer's website on any ward issues.

The thing that these two incidents have in common is that, even if they are true, they gain pity/sympathy-based attention for the candidate, not affirmative, skill-based attention. Yes, it's horrible that Stone, Brewer, or anyone be the brunt of such threats. But the attention a candidate gets should be based on the merits of their political performance - whether that's their stances on the issues, their professional abilities, or their personal charm. It's kind of "cheap" to capitalize on victim-based attention. I know for a fact that Dolar's camp has also been victimized by unknown aggressors trying to intimidate them (I was told the facts in confidence, so you'll have to trust me -- and if you don't, then watch as the rest of this sentence remains true), but you will not hear them cry "foul" and play the victim.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Meanwhile, correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't heard a well-developed peep from Brewer's website on any ward issues"

You're wrong - Brewer's site has a whole issue sections. Now wether YOU think they are well developed or not doesn't really matter. You're never going to think they're well developed. You're pro-Dolar.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Brewer folks aren't playing victims but trying to make light of a serious situation. It's probably pretty hard to tell if a goofball is calling or an actual bomber.

Concerned Citizen said...

I stand corrected, Brewer does have an issues page. Doesn't answer the question why a light-hearted, joking (and poorly written - did Bridget Dooley lose it and threaten to bomb the office??) response to a bomb threat is front and center on the main page.

Anonymous said...

Whoa there, Concerned,

Is this blog a critique of writing styles or a forum for what is best for the 50th?

I agree that Brewer's front page post could be written to be more clear. But what's up with the critique in a post about *anti-semitism or anti-brewerism?*

We hafta get a grip if we want to beat Stone!

Concerned Citizen said...

Cutie,

Heh heh, sorry, I just had to read the following sentence from Brewer's page several times for it to make sense:

"Bridget Dooley, Greg's Field Director, took the call, who threatened to firebomb the office.

The serious concern underlying my flippant comment was a frustration with how badly Brewer's front page was put together. Not only was the choice of coverage irrelevant to Brewer's political abilities or the campaign, it didn't even look like they reviewed the text before they published it. It has the quality of a quickly-written and spur-of-the-moment blog posting, not a first-class candidate's website.

Less than a week before the election, and this is the best his high-tech team could do with the front page now, when more undecideds are likely to visit it than ever before?

Hugh said...

so now you're parsing sentences on websites?

as if you really didn't understand what it was intended to say?

as if there are no issues?

so much for the blog founded as the laternative to others that "degenerate into petty mudslinging"

Anonymous said...

If someone threatens to firebomb Naisy's office, I would strongly suggest that they call the police. It seems odd that you would want them to keep it under their hats.

Concerned Citizen said...

Anon @ 5:54am: there's a difference between what I'm talking about and calling the police. I didn't say anyone should not report something to the police.

Hugh: if you have replied to my personal invitation to you to discuss issues, I must have missed it.

Anonymous said...

Political insiders say Dolar has the BEST CHANCE to beat Stone!!

http://www.nbc5.com/politics/11097460/detail.html

Anonymous said...

nowadays, bomb threats are taken VERY seriously... why wasn't it reported on the news?

following stone's incident, i'm sure everyone was watching the 50th... any developing story would've been announced all over.

brewer's camp seems awfully fishy.

i wonder what they come up with in the next 3 days

Bridget said...

I'm not sure what your problem with this is. We had multiple police cars and the bomb squad outside of our office for 3 hours. Rather than have folks wonder what happened or draw unsavory conclusions, we made the choice to share the situation with people. I don't write the content on the website, but I do think it was a wise decision to let people in on what happened.

While it was most likely just someone acting foolishly with no intent to incite violence, I felt that it was the responsible thing to do to notify the police. I would recommend that course of action to anyone.

Anonymous said...

Be aware!!

**Brewer may be supporting Stone**

One of their field directors was sporting Stone's cap and spreading his message!!!