Oregon Republicans' Baffling Choice

Jesse Cornett

On Saturday night the while the local Democrats in Portland hosted a dinner to honor Former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts, Governor Ted Kulongoski noted that the Oregon Republicans were also hosting a dinner that night, and a comment he made about their featured attraction hit a nerve in the room.

The speaker over at the Republican gathering was none other than Dr. Harry Kloor, producer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisements during the 2004 election campaign. OPB has a short story on it here, but otherwise, as with most Party gatherings, the event went unnoted.

Now, I saw this decision as being a little baffling -- but maybe someone can help me understand it. The Swift Boat ads had a tremendous effect on this race, I would argue, in many places but certainly not in Oregon, where we had good old Al French help steal the story away from the the ads or their mistruths.

Maybe I'm just a good D and that's the only reason I question this choice. I don't know. Help me out?

By Jesse Cornett
March 22, 2005
  • J. Smalls (unverified)
    9:21 p.m.
    Mar 22, '05
    (Show?)

    Why is the choice baffling? The swift boat ads helped bring it for W.

  • Richard (unverified)
    10:04 p.m.
    Mar 22, '05
    (Show?)

    Did many swift boat ads run in Oregon?

  • Samuel John Klein (unverified)
    11:08 p.m.
    Mar 22, '05
    (Show?)

    Oh, God, yes they did. They were repugnant.

  • Anthony (unverified)
    9:06 a.m.
    Mar 23, '05
    (Show?)

    Very minor point, but you may want to reconsider Oregon Democrats' Baffling Punctuation.

  • WGM (unverified)
    3:42 p.m.
    Mar 23, '05
    (Show?)

    What is ironic about the Republican event on Saturday is that it was their Lincoln Day dinner. They decided to honor the memory of Lincoln by inviting one of the peddlers of the most dishonest smear campaign in the history of American politics. Honest Abe meets the Swift Boat liars. Oregon Republicans ought to be proud.

  • LT (unverified)
    7:17 p.m.
    Mar 23, '05
    (Show?)

    My sense in conversations with Republicans (try it sometime if you haven't talked to a Republican recently) is that some wise and thoughtful people realize the nasty tactics have not helped their party and it might be time to give civility a try.

  • afs (unverified)
    10:31 a.m.
    Mar 27, '05
    (Show?)
    <h2>Groups like SBVT, GOPUSA, and freerepublic.com are a central aspect of the GOP propensity to say anything and everything they want to get elected. Since the mainstream corporate media has changed their editorial policies to one of balance in coverage at all costs with fact-checking being left out as a priority at any level, groups like the SBVT are going to be very succesful. Salacious charges like those that the SBVT make are very ratings-friendly for the M$M. As long as nobody forces the M$M to fact check what they publish/broadcast, they aren't going to do it.</h2>

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