The “Alliance for a Better Minnesota” – the attack-PR drones financed by Alida Messinger and a group of plutocrats with deep pockets to make toxic, sleazy attacks on their opposition – stepped in it last night, to the point that even the Twin Cities mainstream media had to report it (with emphasis added):
The DFL-supporting Alliance for a Better Minnesota took its mockery of a Republican candidate a step too far, it admitted on Thursday.
In a Halloween-themed blog post, it suggested that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson should dress as Patrick Bateman, a serial killer in American Psycho, because he is “seemingly nice but actually pretty evil inside.”
Carrie Lucking tried to bury the evidence – but the Internet sees and knows all:
Leaving aside the obvious question – what should Alida Messinger and Carrie Lucking dress as? – it appears as if the smooth-running messaging machine at ABM is trying to break in some new amateurs.
But have no fear. Lucking explains it all (again, emphasis added):
Carrie Lucking, the group’s executive director, said within 10 minutes being alerted to the post they took the image down, removed the reference to Bateman and changed what it said about Johnson.
Instead of calling Johnson evil, the site says that he is “seemingly nice in public, but actually the policies he supports are pretty evil. It also appended an apology to its post.
Ah. Disagreement is “evil”. That’s much better.
How very Alinsky.
“The original image and text for Jeff Johnson was removed and the costume changed because it was an inappropriate reference to a fictional character. We apologize for this error. It will not happen again,” the web site said.
Yes it will – because every time ABM writes about Republicans, they’re writing about “fictional characters”. Alinskyite “framing” is all about turning real people and real ideas into characters and catch phrases that have little or nothing to do with reality. “Tom Emmer is angry”. “Jeff Johnson is evil”. “King Banaian is Arab”. Little bits of mental chaff that ABM is hoping – indeed, paying big bucks to prove – will stick in the minds of people who don’t think that hard about politics come election time.
It’s dishonest. It’s also how the Democrats do politics.
But I Promised A Brilliant Plan, Didn’t I?: Watch ABM’s coverage this past couple of days. Their flailing at Johnson was only the tip of the iceberg; I wrote earlier today about their calling Julianne Ortmann a “Genie”, with video of a blonde, jiggly Barbara Eden helpfully added in case you thought Lucking was referring to the “Djinn” of Arab mythology.
The election is a year away, and the attacks are already…
…unhinged.
And it occurs to me – maybe that’s a good barometer for the GOP races? Whichever candidate is drawing the most unhinged, scabrous “coverage” from ABM can be presumed to be in the lead?
A look at ABM’s front page this morning shows two weak-gruel attacks on Jeff Johnson.
That’s probably good news for the Johnson campaign.
The challenge for the Thompson campaign is obvious.
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