First... Will Bunch has some criticism (or is it, Attytood?) for Michael Nutter for, as Bunch puts it, reducing a "nuanced issue to a bumper sticker" -
It's a complicated issue -- a Mayor Nutter will need to send a certain message himself to Washington, about a federal role in putting more cops on the streets and curbing guns, and as Democrat, he should be focused next year in getting one of his own kind in the White House. But this ad reduces that nuanced issue to a bumper sticker, and a fairly pointless one.
Then again... that's pretty much what all 30-second campaign spots do. (Speaking of which, is anyone else as sick of all references to the New Jersey state assembly as I am?) Anyway, I suppose the same sentiment holds true for the full page ad that Nutter is running in today's Inquirer (in my copy it's on page B-9). Under "Top 3 Reasons to VOTE for Michael Nutter and Democrats" it says:
3. When Democrats win, it makes George Bush mad
2. Electing Democratic judges is the best way to protect our Democracy
1.
"1" stands for "push button 1" to vote for all the Democrats on the ticket. Nutter's ad exhorts people to step into the booth and mindlessly vote straight ticket. But let's go back to #3 for a sec. "Makes George Bush mad?" What is this? Preschool? Why didn't he just say "makes George Bush cry."
In the end, this is a political campaign and even mayors have to play that political game - spending his money to get other Democrats elected ensures that when it comes time to repay the favor, they'll be more likely to help him fix the city. It just has such a childish, insulting, and somewhat skeevy feel about it.
Next item...
In yesterday's debate on NBC 10's "Live at Issue," an apparently exasperated Michael Nutter finally seemed to put his finger on Taubenberger's problem with Nutter's plan to get illegal guns off the streets:
Nutter said opposition to his policy, including Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson's contention that it would be a disaster, amounted to a hang-up over semantics.
"How about 'Stop Killing People?' We could call it that," Nutter said. "If people want to change the name . . . that's fine with me. What I'm interested in is results - whatever gets more weapons off the streets of Philadelphia legally and constitutionally."
And now we've come full circle. Waaay back in January when Nutter and Fattah were releasing their crime plans within days of each other (Nutter's was based on testimony he had given the previous August to the state house judiciary committee), I mentioned how Nutter didn't dance around the issue, seemingly embracing the term "stop and frisk" as part of his extensive crime plan. I even commented somewhere (can't seem to find it) that any candidate who uses this phrase runs the risk of having the media and his opponents reducing their entire crime plan to a three-word scare tactic. In fact, Nutter's suggestions to change the name to "Stop Killing People" makes a lot more sense than the idea I had in the title of this post.
Speaking of full page ads...
Even more infuriating than the Nutter ad referenced above is Al Taubenberger's brilliant attempt to get to 10% of the vote. In my paper it's on page A-5. (I don't know how advertising in the Inquirer works, but does that mean that Al paid more to be in the A section and have his ad go to folks all over the region including suburanites who can't vote for him?) In big bold words in the middle of an otherwise blank page, it reads:
100%
TAX ASSESSMENT?
NOT OVER
MY DEAD BODY.
At the bottom of the page is a picture of Taubenberger, looking grim with arms folded. Next to the picture:
TAUBENBERGER
AN UNDERDOG IN A CITY THAT LOVES UNDERDOGS. (probably not the most effective message given the Eagles' performance last night)
Talk about taking a nuanced issue and making it a bumper sticker. This fear-mongering, common denominator lowering, disengaging, down-dumbing, mind-numbing, disappointing, and pointless attempt does nothing but make it that much harder to have an actual, substantive and necessary conversation about this issue after the next mayor takes office. I can see plenty of City Council folks who will be just too happy and ready to hide behind this giant sheet of page A-5.
Let's hurry up and get this election over with so the real work can begin.