Democrat Rep. Charlie Melancon is a dead man walking regarding his campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. David Vitter, but he doesn’t yet realize he is a political corpse. From the beginning, his strategy to defeat Vitter, whose current lead is 18 points, has been to try to paint Vitter as unethical. In doing so, he and his party have made some big reaches but perhaps none so far as his latest effort.
Recently, Vitter fired a staffer accused of holding against her will a woman and inflicting injury on her in 2008 but which only came to light in the past month. He also had prior run-ins with the law about which Vitter and his staff did not know, including conviction of cocaine possession. He dealt with abortion issues, among other things, for Vitter.
While this doesn’t say a lot about Vitter’s vetting process for staffers, neither does the affair demonstrate anything close to what Melancon has to say about it, an accusation that aide was the women’s outreach coordinator, that Vitter “protected” him, and thus Vitter has a tolerance for people insensitive to women. “I’m a father and I have a daughter. What’s he doing with a guy like this on his staff?” fulminated Melancon, who in his high dudgeon seemed to forget that Vitter has three daughters of his own.
Melancon went this dubious route perhaps because of that latest polling data that showed that among men Vitter held a 30 point lead while it was “only” 11 points among women. When drowning, the desperate grab on even if it’s an anchor thrown their way so Melancon must be thinking the gender gap holds some key to his winning.
But those familiar with polling and political behavior know that the gender gap normally is caused by one tremendous outlier group among voters: single women with children, particularly lower income. That is, if you adjust for marital status and whether having children, except for the lowest income brackets, the gender gap doesn’t exist. It only appears in aggregate because of the overwhelming advantage Democrat candidates have in that one category.
And that’s not because of any perceived anti-female attitudes that Republican or conservative candidates like Vitter have in the minds of these people. It’s because Democrats are seen as the candidates most likely to back laws spewing forth generous welfare and other government benefits and the most likely to favor black interests (this group largely disproportionately is composed of blacks). There’s no reason to believe this pattern does not hold true in this race. But, unfortunately for Democrats, this group comprises perhaps a twentieth of the population and even less of the proportion of those who show up to vote.
7 comments:
Again, the good professor finds no sin in Vitter. I sure hope he appreciates you shilling for him one more time. I can just imagine the ire that would flow from your blog if someone of this man's character showed up on the staff of a Democrat. It's a shame someone so mypoic is let loose in the classroom. You seem to truly believe that a Republican is never wrong and a Democrat never right. Based on what I see of your attitude maybe the cuts in higher ed are a good thing if you get cut loose. Of course you'll easily find a job with Vitter or Fleming of another GOP member of Congress since you've been carrying the water for them for years at no charge. On second thought, they might figure why pay for what they can get at no charge.
They would not higher this nut case. The only place he could work is in higher education.
Anonymous, just because Sadow isn't one of Melancon's hacks doesn't mean he is one of Vitter's.
Stop swallowing the liberal kool-aid and learn some facts. Sheesh!
Anonymous at 12:11, I'm not drinking anyone's Kool Aid, Melancon's or Vitter's. I'd be just as disturbed by a professor whose blog always defended the circus that is the Democratic Party. Sadow makes posts on here that lay all evil at the feet of the Democrats and none at the feet of Republicans. He takes the common practices of patronage and control by lobbyists that plague both parties and pretends that they only exist in the Democratic Party. He has spent many words defending Vitter's hypocrisy and now he wants to pretend that Vitter didn't know this sociopath was on his staff for years. Melancon's certainly a joke, but so is Vitter and so is Sadow's pretense of being a fair observer. He's a shill for the GOP.
didn't know this sociopath was on his staff for years.
--- I see you're taking Melancon's BS to the bank. Have fun at the loony bin!
If Vitter did not know his staffer had 4 prior DUI arrests and a cocaine conviction, he should lose the election just for that. Who doesn't do a criminal background check on employees? Especially if you're in the Senate.
And to claim that this thug staffer (who actually threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend as he held a knife to her throat) only dealt with abortion issues is an outright lie. Beth Meeks, the executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said when she met with Furer in Washington two weeks prior to him resigning, Vitter's office portrayed Furer as the point man on women's issues. http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100708/articles/100709510
Do some research before regurgitating Vitter's lies.
Anonymous @6.43, the only person regurgitating anything is you.
You are the one posting the mind-droppings you obviously collected from DailyKos, HuffPost, the DNC and MSNBC. Get a clue and stop attacking people for thinking for themselves!
Oh, and the image in the mirror you see each morning is NOT a monster, it's just the liberal windbag you are!
Post a Comment