Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

GOP attacks against Darcy Burner filled with typical garbage and Orwellian rhetoric

Republicans are getting desperate.

With exactly a month to go before Election Day arrives (and even less time until absentee voting begins) the ferocity of Republican attacks (and lies!) is growing in intensity. The GOP is crumbling under the weight of its own corruption and failed conservative agenda. But its leaders and operatives have by no means given up.

They are now locked in a desperate struggle to stem the blue tidal wave that is approaching the shore on which they now sit, barricaded.

Republicans, frightened by the prospect of losing control of Congress, where they have been the majority party in both houses since the beginning of 2003, are so determined to cling on to the power they enjoy now that they are engaging in a campaign of lies and deceptions designed to dismay voters.

Palette of Republican Attack Ads
Above: A look at some of the direct mail the NRCC has been sending to voters urging them to "vote no" on Darcy Burner

Republican attacks against Darcy Burner are so libelous that it's almost funny. The typical distortions from past election cycles have been reproduced to misinform voters. Here's a sampling of what the GOP is saying (or quoting) about Darcy in its direct mail and television advertising:
Darcy Burner's Plan Would Raise Taxes On Hard Working Families and Small Businesses
Darcy Burner Wants To Take a Bite Out of Your Paycheck
Darcy Burner is Running a Negative Campaign
Darcy Burner Will RAISE TAXES. Now That's Not Progress!
And here's a bit of slick Orwellian lying for you:
Darcy Burner may want to give tax breaks to oil companies rather than helping hard working consumers who are being gouged at the pump
The outrageous thing about this, of course, is that the GOP is responsible for massive subsidies and giveaways to Big Oil. It has done absolutely nothing to protect consumers because it's in the pocket of special interests. The NRCC, which is responsible for the direct mail piece containing this lie, included a subscript stating the paragraph was a quote from KOMO AM's The Commentators. This was done supposedly so the NRCC could later claim, "hey, we didn't say that."

But that's a false defense. The NRCC is repeating a flat out lie to voters, and its operatives know that. Their intent is to mislead and deceive the electorate.

As for the claim that Darcy Burner would raise taxes, that's also an oft-repeated lie which is used around the country in district after district and state after state. It is nothing less than a giant fabrication.

Darcy's campaign has set up a Truth Watch to refute all the lies that are being repeated against her. Here are the GOP's early falsehoods debunked:
Claim #1: "Darcy Burner failed to vote in about half of the elections she was eligible to participate in from November 1998 to May 2006."

The Truth: This is a ploy to distract voters from the record that matters: Dave Reichert’s. Dave Reichert has voted with President Bush nearly 90% of the time. He voted in Congress to cut benefits for veterans, cut funding for student loans, and give billions in tax subsidies to oil and gas special interests. They even got their facts wrong: many of the missed votes listed on a recent mailer from the National Republican Congressional Committee are city elections in which Darcy was ineligible to vote because she resides outside city limits.

Claim #2: "Darcy Burner wants to take a bite of your paycheck… Darcy Burner proposed a tax increase by raising the amount of income that would be subjected to Social Security taxes."

The Truth: Social Security is a promise we’ve made to today’s workers for their retirement. Darcy is strongly committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security, and will fight against risky privatization schemes being pushed by President Bush. She believes modest reforms are needed and there are a wide range of options to consider and examine. Darcy is looking for reasonable reforms that can ensure Social Security’s solvency for generations to come, but she has not proposed or supported a tax on working families.

Claim #3: "Darcy Burner’s plan would raise taxes on hard-working Washington families and small businesses…"

The Truth: Working families are paying too much while large corporations and wealthy individuals are not paying their fair share. While Dave Reichert and the Republican leadership blocked attempts to renew important tax relief provisions that help average workers, Darcy would fight tirelessly to help families get the tax relief they need and deserve. This includes renewing tax breaks for college tuition, research and development conducted by small businesses, school supplies purchased by teachers, and the sales tax deduction for Washington families. You read more about Darcy’s thoughts on tax reform by clicking here.

Claim #4: "Darcy Burner may want to give tax breaks to oil companies."

The Truth: Darcy has never supported tax breaks to Big Oil. In fact, it was Dave Reichert who voted to give more than $14 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil. Darcy believes that we need to invest in new energy-efficiency programs and clean energy technologies that will create jobs right here in Washington State.
Voters are getting tired of the junk that's arriving in their mailboxes and flashing on their TVs. Republicans have repeated the "your taxes will be increased" mantra and other myths so many times that a sizable percentage of the electorate know they're being lied to as soon as they see it, hear it, or read it.

Republican lies must not go unchallenged. We will continue to closely monitor the negative attacks against Darcy Burner and deconstruct the mistruths that the GOP is attempting to spread.

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