GOP Playbook: When In Doubt, Scream Terrorism

by: Scott Shields

Fri Nov 02, 2007 at 02:48:37 PM EDT

The New York Times wrote up a comprehensive review of their tactics this morning. Here are the most galling examples. I think you'll agree that the charges of terrorist sympathy are stretches at best and straight up lies at worst.

• In Bergen County's 39th LD, incumbent Senator and right-wing lunatic Gerald Cardinale is attacking Democratic challenger Joe Ariyan because Ariyan's law partner is an Arab-American who is involved with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The ADC is a favorite target of David Horowitz, whose front-groups are clearly the source of the Cardinale campaign's talking points. But according to Cardinale's own wife, the state chapter of the Anti Defamation League has refused to condemn the ADC, denying that they are aligned with terrorists, calling them "benign." This whisper campaign against Ariyan has only started peaking its head in the press, but it's widely expected that the GOP will be doing a heavy direct mail campaign on this to close out the election.

• In Burlington County's 8th LD, Democratic Assembly challenger Tracy Riley is being attacked because her husband is the court-appointed public defender for one of the men accused of plotting a terror attack on Fort Dix. Mail sent to voters in the district shows photos of masked men with guns overlaid with the question, "Tracey Riley: Whose values will she represent in Trenton? Ours? Or theirs?"

• In Toms River's mayoral race, Democratic challenger Richard Strada is being attacked by the incumbent Republican's campaign for holding an interfaith panel as the dean at Ocean County College, which was attended by an associate of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. The associate, Mohamed Nabeel Elmasry, was not invited by Strada, who was also unaware of his association with Rahman.

In the case of both Ariyan and Strada, their Republican opponents had conducted polling (some called it push-polling) that implied that the Democrats supported terrorism. And in all three races, Republican favorites are feeling the heat from Democratic challengers.

Sadly, this is what we've become used to from Republicans in New Jersey and across the nation. Since September 11, every time they're in trouble, they pull the proverbial fire alarm and scream terrorism at the top of their lungs. It's interesting to note that this time, the media doesn't seem to be buying it. Though the Times is the first to give this trend its attention this election cycle, PoliticsNJ reporters Matt Friedman and Max Pizarro have been on these stories from the start (check here, here, and here for examples).

We can only hope that the voters are as astute as the reporters in sifting through these Republican scare tactics and recognizing them for what they are -- baseless garbage.