Amazes me how every year people seem shocked and offended by negative political ads. All I know if people are offended by local legislative races, then they sure won’t have the stomach for the upcoming presidential campaign.
Here in the Triad, N.C. House 79 candidates Bill Whitehart and Julia Howard are running negative ads on Rush Radio, while Senate District 27 candidates Trudy Wade and Justin Conrad are waging a tough campaign.
Interesting that an innocent bystander has been sucked into the Wade-Conrad fight—-N&R political reporter Joe Killian, who’s been forced to defend his coverage:
Why haven’t I been keeping up with the blog as well as I should? Why didn’t I, for instance, read the comments below and someone’s assertion that they received their Trudy Wade ad on the 12th, then follow up with Wade about it and update the blog item or create a new one?
Because “Yeah, I know I have daily deadlines on these four print stories that require me to read hundreds of pages of budget documents and do a dozen or more interviews and some complex math…also, I’ll probably have to pick up a story or two I didn’t plan on this week. But you’re going to have to wait on all that, because I have to update the blog and do a follow-up” is not what any editor wants to hear.
This is what a shrinking news room staff looks like.
I can’t help but wonder if Killian’s editor might think that in the time he took to write about how hard he’s working, perhaps he could be —working.
Read full article » No Comments »John Edwards’ trial opened today, and Greensboro attorney Alison Van Langingham went after former aide Andrew Young:
Van Langingham offered a different portrayal of Young, arguing that he was someone who was willing to punch the ticket that Edwards provided as long as it would take him to the top.
Initially, Young used Edwards star quality and one-time good standing in the political arena to get money to support a lavish lifestyle for him and his family.
In 2007 and 2008, she contended Young, a political staffer, and his wife, a part-time nurse, spent millions.
When Edwards no longer was a rising star, Laningham contended, Young tried to make money by selling out his former boss.
His tell-all book and a movie in the making have brought him financial gain, she contended, trying to portray him as a man willing to do anything to help his own cause and hurt those who stood in his way.
I read the book and Young doesn’t come off very well by his own hand. I’ve said it before no matter how bad it is now, we can still be thankful none of them were anywhere near the presidency.
The jury’s not going to like anybody in this sordid tale, but deciding whether or not they’re criminals is a separate matter indeed.
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