SUBHEAD: Mufi Hannamenn continues negative campaign against Neil Abercrombie that may backfire.
By Ian Lind on 16 August 2010 in iLind.net -
(http://ilind.net/2010/08/16/compare-and-decide)
Image above: Detail from flyer distributed by Mufi Hannemann campaigners. For entire image click here.
Mufi Hannemann’s campaign calls this campaign mailer “Compare and Decide”.
It’s what you might expect from a campaign mailer late in a potentially tight race. That is, designed to mislead the reader and distort the records of both candidates, one positively and the other negatively. Of course, that’s what a lot of campaigning is all about.
Mufi looks pretty impressive, at least in his own telling, but the comparisons, although full of distortions, helped me to understand the broad differences .
It boils down to this. Mufi’s whole career has been as the candidate of the corporate-political elite. He’s been encouraged to run, supported in his campaigns, and “taken care of” with corporate or political appointments when he lost, and has the perspective and baggage that flows from that privileged position.
Neil Abercrombie has run for office at every level of government–county, state, and federal–and he has won on his own, the voters choice and not the corporate elite’s choice. He’s won despite the fact that the power structure, from Senator Inouye to the insider corporate circles, would have preferred someone else.
Voters have trusted him, not because he doesn’t make mistakes, but because they are his own mistakes, not those of the elite who would cozy up to him to do their bidding. When push comes to shove, he’s been on our side, not theirs.
So you’ve got Mufi, the consummate insider, and Neil, the outsider who has fought for and earned each of his positions.
Rather than tagging each of the distortions or omissions in the “Compare and Decide” mailer, I’ll just demonstrate what would happen if the spin were different?
It might look something like this.
.
By Ian Lind on 16 August 2010 in iLind.net -
(http://ilind.net/2010/08/16/compare-and-decide)
Image above: Detail from flyer distributed by Mufi Hannemann campaigners. For entire image click here.
Mufi Hannemann’s campaign calls this campaign mailer “Compare and Decide”.
It’s what you might expect from a campaign mailer late in a potentially tight race. That is, designed to mislead the reader and distort the records of both candidates, one positively and the other negatively. Of course, that’s what a lot of campaigning is all about.
Mufi looks pretty impressive, at least in his own telling, but the comparisons, although full of distortions, helped me to understand the broad differences .
It boils down to this. Mufi’s whole career has been as the candidate of the corporate-political elite. He’s been encouraged to run, supported in his campaigns, and “taken care of” with corporate or political appointments when he lost, and has the perspective and baggage that flows from that privileged position.
Neil Abercrombie has run for office at every level of government–county, state, and federal–and he has won on his own, the voters choice and not the corporate elite’s choice. He’s won despite the fact that the power structure, from Senator Inouye to the insider corporate circles, would have preferred someone else.
Voters have trusted him, not because he doesn’t make mistakes, but because they are his own mistakes, not those of the elite who would cozy up to him to do their bidding. When push comes to shove, he’s been on our side, not theirs.
So you’ve got Mufi, the consummate insider, and Neil, the outsider who has fought for and earned each of his positions.
Rather than tagging each of the distortions or omissions in the “Compare and Decide” mailer, I’ll just demonstrate what would happen if the spin were different?
It might look something like this.
You see how it works?Education:Neil: Masters Degree and Ph.D.
Mufi: No graduate degreeExperience in elected office:Neil: elected to city, state (House and Senate), and federal offices
Mufi: Experience limited to city governmentOther experience:Neil: Chaired the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces, with oversight for U.S. Army and Air Force operations, budget, and equipment and weapons systems procurement worldwide.Compare and Decide!
Mufi: Managed the Punaluu Sweetbread Bake Shop (Naalehu, Hawaii)
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1 comment :
Wonderful. Thank you, as a newly-transplanted hapa (of indeterminate half-ness, and all outside-ness), this is precisely what I'd hope to see comparing the two men, and honestly setting forth Abercrombie's service. Entitlement of class, privilege, race, or patronage is not a good starting point to govern.
Now, why am I not surprised that Kenoi and Mufi are in bed like ticks? Same mentality; same political machine.
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