First off, McClatchy doesn't ask this question, but is this an appropriate use of government employees? If they're following Democratic members of Congress around during business hours, are they being paid out of the treasury for this "service"? Is the NRCC paying them, or are they doing this pro-bono? See correction below...
Second, as the article notes, this is not quite what Webb's guy was doing when Allen decided to use an ethnic slur. They have the trackers actively provoking their targets, hoping to irritate them into doing something they'll regret:
"We've had trackers following us around before, but they were there to observe," said Andrew Stoddard, communications director for Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who recently was ambushed by a GOP interviewer.
"What they're doing now," Stoddard said, "takes things to a whole new level."
Well, when don't they? I'm not really outraged by this, it's not as if Democrats have never tried this (however did they ever start filming 20 months ahead of an election? Call me naive, but I don't think so). More important, it's yet another reminder that to conservatives, everything is about perception. They can only think in terms of gaffes, media cycles and winning by attacking the character of their opponents.
The article discusses a minor incident between a tracker and Chris Carney (D-PA), you can see the video at the link if you like, it's nothing special - and asks an expert about it (good reporting, McClatchy!)
Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., said that Carney shouldn't worry.
"These moments only matter if you say something outrageous. Allen needed suburban voters in Virginia, and the idea he was using racial slurs was significant," he said.
Don't get complacent, Democrats. Republicans will not hesitate to take something completely out of context. Lipstick on a pig anyone? People on the left have certainly used the on-camera failings of Republicans to great effect, but the difference was, Allen's "macaca" is fully in context racism. Frank Wolf's staffer beating a guy with a cane is hard to contextualize as anything but unvarnished thuggery. The disingenuity is what will will differentiate their version of this tactic.
Hopefully the kabuki act won't work. It didn't work very well in 2008, but I don't know if we can say that's because it's gone for a generation or because of the particular crisis atmosphere or Obama's particular talents. They're certainly going to keep using it. It's all they know.
* - Correction: Probably a misreading on my part. The staffers most likely work for the NRCC. I think it was the lack of the full name in McClatchy's phrasing, instead of "the trackers, who are NRCC staffers" they just said "congressional committee" which I read as being actual employees of Congress itself. |
