Re-election tool number one on Jim Douglas’s shelf was a doozy; his nice guy image. You have to remember, Jim Douglas never ran his actual campaigns as a nice guy going all the way back to the nastiness he threw against Patrick Leahy when he thought he wanted to go to Washington, but he managed to rewrite the book on himself with his folksy mannerisms and the electoral free pass he received from the Democrats in the late nineties when he was Treasurer. There’s nothing like an unopposed statewide election for having free rein to redefine oneself.
But Douglas never pushed the nasty envelope so far as to threaten that image. He was helped mightily in this by the elections calendar, which crammed the primary election painfully close to the general, as well as the mythology among the Democrats and conventional-wisdom purveyors such as Garrison Nelson that party primary contests were signs of weakness and sure tickets to defeat (of course, we have clear proof in Vermont now of what the netroots has always known – primaries energize voters and engage both the media and the non-partisan public far earlier and allow the winner to amass far more name recognition far earlier).
So, history would therefore suggest that since Dubie also had the nice guy narrative on his side, that this, too, would be his best tool for taking the Governorship. In fact, Dubie had that vibe stronger and more widely spread across party lines than Douglas ever did.
But right out of the gate – before the Democratic primary was even decided – Dubie not only went slash and burn, but he’s done so by repeatedly telling outright lies. Here’s the candidate popular with the conservative Christian set stomping all over the 9th commandment (8th if you’re RC or Lutheran) with a sort of casual abandon (Shumlin will release child predators, his phony “list of offenders” set to be released by Shumlin, how VT’s property taxes compare to other states, there was no collaboration on the RGA television ad, IBM will leave VT if Yankee closes, etc… boy we need a comprehensive list, don’t we?).
Even worse, when repeatedly called on these lies by the media, Dubie repeats them, digs in, and runs more attack ads trumpeting them further. The result has been the nastiest Vermont statewide campaign in memory, and that nastiness driver has clearly been “nice guy” Brian Dubie.
So one thing is clear; however this election goes, Brian Dubie’s “nice guy” image will not be a factor, because, for all intents and purposes, the Dubie campaign has destroyed that image utterly, once and for all.
Win or lose, Dubie has become another example of lying politician in the eyes of all but his most hardcore supporters.
This image flip in and of itself is not enough to lose the election for him, but it does beg the question; why would the Brian Dubie campaign trash his best campaign asset?
The answer is twofold. One: as soon as national GOP election hack Corry Bliss was brought on board, it was clear Dubie was ceding control of his campaign to national Republican interests, channeled through Jim Douglas and his connections at the Republican Governor’s Association. These days, those national GOP electioneers have only one setting; smear, attack, destroy. It’s all they know how to do, and it’s all they have any interest in doing. It’s a one-size-fits-all strategy that, frankly, has served them well over the years – even if it’s shown signs of petering out over the last election or two nationwide.
Two: Brian Dubie is apparently not a very strong personality. As evidenced in this video from vtdigger, he is simply going where he’s ordered and doing what he’s told – and is either unwilling or unable to consider the ethical ramifications of running a sleazy campaign, or to take charge of his own operation. Neither option suggests qualities of strength, vision, or leadership – and those deficits are starting to show to even casual observers.
When facing the scariest economy since the Great Depression – an abyss into which Vermont has yet to fully fall but is teetering dangerously – the Republicans offer us an empty suit that is already being remote controlled by partisan, ideological interests who know next to nothing about Vermont, and couldn’t care less about it. That is scary, and that is a message Vermonters need to hear.
Doobage’s huge turn for the worse has denise casey’s name all over it. Doesless found her a job with the national right wing governr’s association and now that group is running Doob’s campaign into the ground. You wonder if Doobs ever thinks about the personal damage he’s doing to himself by letting casey and company destroy is name and reputation.
This race will be very close — the otherside may be uncomfortable with Dubie in ways they were not uncomfortable with Douglas, but they don’t like Shumlin. We make a big mistake if we assume that this race will be easy. We will need to get everyone to the polls and not give the impression that everyting will be all right. Our biggest threat is inertia.
“We make a big mistake if we assume that this race will be easy.”
You’re right, Jill. There is much hostility to Shumlin out there and I fear this race will be even closer than we can imagine, despite anger over Dubie’s nasty campaign. Dubie could easily win this. I know liberals who are betting on it. One thing we have in our favor is that shumlin is at least an energetic campaigner who does not lay down and let the Dubie machine roll over him.
When I talk to Dubieous supporters they are all of the same mind: If Dubie says it, it IS true!
Facts are not to be contemplated, as anything that contradicts what comes out of Dubie’s mouth can only have been made up by Dems just to attack Dubie!
I am amazed that several-generation Vermonters WANT to be lied to, NEED to be openly lied to, and that they fervently believe these easily dis-proven lies that Dubie tells.
Dubie could say that Vermont Yankke is Safe, Clean, Reliable and can run for 1000 more years without one single accident and my neighboring dairy farmer would fervently believe it.
Too much Limbaugh, too much Fox, too much Glenn Beck has removed all thinking ability from these Vermonters. No lie is too bald for these farmers, no tale too tall, they’ll believe anything if Dubie says it.
Dubious’ backers know this, they know it is perfectly fine to brazenly lie to Vermonters because they know that Glenn Beck has already prepared the field, they know that Republicans in Vermont have set aside their intelligence in favor of the comfort of a Pure myth.
Brian Dubie, Pure Lies.