From the Webb campaign:
Felix: Pay Attention(Your Rubber Stamping of Bush Is Killing You Brother)
Note to George Felix Allen from Webb spokesman Steve Jarding: OK, here+óGé¼Gäós the problem Senator. When all of your responses to George W. Bush resemble a bobble-headed dog in the back window of the family Buick, you get in trouble.
Case in point I. (Hot Springs, Virginia, 22 July 2006, Virginia Bar Association debate) When George Allen was asked to defend his rubberstamping of George W. Bush+óGé¼Gäós Iraq policies even though the conflict was not going well, Felix the Facilitator announced that things in Iraq were going swimmingly. Allen the Enabler even said that General Casey himself had assured the Statuesque Senator that +óGé¼+ôBy the end of the year as many as three fourths of the military operations in Iraq will be led by Iraqis.+óGé¼-¥
Yet, within 48 hours, Allen+óGé¼Gäós enablee, George W. announced that things in Baghdad were blowing up in our faces, literally and figuratively, and in fact, more not less troops would need to be reassigned there to try to deal with the very tenuous, volatile and unstable situation we were facing there.
Not good, George of Dude Ranch fame.
Case in point II: (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 11 July 2006) George Allen tours the detainee facility at Guantanamo and announces to the public that interrogators there go +óGé¼+ôbeyond Geneva Convention requirements,+óGé¼-¥ and that, +óGé¼+ôprisoners are treated very well.+óGé¼-¥
Yet, within 48 hours, Allen+óGé¼Gäós alter ego, George W. announced that in fact, terror detainees at Guantanamo had not been granted basic human and legal protections under the Geneva Convention.
Dude, where+óGé¼Gäós my independence?
Senator Rubberstamp, when you blindly mimic a keystone cop, you become a keystone cop. Not good Dude.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
On a sidenote, it is an interesting question to ask whether calling Allen "Felix" helps or hurts Webb. Many political strategists will say that speaking to an elected opponent irreverantly or condescendingly is a bad thing. Others disagree. I'll be curious how the people of VA respond to Webb folks calling Allen "Felix."
Name calling, either nicknames or labelling, has been around for ages - and recently the Republicans have put it to good use. So, in general, I'm not too worried about it.
But I'm starting to be concerned about the proliferation of names that Allen is being called. After too many of them pile up they will move from sticky negative labels (or rallying calls for our side) to absurd playground antics. And if it is seen as childish, it will hurt the effort.