Thursday, August 14, 2008

A Quick Political Note

Here in Ohio, we've had some political turmoil in recent months. Our Attorney General was forced to resign amid a sexual harassment scandal that culminated with his offices being raided and everyone behaving pretty badly. It was all great fun. The job has been filled on an interim basis, but by law there will be a special election in November to fill the last two years of the old guy's term.

I offer this because the Republicans have chosen to run a guy named Mike Crites. Baseball fans with absolutely no life may remember that Crites is the guy who successfully prosecuted Pete Rose for tax evasion, which resulted in Charlie Hustle getting thrown in jail.

I've commented before just how popular Pete Rose remains in Cincinnati. Soutwestern Ohio is a Republican stronghold. As such, if I were running the campaign for Crites' Democratic opponent, I'd run ads in Cincy making prominent mention of this in an effort to steal a bunch of votes that would normally go to Crites. Maybe juxtaposing a picture of the Hero Rose in a prison jumpsuit with a picture of some murderer going free, and commenting on Crites' questionable priorities or something.

Totally sleazy, but if it weren't for sleaze, this election wouldn't have been happening in the first place, right?

4 comments:

tadthebad said...

Isn't the point of the Special Election to bring in someone new and rid the AG's office of "sleaze"?

Anonymous said...

tadthebad: of course not. Since when have elections rid any government body of sleaze?

Almost makes you think that strange women lying in ponds distributing swords might actually be a good basis for a system of government.

Mark S said...

Unfortunately I think we've gotten to the point where 'sleaze' and 'election' have to be used in the same sentence - not sure but I'll check my Strunk & White for confirmation.

Interesting - here's what I found: it's acceptable to substitute corrupt, dishonest or shady for sleazy; politician, politics, or political advisor for elections; and the use of positive terms associated with anything involving politics or elections must 1) in the past tense 2) make reference to the theory not practice of politics and 3) can be used to discuss hypothetical issues not current practive.

tadthebad said...

Chris, I think that is the point. But I agree with your larger perspective...attempts to rid government of sleaze are, generally, futile.

Wasn't it a lake? Just kidding...