Breathtaking in-your-face sleaziness


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Breathtaking in-your-face sleaziness

Alan Grayson and lack of moral hygiene

I really don't need to tall anyone on this site what a kook Alan Grayson is. In fact, it's almost an embarrassment to waste my time posting about him.

But the following ad is so sleazy that I thought I was in Brazil for a moment. Actually, that's unfair to Brazil. I have seen a lot of sleazy crap down there during elections, but Mr. Grayson exceeded the lowest of anything I have seen.

I got this on a blog post of The Blaze: Alan Grayson is more awful than we thought.

There's even a better article about this at factcheck.org, which is the one The Blaze based its report on:

Rep. Grayson Lowers the Bar

The Florida Democrat manipulates video to make his opponent seem to urge wives to 'submit' to husbands. He didn't.

You don't have to go there to see the videos, though. They are below.

To start with, the really sleazy attack ad of Grayson's team comparing his opponent, Dan Webster, to the Taliban:

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/hIUWgf_yVQI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Notice the "submit" part repeated several times (which, incidentally, is roughly what Islam means, i.e., the Taliban tie-in).

But that was only the sleaze-mignon appetizer. Here is the main course: the video of Webster speaking, the one used for Grayson's ad. Webster is saying the exact opposite of what the ad claimed:

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/hIUWgf_wMQI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

I believe this Congressman is going to be voted out of office, but I also believe he will not go away. And as a Congressman, he has undoubtedly lined his own pockets. So if James Valliant ever needs a job, it might be comforting for him to know that there are well-off people out there who endorse and practice his own standards of treating other people's words. Who knows? They could be useful to each other. If anyone wants to pass my tip on...

(That was a cheap shot, I know. But who ever said I was high class? :) )

Michael

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Michael,

Ever since Alan Grayson waved his "drop dead" sign on the floor of the House of Representatives, I knew he was way out in the tail of the distribution.

But the "Taliban Dan" ad is as disgusting as they come.

Jim Valliant is professionally qualified teach Sleaze 101, but Grayson would beat him hands-down in the Sleaze Mignon Cookoff.

Robert Campbell

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Michael,

Ever since Alan Grayson waved his "drop dead" sign on the floor of the House of Representatives, I knew he was way out in the tail of the distribution.

But the "Taliban Dan" ad is as disgusting as they come.

Jim Valliant is professionally qualified teach Sleaze 101, but Grayson would beat him hands-down in the Sleaze Mignon Cookoff.

Robert Campbell

"Grayson has used his perch on the House Financial Services Committee to skewer Federal Reserve officials, pressing them on how their money is being spent and forming an unlikely alliance with Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul to demand an audit of the Fed. Some of his interrogations have become YouTube favorites. Check them out

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Adam,

It doesn't matter whether Grayson wants an audit of the Fed. His negatives, you would have to say, outweigh his positives.

With any luck, he'll soon be an ex-Congressman.

Robert Campbell

Robert:

I know, I was joking that a man who snuck in on O'Biwan's coattails and is worth 31.3 million dollars can be that stupid and still get one issue correct.

Adam

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Here is what this Grayson dork just did to defend himself.

He was so bad that MSNBC couldn't stand up for him.

<object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc5c1855" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=39402476&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><embed name="msnbc5c1855" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=39402476&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>

Incidentally, the rhetorical technique he is trying to use is discussed here: Howard Dean Teaches Sleaze - The Pivot.

He's also using the big lie--saying that he did not take Webster's comments out of context. That one is so blatant that the MSNBC lady is quite perceptibly appalled.

This is a good case to study since it is so obvious that no amount of rationalizing can justify it. Thus, the sleaziness and the rhetorical techniques stand out and are not clouded by any other arguments. Once you get a little practice seeing these things in obvious examples like this, your subconscious automatically sends your conscious awareness a warning sign when you see them in more subtle examples.

Michael

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