Reichert, Rove, and the inevitable

Sure enough, just like clockwork, no sooner are we blessed with a visit from Karl Rove in support of Republican Rep. Dave Reichert of Seattle's suburban 8th District than our airwaves are rippling with attack ads against Reichert's Democratic opponent, Darcy Burner.

Andrew at Northwest Progressive Institute unpacks the ads' predictable mishmash of falsehoods, distortions, and general calumny. As he explains, the Reichert ad is virtually a verbatim restatement of the line of attack taken in the National Republican Congressional Committee's flyer attacking Burner that she has effectively debunked at her Web site. Among the ads' nakedly false claims: That Burner "may want to give tax breaks to oil companies" and that she "supports 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants." The chief claims the Reichert ad pick up are these:

Claim #7: "Darcy Burner wants to increase taxes by returning to the marriage penalty and wiping out half the child tax credit."

The Truth: Darcy Burner has never advocated, and she does not support, a return to the marriage penalty, wiping out the child tax credit, or implementing any other tax increase on working families or small businesses. We need to keep tax cuts that truly benefit working Americans. That's why Darcy will work to keep the state and local sales tax deduction, the college tuition tax deduction, the child tax credit, and to permanently repeal the marriage penalty. Darcy has been on the record for months in support of tax relief for working families. She has also publicly decried the failure of the Republican-led Congress to renew important tax relief measures, including an extension of the federal sales tax deduction for Washington State residents. Darcy believes strongly that when it comes to taxes working Americans are currently paying more than their fair share of taxes.

As Andrew points out:

[These] are pure scare tactics designed to intimidate voters. But this is nothing new. Republicans have been using fear as a weapon for years. "If you vote for the Democrats, America will be less safe. (Hint - you don't want another terrorist attack, do you?)" "If you vote for the Democrats, your taxes will go up."

Let's get the facts straight here: it is in fact the Republicans and Dave Reichert who cannot be trusted with our nation's finances. Republicans have doled out tax breaks to the rich, while giving next to nothing to middle and low income families. Republicans are creating taxes on future generations with their incredible deficit spending and fiscal mismanagement.

Republicans reward their corporate and special interest friends with big subsidies and giveaways. They let corporate lawyers write our laws and let corporate executives have at our natural resources and public lands.

The conservative agenda has been a disaster for America. Dave Reichert has been a disaster. We can't afford to have someone in Congress who only does what the House Republican leadership tells him to. The same leadership, remember, that is more interested in winning elections then locking up sex predators.

I'm wondering if these attack ads could possibly be related to rumors I've heard that Reichert's own internal polling shows Burner leading him by a point ...

Naaah.