Jewish World Review Oct. 14, 2002 / 8 Mar-Cheshvan, 5763
John H. Fund
Bad Hair Day: Did Montana Dems exploit antigay prejudice?
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
When Mike Taylor, the GOP's Senate
candidate in Montana, abruptly withdrew
from his challenge to Democratic senator
Max Baucus, he claimed it was
because a Democratic attack ad was
conveying the impression he was gay.
Old-time Montana pols thought they were
experiencing déjà vu. A similar controversy
helped sink the GOP candidate who ran
against Mr. Baucus when he first ran for
the Senate 24 years ago.
Democrats say that Mr. Taylor quit
because he was going to lose and may
have wanted to "pull a Torricelli" and have
popular former governor Marc Racicot
replace him on the ballot. But Mr. Taylor
says he doesn't want his name removed
from the ballot. He will instead encourage
any write-in candidate who wants to
challenge incumbent Democrat Max
Baucus. The logistical challenges of
organizing a successful write-in race only
three weeks before an election effectively
leaves Mr. Baucus unopposed.
Although Mr. Taylor has trailed Mr. Baucus
in the polls, his campaign says the bottom
dropped out for their man this week after
Democrats began a $100,000 ad campaign
accusing him of abusing a student-loan
program in the 1980s, when he ran a chain of hair-care schools. Mr. Taylor settled the
dispute with the federal government for $27,250 in 1999 without admitting any
wrongdoing.
But the real damage to Mr. Taylor appears to have come from footage taken from 1980s
infomercials for his company. The footage showed a younger Mr. Taylor with a beard and
dressed in a John Travolta-style leisure suit, topped off with an open-necked shirt and
gold chains. He was shown applying lotion to the face of a young man in a barber chair.
"Mike Taylor. Not the way we do business in Montana," a narrator intoned.
Republicans claim the ad implied that Mr. Taylor was gay, a potentially negative issue in
rural and socially conservative parts of Montana. Democrats scoff at the notion they
were attempting any subliminal messaging. They say the ad showed Mr. Taylor applying
lotion to another man because it was the only footage they had.
That explanation doesn't satisfy Democratic state Sen. Ken Toole, who chairs the state's
Human Rights Network. He complained to the state Democratic Party about the ad, telling
them it was "an overt and obvious appeal to the homophobic [voter]" that "plays on
stereotyped images of gay people." Mr. Toole told the Billings Gazette that "once you
play these cards, inject this crap into a campaign--race, gay--nobody controls it."
That's pretty much what political observers also said in 1978, when the Montana AFL-CIO
decided to unload on Republican Larry Williams, an investment adviser who was running
against Mr. Baucus for the Senate. The union distributed hundreds of thousands of
copies of a photo, taken when Mr. Williams lived in California, that showed him wearing
love beads and with an unkempt hairdo, a sharp contrast to the buttoned-down image he
tried to convey in his Senate race.
Mr. Williams claimed the photo had been taken after he had finished a long flight, but the
damage was done. Charles Johnson, a journalist for the Lee newspaper chain in Montana,
says that "at the time, some election observers credited the move as a factor in helping
Baucus win the tight race."
In Mr. Taylor's case, It's not clear if the Democrats were consciously playing to antigay
prejudice. But it's surprising that Democrats refused to pull the ad even after the uproar
and criticism from some of their own party members. Dore Schwinden, a Democratic
campaign director, said the ad's claims about the student loan abuse were "true and we
stand by the ad 110%." Fine, but you'd think that Democrats might have wanted to avoid
the controversy by offering to substitute some different footage of Mr. Taylor without
changing the script.
So Sen. Baucus, now chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, can now cruise to a
fifth term without breaking a sweat. While he personally had nothing to do with the
infamous ad that prompted his opponent's withdrawal, it does seem strange that for the
second time in his political career he has benefited from the same kind of underhanded
tactic. Many in Montana are saying it would be appropriate for him to chastise his friends
and allies who put up the infamous ad, but they're not holding their breath.
Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR contributor John H. Fund's column by clicking here.
10/11/02: The kill-everything senate
09/30/02: Schroeder did what it took to win--but at what cost to Germany?
08/22/02: Buh-Bye Bob, So Long Cynthia : No amount of shouting could've saved Barr or McKinney
07/29/02: GOP: Get Over Panic --- Dems are vulnerable on corporate scandals, too
07/17/02: Not Just an Average Joe: A black GOPer may give Rep. Eliot Engel a run for his money
07/15/02: The McCain Mutiny-II
07/01/02: Opening the Schoolhouse Door: The politicians can't stop school choice now
06/20/02: The Body' Bows Out --- American politics will be duller without Jesse Ventura
06/06/02: It's time for President Bush to stand up to California's senators
05/16/02: A Court Intrigue: Procedural funny business in a racial-preference case
05/14/02: Thin moral ice: New revelations from a skater's Stasi files recall an oppressive era
05/09/02: Newark, Zimbabwe!?
05/02/02: Will Terror Leave Us No Choice? Teachers unions try to use Sept. 11 as an excuse for bad schools
04/23/02: The New Nixon? Al Gore plots his comeback
04/16/02: 'I, Uh, I Have No Comment': A union plays dirty in opposing an antitax initiative
03/31/02: Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!: Filibusters can help the Senate GOP get things done
03/14/02: Red-Light District: It's time to draw the line on gerrymandering
02/21/02: Slippery Slope: Can Dick Riordan beat California's Democratic governor?
02/14/02: Reform School: The Shays-Meehan incumbency protection act
02/07/02: Arizona Highway Robbery: Politicians make a grab for campaign cash
01/31/02: Disfranchise Lassie: Even dogs can register to vote. We need election reform with teeth
01/17/02: Dr. King's Greedy Relations: Cashing in on a national hero's legacy
01/10/02: Oil of Vitriol
01/04/02: The little engine that couldn't--and the senators who don't want it to
12/24/01: E-mail and low-cost computers could be conduits for a learning revolution
12/13/01: How Gore could have really won
12/07/01: Let our students keep their cell phones
12/04/01: Why the White House gave the RNC chairman the boot
11/12/01: A Winsome Politician: She won an election in a majority-black district--and she's a Republican
11/01/01: Bush Avoids Politics at His Peril
10/30/01: Cocked Pit: Armed pilots would mean polite skies
10/24/01: Chicken Pox: Hardly anyone has anthrax, but almost everyone has anthrax anxiety
10/11/01: Will Rush Hear Again? New technology may make it possible
10/04/01: Three Kinds of pols
08/24/01: Lauch Out: Who'll replace Jesse Helms?
08/08/01: Tome Alone: Clinton's book will probably end up on the remainder table
08/03/01: Of grubbing and grabbing: Corporation$ and local government$ perfect "public use"
07/31/01: Affairs of State: The Condit case isn't just about adultery. It's about public trust and national security
07/14/01: The First Amendment survives, and everyone has someone to blame for the failure of campaign reform
07/12/01: He's Still Bread: Despite what you've heard, Gary Condit isn't toast --- yet
07/12/01: Passing Lane: Left-wing attacks help boost John Stossel's and Brit Hume's audiences
06/25/01: Man vs. Machine: New Jersey's GOP establishment is doing everything it can to stop Bret Schundler
06/15/01: A Schundler Surprise? Don't count out "the Jack Kemp of New Jersey"
06/06/01: Memo to conservatives: Ignore McCain and maybe he'll go away
05/29/01: Integrity in Politics? Hardly. Jim Jeffords is no Wayne Morse
05/22/01: Davis' answer to California's energy crisis? Hire a couple of Clinton-Gore hatchet men
05/07/01: Prematurely declaring a winner wasn't the networks' worst sin in Florida
04/23/01: How to fix the electoral process --- REALLY!
04/11/01: A conservative hero may mount a California comeback
03/30/01: Can the GOP capture the nation's most closely balanced district?
03/09/01: Terminated
03/06/01: Leave well enough alone
02/22/01: Forgetting our heroes 02/15/01: In 1978 Clinton got a close look at the dangers of selling forgiveness
02/12/01: Clinton owes the country an explanation --- and an appology
02/06/01: How Ronald Reagan changed America
01/16/01: Why block Ashcroft? To demoralize the GOP's most loyal voters
01/15/01: Remembering John Schmitz, a cheerful extremist
12/29/00: Why are all Dems libs pickin' on me? Dubya's 48% mandate is different than Ford's
12/13/00: Gore would have lost any recount that passed constitutional muster
11/13/00: The People Have Spoken: Will Gore listen?
10/25/00: She's really a Dodger
09/28/00: Locking up domestic oil?
09/25/00: Hillary gives new meaning to a "woman with a past"
09/21/00: Ignore the Polls. The Campaign Isn't Over Yet
©2001, John H. Fund
|