It’s A Question of Class

There have been several times when Utah Senate candidate Mike Lee could have taken the high road and run a campaign on substance and issues. No such luck. His campaign could more easily be described as an exercises in guilt by association, demonizing his opponent and generally showing very little class.

Immanuel Kant, (18th Century German Ethicist) once wrote, “If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.”

I’ve often told my friends and family that those institutions that would seek to diminish class distinctions in society, create a society with no class. This is what has happened in countless people in the country, but it is most prominent in political races.

Case in point is the way that Mike Lee and those who support his campaign have handled themselves. A few weeks ago Lee went on one national radio talk show and answered, about Tim Bridgewater questions for Tim Bridgwater, in a way that would make Tim sound like a liberal. Then he continued to push the fib that Tim was getting rich from government money.

Meanwhile his supporters were pushing stories about Bridgewater’s money coming from drug cartels in northern Mexico (fib), and using the old guilt by association game saying that Tim had done business with Neil Bush (on this claim one has to scream…SO WHAT!) Guilt by association seems to be the modus operandi of Lee supporters when after Senator Bob Bennett supported Tim, the supporters claimed that it is proof of a connection to illegal flyers and that Tim is a “progressive.”

At this point Mike could have stopped the slimy campaigning done in support of him, and by him, but alas no such classy move appeared.

This week on another popular radio talk show, when the host referred to some of Bridgewater’s positions as “Progressive,” Lee had another chance to show some class and dismiss the ever daunting “P” mark from his opponent. Guess what, the opportunity to show class was missed.

A Listener to my pod cast, who knows Tim Bridgewater personally, wrote to the Freedom Works PAC after they had run a purely petty ad labeling Tim big government money hack;

“Dear Matt Kibbe,
I am a big fan to say the least of Dick Armey and your organization. I consider myself a principled (if not radical) conservative, I honor the constitution and believe in liberty and free markets. I had my first conversation with Tim Bridgewater perhaps a dozen years ago…He is a businessman with more market sensibilities than a lifetime attorney is likely to have accumulated. I think either candidate is largely acceptable to your movement. To paint him as somehow the evil choice for those who love freedom is well beyond the mark. I think your efforts could be better spent elsewhere.
Best Wishes in almost all you do,”

Notice my listener did mention Mike Lee’s profession as a lawyer, however he avoided the tendency (that a Lee supporter might have) to call the opponent of the man he supports a communist, cat kicker or shill for multinational arms traders.

In the end, Mike Lee, and his supporters, seem to have shown desperation from right after the convention, where Tim Bridgewater had a commanding lead. One has to ask why would Lee will resort to this low. Is being elected that important?