Inexplicibly, the owner of BVBL continues to reduce politics to a personal level. It has come to the attention of Moonhowler and myself, that Greg has singled out the ages of Martha Hendley(R) and Toddy Puller (D), and the skirt style and overall intelligence of Suzanne Miller(R).
Greg says about Martha:
Her experience and history are a strong positive but she’s quite a bit older than someone you typically see running for their first elected office, and how that might impact the dynamics is yet to be seen. She’s in good health however, so there’s not any evidence to suggest she isn’t going to run as hard as anyone else.
What does Martha’s age matter? She has been more involved in county politics and policy than other person running for Gainesville Supervisor, age is definitely NOT an issue so why even bother to bring it up.
His comments about Toddy Puller are even more offensive:
The contrasts between Toddy Puller and Jeff Frederick are tremendous. Puller is a grouchy old party-line hack who isn’t fun at all to listen to. Frederick is a young engaging maverick (the real kind, not the McCain BS kind) who is funny, warm, friendly and engaging. Puller isn’t physically able to knock on doors while Frederick attacks doorknocking with the single-minded purposefulness of George Patton. Frederick’s campaign literature will feature him and his cute family while Puller’s campaign staff will desperately try to keep Toddy’s picture from appearing anywhere unless it’s at least fifteen years old.
Now, you think that was inappropriate, wait til you read what Greg wrote about Suzanne Miller:
If ever there was someone utterly unprepared to run for office this would be it. I’ve seen some pretty awful candidates in my time, and this one takes the cake. Any random neighbor in the county would likely demonstrate higher capabilities to run for office or qualifications to hold it.
Not many of them would look better in a tight, short skirt at a campaign event like this, however.
Let’s start with why would anyone comment on her skirt in such an offensive manner? Suzanne Miller holds dual masters degrees, one in instructional technology and another in Computer Science. She has also authored several technical publications.
Greg not only proudly represents himself as a loyal conservative Republican, but he also does work for Republican Candidates. We expect that when it comes to discussing candidates, the criticism should be directed at policy, not age, not skirt choice.
We all must live by that age old standard of the golden rule, especially during election season. We can discuss differences, loudly, passionately, even angrily, but to get personal, to focus on the way someone looks, or their age, is simply a poor show of character.
UPDATE: It appears we need to put in another requirement for the election season–truthfulness.
