Senate campaign is no time to get personal

Rod Haxton

By Rod Haxton, editor

It was inevitable that the U.S. Senate race between Republican Congressmen Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt would get “personal” as happened during last week’s Kansas Chamber of Commerce forum in Topeka.

Personal is all that’s left when you are either unwilling or unable to debate the issues.

Perhaps the Senate campaign wouldn’t have to get so personal if either candidate had a position on health care reform, other than they don’t want it. Or if they had a position on the economy other than cutting taxes. Or if they had a position on big government, other than they’re against it (unless it will create jobs for Boeing).

Shallow debate can’t help but lead to shallow rhetoric.

Tiahrt says the problem with Washington, D.C., is too many lawyers and, guess what, Moran is a lawyer. Moran accuses Tiahrt of being an equally offensive Washington “insider” and describes the nation’s capital as a “corrupting place.” Of course, that’s in reference to Tiahrt’s decision to move his family to Washington, D.C., while Moran has maintained his residence in Hays.

So the Kansas Senate race evolves around who got a law degree and where one lives.

The real debate, however, is who can be more conservative. Period.

Moran and Tiahrt are like two race car drivers battling for the far right lane. Eventually, there’s no more pavement and one - or both - cars end up veering into the ditch.

The right lane, obviously, is the conservative wing of the Republican Party which both realize they desperately need if they are to win the primary election and, by default, become the next U.S. Senator from Kansas. Common wisdom (if wisdom can actually be used to describe this race) is that the candidate who veers farthest to the right has the best chance of being elected.

Thus, the parade of endorsements by each candidate. Moran was endorsed by Sen. John McCain, which was trumped on the right when Tiahrt picked up an endorsement from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Moran had to move further to the right, so he gained the support of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, but Tiahrt trumped that with the other Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe.

Tiahrt further appeals to his wingnut supporters by arguing on the floor of the House that low-income mothers of African-Americans - such as President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas - would have aborted their children, if only the government had agreed to pay for it.

How can you steer farther to the right of such lunacy? Why would anyone want to?

Yet that’s what Moran feels he must do if he’s to make any inroads into Tiahrt’s conservative base and have any chance of winning the primary.

It’s these attempts to appease the far right wing of the Kansas Republican party that makes intelligent debate impossible.

And that’s the biggest problem with today’s political environment. Intelligence is drowned out by mindless rhetoric.

For example, the independent firm Research 2000 conducted a poll of Republicans in January that revealed:

•23 percent would be okay with their state seceding from the United States. (But keep those Social Security checks coming).

•39 percent would support the impeachment of President Obama. (For what?).

•36 percent don’t believe President Obama was born in the United States. (Apparently they also believe Hawaii is a foreign country capable of producing WMDs. Beware of any suspicious looking pineapples).

•63 percent consider Obama a socialist. (Do they really know what a socialist is . . . really?).

•24 percent believe Obama wants the terrorists to win and another 33 percent “aren’t sure.” Which means only 43 percent of those polled actually believe Obama is on the side of the U.S. (And to think, this man is within reach of the red button that would produce the ultimate mushroom cloud).

This is the wing of the Republican party that Moran is trying to lure away from Tiahrt in order to return to Washington, D.C., as a senator.

And therein lies the difficulty of having meaningful debate on real issues.

It would be nice to know what plan . . . if any . . . Moran and Tiahrt have for helping the estimated 293,000 Kansans who don’t have health insurance. And, no, telling the government to keep their hands off my Medicare isn’t a solution.

It would be nice if the two candidates would reveal their answer for balancing the federal budget, other than to continue the failed tax cut policies of the past.

It would be wonderful if Moran and Tiahrt would share their ideas for preventing another meltdown of the financial industry. Do they favor bringing back regulatory guidelines that were abandoned by Congress? Or do they favor “free market” risks and “socialized” bailouts.

And what does either candidate propose to do about the exodus of jobs and industry leaving the U.S.?

We’d love some answers, but it’s probably not going to happen because the constituency they are appealing to is worried that a socialist black president who narrowly escaped abortion is aiding and abetting terrorists.

That’s what happens when things get personal.