No Surprise: Republican Campaigns Getting Dirty

Despite not really having any good candidates, the Republican party is trying to hurt itself further through random acts of cannibalism. Vicious mudslinging has intensified in the last week and will probably heighten as the stakes become higher and candidates have less to lose.

For whatever reason, almost all the Machiavellian cynicism is centered around Mitt Romney: both as a victim and as a perpetrator. Romney has suffered from underhand tricks throughout the campaign as other candidates have tried to scare off "Evangelicals" by accenting his Mormonism. Although it's not clear if Huckabee is sending signals to his base or if he is just that stupid, but in several instances during debates and stump speeches, Huckabee has brought up Mormonism when it was completely irrelevant. Famously, he questioned if Mormons believed that Jesus was the brother of Satan, but throughout debates, with a wink and a nod, he has also focused on his religious beliefs (he is a former Baptist Pastor) with the assumption that some of the candidates beliefs (namely Romney and Giulianni) are quite different. Additionally, many religious leaders that have given their support to Huckabee and other Baptists, have given speeches that focus on the differences between Mormonism and mainstream Christianity, often referring to it as a "cult." Speaking of Giulianni, who has also been the victim of campaigns that have attacked his stance on abortion, there is some evidence that he is behind some of the more unusual underhanded tactics, such as a false Christmas Card sent to South Carolina Republicans, wishing a "Happy Holiday" (rather than a "Merry Christmas") and includes controversial passages from the Book of Mormon and reports to be supported by the "Boston Massachusetts Temple." There have also been reports of phone calls to Iowa voters on the night before the Caucus that included praise of John McCain and some disparaging remarks towards Romney and Mormonism.

But, Romney is no innocent victim. In Iowa, Romney flooded the airwaves with political ads, most of which were negative and most of which were directed towards Huckabee. He is repeating his failed strategy in New Hampshire with John McCain. In South Carolina, Romney has employed the support of nefarious political consultant, Warren Tompkins. Tompkins, a former trickmeister for another dirty trick artist, Lee Atwater (the famous campaign organizer for George H.W. Bush who created the Willie Horton campaign, one of the most egregious examples of race-baiting in the last 25 years), was linked to shenanigans in South Carolina in 2000 where anonymous phone calls were made to Republican voters that claimed that McCain had an illegitimate black child (McCain had adopted a son from Bangledash). Tompkins was caught red-handed in September for setting up a ridiculous anti-Thompson blog called Phony Fred that featured the candidate in different costumes. As the race heads towards the South expect more dirty maneuvering.

Remember, for every dirty trick discovered, there's probably 10 more vicious ones that will never be known publicly. I'm sort of glad that Republicans have to resort to such dirty tactics...they're desperate.