Replies

Yes Joe's comments were pretty clear. I have said that they were stronger than what I would have stated. It seems to me that a simple comment that Joe was over reacting was called for. The other comments were unfortunate in my opinion.

Look you and I agree that Davis is a bottom feeding idiot. His commercials are not accurate, fair, or reasonable by any stretch of the imagination. None the less their overall impact can not be ignored, avoided or ruled "out of bounds" for reasonable discourse.

I am also worried about the fraud issue. Coming at a time when the populace has lost large portions of their retirement funding, are hearing all sorts of bad things about corporate executives, these charges against Simon are serious. Your comments about that five second sound bite are quite accurate in my opinion. How much less will the thirty second sound bite's impact be?

Frankly, I'm not sure what the best course of action would be to combat the charges. Not reacting could seem to be an admission. Reacting could cause it's own problems. If any response proves to be slightly inaccurate later on, it could be fatal politically.

Another problem is this, when you have the likes of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Gary Condit and Gray Davis denying some pretty serious charges when you know better, it's pretty difficult for a guy like Simon to stand up and be taken seriously defrending himself against false charges. I guess that's why I view these charges and skewed political spots of Davis' so seriously. It's almost to the point that political denials are dismissed much the same as denials of child molestation charges are. (That does not mean that I am comparing these charges. I am only comparing the public's penchant for accepting or rejecting the denials in each instance.)

There's also the problem that Davis has put out these charges so that Simon will have to spend big bucks putting out denials, and not on his message.

Frankly, this is nearly a no win situation. It may be best to let the chips fall where they do, and play your own game ignoring Davis.

Thanks for addressing the remedy to the problem. I think that is the most productive reaction to the comments Joe and I made. To tell the truth, that is the reaction I was looking for, the best possible reaction being adopted to combat the Davis team.

Fortunately, the fraud issue looks like it's stillborn. I just posted the full response from the Simon campaign, and it looks completely credible and to the point. I hope you'll check it out.

Looks to me like the Simon campaign has a good story to tell, which is a relief. Most likely Bill Simon was not in touch with this case because he was not directly involved. I think it's easy to underestimate the number of balls someone like Bill Simon has in the air.

Aside from that, the main reason I participated in this thread was to tell you and others that it was and is wildly premature to simply wring your hands and say the Simon campaign has a problem. Of course it does. But the Davis campaign has a worse one. Frankly, I'd put my money on Simon simply because those who know him like him. Those who know Davis don't. At best they want to buy influence.

That doesn't drive turnout come November. 'nuff said.