Posted on 12/11/2005 6:59:14 PM PST by mathprof
In the first major step toward building a campaign team, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has hired a political director whose major credit is the successful race he ran to unseat a former Georgia senator and crusading war veteran that has Democrats there still crying foul four years later.
Bo Harmon, a veteran of the National Republican Congressional Committee and other GOP organizations, as well as manager of Saxby Chambliss' campaign against then-Sen. Max Cleland, said yesterday that he is coming to Maryland to get the word out about Ehrlich's accomplishments.
Advertisement Democrats here and in Georgia immediately criticized the hire, saying Ehrlich is bringing to Maryland a virtuoso of nastiness who attacked the patriotism of Cleland, an Army veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam.
"Bo Harmon ran one of the most despicable campaigns in the history of Georgia, if not the nation," Georgia Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Kahn said in a statement.
"Senator Chambliss' campaign was the worst example of the politics of personal destruction, defaming the character of a man who gave up so much for his country in Vietnam," Kahn added. "If Bo Harmon was willing to do that in 2002 against an American war hero like Max Cleland, one can only imagine what he is likely to do in 2006."
[snip]
Republican Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran, called the ad "worse than disgraceful." Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel , also a Vietnam vet, said it was "beyond offensive."
Maryland Democratic Party spokesman Derek Walker said he was shocked that the governor would hire Harmon, and compared the political director to Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the former Ehrlich aide who was fired after admitting to spreading rumors about Mayor Martin O'Malley.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Mad Max's injury was not war related. You play with granades and you get hurt.
Harmon is guilty of the most unimaginable crime: He told the truth about a liberal Democrat.
Harmon is guilty of the most unimaginable crime: He was effective in getting his conservative candidate elected.
As someone who was a consultant for Bo Harmon (and others) and personally wrote two of the Chambiss TV spots, it pleases me no end to see how apoplectic these ads STILL make the RATs after all these years. Losing three limbs doesn't entitle a man to govern like an ass and get a Senate seat for life as a reward. Max Cleland was a horrible Senator who did not serve Georgians well. I am proud of the ads I wrote for Sax. He is a good man and a great Senator. And Erlich should be proud to hire Bo Harmon.
It is amazing how the press covers this up.
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