Tell me that picture of the two candidates won't be in the Andy Warhol museum someday.
I just hope the Democratic Party isn't investing too much hope in its recent attacks against Ron Johnson for holding stock in Chinese companies. It doesn't take an expert in trade policy to know that anybody with a big portfolio is going to have foreign interests -- all you have to do is look at the tag on the tongue of those fresh Nikes. And if we're going to play the human rights game (I wish it were played more often) then ask Nancy Pelosi why she owns over $100,000 of stock in a company who abided by Chinese censorship demands and even turned names of trouble-doers over to the government.
The Democrats are not misguided in their attempts to sell Feingold's brand as an advocate for the everyday worker. He is one. He can blend his message on trade, bailouts and personal ethics (not accepting pay raises or earmarks) well into an effective contrast with Ron Johnson's big business background (it is not a small business). If he can poise himself as the victim of a barrage of bitterness from Wall Street interests, he just might be able to win the sympathy of some swing voters who might otherwise have voted for the GOP based on their frustration with the economy.
But so far the Dems have been sloppy. They're throwing everything they've got against Johnson and hoping that something sticks. The problem is that most people don't know anything about Johnson. He's just a random guy who the GOP won't let out in the public. Over-the-top attacks against a political newcomer might strike voters as unwarranted and desperate. Instead of putting words in Johnson's mouth, why don't they ask voters a simple question: Who is Ron Johnson?
What does he stand for? Why won't he talk to the media or the people? Why has he switched his positions on several key issues? Don't the people deserve to know?
And they're forgetting to highlight the contrast that Feingold offers. Let him offer his personal narrative, about how he has stood up to Wall St interests, to big government encroachments on our liberty in the wake of 9/11, and how he, like most Wisconsinites, pays the income tax, and has never received special treatment from government. He doesn't even need to mention Johnson's name -- the implicit attack will be clear to the voters, and it won't come off as mean spirited or strategic.
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