The LuLac Edition #1806, October 21st, 2011

John Kerry, Democratic nominee for President in 2004 and current Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll.

SWIFT BOATING JACKIE

There have always been fundamental differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. We can argue policy achievements, we can go back and forth about which party actually kept our nation safer and more secure militarily. We can also debate back and forth which party helps the poor and which one aids the rich. But in every debate over the aforementioned, there will always be shades of gray. Both parties in one era or another were identical to their commitment to its citizens.
But one area between Republicans and Democrats does not have any hues of gray. That is political messaging. The parties are as different as night and day and black and white.
The Republicans have a knack for politics. The Democrats think they do. There is a reason why the last 10 out of 18 Presidents have been Republicans. The Republicans can message better. When the Health Care debate began, 75% of the American people thought a public option was a good thing. The GOP took that sold 25% that were against it and galvanized doubt among the 75% majority. Before anyone could blink, the 25% base and its major GOP message machine had convinced another 25% that maybe a public option wasn’t such a good idea. Then before we knew it, the Public Option was jettisoned by President Gutless. Emboldened, the GOP attack machine went after the rest of the Health Care bill.
In the 2004 race, President Bush’s political team, went hard and heavy after John Kerry the Democratic nominee. They hammered on his military service which on paper was much more impressive than President Bush’s. Not to worry, the GOP hammered on not the fact that Kerry was a decorated war hero, but on the fact that he wasn’t that great a war hero. Doubt, doubt, doubt about the military service was put into the public discourse. Kerry felt he didn’t have to defend his war heroics because surely he believed in the intelligence of the American voter. Medals plus war veteran equals hero, right? On paper yes, on the GOP airwaves, not so much.
Here in Luzerne County we have a situation with the District Attorney’s race. We have a veteran prosecutor who has been on the scene of many grizzly murders in her time being opposed by a young Attorney a few years out of law school. The current DA has a good conviction rate, has an office full of competent colleagues, some who are on their way to getting themselves elected Judges. The current DA has instituted programs in the County to help decrease crime. Unbeatable, right? Not to worry says the GOP. The party and their candidate have hammered on the fact that Jackie Musto Carroll did nothing to stop the Cash For Kids scandal and the shenanigans of Mark Ciavarella and Mike Conahan. Well, as an assistant DA when this was all going down, maybe her boss Dave Lupas should’ve said something. Maybe a stenographer or a bailiff might have said something. But you know what? Covering both trials and sentencing, I saw two things that might have kept even Sherlock Holmes and Colombo out of the proverbial loop. These convicted Judges were sneaky, conniving, vindictive, powerful and ruthless bastards. Ask a former Judge named Lokuta. There might have been rumors but you can’t make a case on rumors. If the Feds never got involved, it would still be going on. But the GOP ignores that fact and they plant the seed that Jackie Musto Carroll is and was corrupt. Wrong. Jackie Musto Carroll for all of her street smarts and criminal experience was fooled, just like me, you, Conahan and Ciavarella’s friends and fellow Judges and various and sundry people they came in contact with. But the GOP is saying she needs to go. Nowhere have they addressed the fact that Musto Carroll wrote a scathing letter against Judge Mike Toole before he was carted off to jail. The GOP plays on those poor kids. Doubt, doubt, doubt.
The Republicans ignore the fact that Musto Carroll stood side by side with the Prosecuting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District. Would this fed stand next to a District Attorney that they thought might have been tainted? The feds cross all the “Ts” and dot all the “Is”. Not to worry, the GOP sends out a bunch of snappy sounding commercials that entertain us. They put out ads on TV that make our heart strings play like the proverbial angel’s harp. Grandpa giving the third generation dream girl a hug. It’s all part of the campaign messaging that says “doubt, doubt, doubt”. The past few weeks the Republicans do what they do best. They take a grain of truth and turn into a seed of doubt. It starts out slow like a violin concerto but in the end comes at you like a thundering Cresendo. Doubt, doubt, doubt. As the campaign comes to a close, there are no defenses from the Musto Carroll camp. No push back on the Salavantis assault. No word from the representatives in charge of Jackie Musto Carroll’s message. No word from Jackie Musto Carroll. And that’s no mystery. Jackie Musto Carroll was raised as a Democrat. Democrats think that the people, or at least a majority of them can’t be fooled by attacks that don’t make sense or have credibility. The people, I’m sure she reasons, will know the difference. Just like they did in 2004 when the Republicans who do what they do best, took a three time purple heart winner fighting in the dankness of murderous Southeast Asia and made him into the bad guy. His opponent, George Bush who never saw any military action and was MIA in the reserves while John Kerry was getting his ass shot off was made to be the good guy. The Republicans have the gift of demonizing people and issues. The Democrats have the mistaken belief that people rely on the better angels of their nature. Usually they do. Republicans at the core are decent human beings. But oh do they love to swift boat. And like John Kerry did in 2004, Jackie Musto Carroll and her supporters are letting the GOP do it with glee and impunity. Better angels might find their way to heaven but they rarely win elections. Especially in Luzerne County.