Claire McCaskill takes the high road

An open letter to my supporters:

I have an important request for all of you. This race will be close and it appears that it may get nasty. I respectfully ask that none of you ever post to any blog anything that could be considered personal or negative about Jim Talent’s wife, Brenda, or his children. After reading a very ugly, unfair, and untrue post on a Republican blog this morning, I decided that it was important that I speak out to all of those who want us to win in November. No election is worth this, and I believe that we need to set an example. As tempting as it might be, especially in the anonymous world of the web, to get down in the mud with them, I hope we can all resist the temptation. Please. It’s important. No candidate should ever have to have the discussion I had with my 14 year old daughter this morning after she read it and began asking questions. Let’s win this thing the old fashioned way….with great ideas, hard work, and good manners. Thank you all.

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/node/4441/print

Why, if I were her minister of propaganda, I'd have encouraged that stand.

I have had the opinion that the Democratic "taking the high road", "we have class and are above mud-slinging", "let's be polite", "let's not dignify that remark with a response" attitude is what allowed John Kerry's "swiftboating" and has kept several races close enough for the repukes to steal.

I'm tired of being nice to people who talk about us Democrats as though we were shit to be scraped off the bottom of their shoes!

I see nothing wrong with visiting a repuke message board and asking if it is true that W is having incestuous sex with his straight daughter, or to wonder who his gay daughter is having sex with lately.

That old "If you can't say something nice, say nothing!" platitude does not apply to politics.

I won't post anything to embarrass Ms. McCaskill, but I will fight fire with fire if I get flamed somewhere for singing the praises of her, or any other Democrat!

and maturity in politics.

I look forward to working on her campaign.

then she's probably going to lose in a close race.

Most "high road" candidates do. Ask John Kerry... or John McCain... or Michael Dukakis...

If you're not willing to fight back and do whatever it takes to win- then don't get into the race. Period.

the candidates on issues and other lapses of judgement which is ripe with repukes but other family members should be off-limits.

but the far right is not going to play by those rules....

They do whatever it takes to win. That's why they control all three branches of government and the media.

anything on mccaskill... i don't know her at all. i put her email on a board saying this was my kind of woman and repugs attack. someone from the state says if she does will be a first. anyway, .... i am interested how you feel about the woman. if you want to email me that is great, .... just so it isnt about tearing a dem down. curious about what kind of person she is.

thanks for help

She was the county prosecutor here in KC and then was elected state auditor. She ran for governor in 2004 and lost to Matt 'Baby' Blunt. Now she is going to smoke Jim Talent's ass in this US Senate election. She started campaigning months before Talent did. He just started his campaign a month or so ago.

Talent beat Jean Carnahan who had been appointed to fill her husband Mel's seat. He died in a plane crash a few weeks before the election in 2000 but still beat John Ashcroft in the race for US Senate.

She is a good progressive Dem and Talent is a conservative repuke. He is against stem cell research and Claire is for it. That is a big issue in MO - biomedical research is a major industry in the state. Talent is pandering to the religious right and it will cost him this election.