Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Joe the Teabagger Campaign Death Spiral Watch - Day Two

Monday was the beginning of the end of the Joe Miller for U.S. senate campaign. Even Greta van Susteren seemed to sense it, as she looked up into the eyes of Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams, in her short interview with the Democratic Party nominee, in the wake of Miller's bizarre farewell performance in front of the Alaska media he has come to hate.

Another place where it was obvious that it is close to completely over for Joe, was in the comments at the Anchorage Daily News article about the press conference.

Back in August, an article about Miller might elicit 200 or more comments there, most favorable to Miller. Yesterday's article, by Sean Cockerham and Richard Mauer, has now garnered almost 1,600 comments. Few are favorable to Miller. Many are unsparing.

By doing this on an early Monday afternoon, Miller's campaign has left itself open to retort and ridicule for almost an entire five-day media cycle. His jabs at the Alaska Dispatch (PA has talken several jabs at the Dispatch over the months, too) were by and large inaccurate, and probably raised the hackles on the backs of Alaska journalists who might otherwise not have been too ready to support the work being done there.

Perhaps Miller has the final three weeks of the campaign so sewn up in scheduled meet-and-greets, church visits, fundraisers and behind-closed-doors sessions with his masters (like reps of the billionaire Koch Brothers), that he wouldn't have had time for the media anyway. But by drawing enormous attention to the lawsuit brought against the Fairbanks North Star Borough by the Dispatch and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Miller seriously screwed up.

His campaign will be haunted by Monday afternoon from now until either November 2nd, or his withdrawal, after the information he is so ineptly pointing toward, finally surfaces.

As observed by a commenter at Wonkette this morning, Miller's becoming a bigger joke every day:

"The statement followed the Alaska Dispatch quoting an anonymous source Sunday night saying that Miller used borough equipment in the unsuccessful 2008 attempt to oust state Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich."

What, like a backhoe? Dynamite?

And salon.com closed an article on this today, with this reminder:

The website and the Fairbanks News Miner newspaper have now sued the borough for release of records relating to Miller's employment there. Miller, for his part, has claimed that the borough must (for unclear reasons) waive attorney-client privilege before the records can be released. The borough says it is merely waiting for Miller's permission. That may explain the purpose of the press conference Monday: Miller is essentially promising that he will not grant the permission.

There's evidence that he has not always had good relations with previous employers.

His supervisor at the big Anchorage law firm where Miller worked in the 1990s told the Anchorage Daily News recently without elaborating: "I can tell you when he said he was going, nobody said please don't."


By the end of this week, few will be begging for Joe to stay.


image - altered from DZ

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The new Daily Kos/PPP poll just came out. Miller 35%, Murkowski 33% and McAdams 26%. However, the amazing number is that 35% of Obama voters are going with Murkowski, many in fear of a Miller victory. As DK points out, if the Democratic voters came back to McAdams, the poll would have had him around 39% and likely in the lead. We could win this thing if Democrats would just stop being afraid.

Anonymous said...

Act like an ass during the Primary? Try to take away my right to vote for US senators? Refuse to let me vet you for the job? Steal a fishing license?

Screw you, Miller! Coward! Cheat! Poser!

Stop taking my tax dollars to augment your pathetic lifestyle. Go play your power game in some other state, you egomaniac.

Anonymous said...

Anon #1, I totally agree with you. Since Murkowski will no doubt be gaining back some of Miller's disaffected supporters, it behooves Democrats and left-leaning independents to vote for Scott McAdams, the candidate who most closely represents their interests. Lisa has done the left no favors; there is no reason to reward her for bad behavior.

I think Joe's meltdown is an excellent opportunity for Scott.

Blue_in_AK

Anonymous said...

Just don't let Miller win.

bob said...

It would appear that poor jo(k)e is seeing to that-
quite well all by himself

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't he let his wife dress nicely? Put a scarf on her and she looks like a last century babushka. Is this where we are headed if Mr. Miller gets in?

Anonymous said...

Please note the Anchorage Daily News headline on this article - "Miller to Stay Silent on his Past" (print) - "Miller Vows Silence on Personal Background" (web) - Neither is true. Miller's website and commercials continue to trumpet his background. What he is doing is refusing to answer any questions about his background, which is an entirely different thing. OF course, language has never been a priority with the editors at the ADN

Anonymous said...

Another AK political wonk that whines about a 'blog'.

Where have we heard this before??

Time for Joey to put his PJ's on and go home to Mommy. He's been exposed.

His next Ad will start off that "He's not a Warlock. He didn't go to Yale. He didn't got to West Point. He's just a small town Lower 48 Hick"

P.S.: His wife looks like Hillbilly Trailer Trash

Anonymous said...

Would Miller have communicated with Palin at this time? I ask because it seemed, from what I have read, that she/Toad had an unfinished vendetta against Reudich.

Palin endorsed candidates, Miller, Perry, Nikki Haley, ODonnell, etc. are sure being caught up in some lies and are being called liars. It seems when Palin endorses someone, people start investigating, finding negative info and asking questions they should have asked long ago. Part of it too, I think, is that Palin got away with so much and people don't want it to happen anymore. Sorry to make this a Palin post but I almost think of them as the same person.

sallyngarland,tx

Anonymous said...

Went to a Miller Q&A session last night. It was obvious that he is the man for the job. Unless you are a big government progressive of course.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 5:19: Your snark at the end really takes away from what you might otherwise have to offer. So, you went to a session with Joe. What do you think needs to be done in the job, and why do you think he is the right person for it?

(I think that if Joe cleans up, his wife will be the first to go once a few of the kids are out of the house and child support won't be so steep. He is not a nice man, and it's obvious she is his doormat.)

Anonymous said...

Child support? He won't pay child support. He's a divorce lawyer, and one that represents abusive men in taking custody away from fit moms. He'll simply take the kids from her.