Modern campaigns hire trackers to follow rival candidates around, recording their public remarks and interactions. I imagine candidates find this annoying, and some of them occasionally lose their cool, but the practice is just a fact of political life in the 21st century.
Josh Mandel, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, doesn't seem to be adapting well.
If you watch the clip, there's a very brief moment, about 12 seconds in. The tracker enters an elevator with the candidate, Mandel moves towards the guy with the camera, and though we don't see anything physical, you can hear the tracker clearly say, "Please don't." At that point, Mandel backs off and moves away.
The whole, quick incident would hardly be noteworthy, were it not for Mandel lying about it later.
As Marc Kovac at Ohio Capital Blog noted, the Republican candidate accused the tracker of making "the initial physical contact." Unfortunately for Mandel, a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch was also in the elevator.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel said a political video tracker "made the initial physical contact with me" in an incident that occurred Friday in a public elevator, offering an explanation that is not supported by eyewitness accounts nor the video of the incident and is a twist from the original statement put out by the Mandel campaign.
On Saturday, The Dispatch reported that Mandel approached and ultimately grabbed a monopod attached to a camera held by a tracker from the American Bridge 21st Century political-action committee, who had been following Mandel for several minutes and ultimately boarded the same Rhodes Tower elevator. Mandel, the state's treasurer, was on his way to an Ohio Board of Deposit meeting in his Rhodes Tower office.
The entire episode was witnessed by a Dispatch reporter who was interviewing and accompanying Mandel over a period of a few hours Friday.
I'm sure Mandel has a team of advisers, but I might offer some suggestions for the conservative candidate: (1) don't initiate physical confrontations; (2) don't initiate physical confrontations on camera in and in front of journalists; and (3) don't blatantly lie about it.
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Lying and thin skin seem's to be a trait of the republican party.
The really sad part is that they think it's manly.
Typical Republican reaction- Whatever they did, turn it around and blame the other guy for doing that exact same thing.
That's been the Romney playbook for months now.
I bet there could be some 'big money' in starting up a "Campaign Boot Camp" for aspiring pols.
"Steers and Queers" clip from An Officer and a Gentleman. (language alert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lGs-tXWpR4
I don't understand the relevance, but I do have some confidence that Sgt. Foley(Louis Gosset Jr.) would be getting dressed down by the commandant in post-DADT flight school with his "you're either lacking testicles or gay" taunt. I wonder what they do now to tear down recruits, plebes and ensigns.
They could fall back on that old "Reason" thingy .
He is another candidate who wants to involve the U.S. in religious wars. He is against the Muslim community. He is an Israeli sympathizer. He was married in Jerusaleum so his loyalty is with Israel not the U.S. He is way too young, he looks 12 and he is too impressionable, being swayed too easily by the Right extremists views. He needs to do a lot more homework, he is prejudice and he has no right representating all of the people in Ohio when he is excluding some of them.
Isn't "attacking" a part of the GOTP M.O.? And the whole lying and whining about it later cause ya know "he was the victim" a part of getting the sympathy vote?
GOTP so not understanding what leadership is, and that whole "moral compass" thing - it's so last century.
And he's an ex-Marine(Res.). Why does wiki only show his rank as Sergeant, though he had a BA and a JD when he entered the Corps?
Wow. Look at this from Politifact Ohio (Plain Dealer, not St. Pete):
Even in an age of fact checking, the whopper lives
By Henry J. Gomez
Published on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 12:30 p.m.
Josh Mandel's already casual relationship with the truth took a turn toward outright estrangement this month.
The Republican state treasurer and aspiring U.S. senator blamed incumbent rival Sherrod Brown for Ohio jobs relocating to China, a transparent attempt to turn Brown's strong position on foreign trade into a weakness.
Mixing audacity with absurdity, the claim earned a Pants on Fire rating from PolitiFact Ohio.
For the Mandel campaign, the rebuke from the fact-checking arm of The Plain Dealer was just another day at the office. Mandel has received three of PolitiFact Ohio's seven most recent Pants on Fire rulings. Of his 14 statements evaluated on the Truth-O-Meter since 2010, six have been deemed Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire.
Look at the dates. Mandel entered the Corps before receiving his JD.
Which means.... Yep. The Gubmint most likely subsidized his law school education through the Corps' Reserve Tuition Assistance program for activated reservists. Naturally he does not regard that as parasitic mooching off the mother state.
Thanks for the clarification.
At the end of the video, when the tracker said to the reporter "Did you see him trying to grab my stuff?" I didn't think he was talking about his camera gear.
It is refreshing to see Mandel trailing by 8 points despite $19million in attack ads against Sherrod Brown. Let the GOP make the t v stations rich and still get their collectives asses handed to them.
Like they did on Issue #2.
I'm guessing Mandel's definition of "making the initial physical contact" was the tracker getting onto the elevator in the first place.
How is it that these Republicans running for office look like weasels? Mandel, Cantor, Ryan, et.al, look like they came out of the weasel clone factory. And, is being a liar a prerequisite for being a Republican candidate?
Yes. Yes it is.
The stink of desperation is strong on this one.
Ok maybe this is just election season fatigue setting it but here's an idea...
We take anyone who wants to run for office (including incumbents) and we make them live in a house together for three months like a reality show. We could watch them debate their ideas about political philosophy and the role of government in modern American society...Oh who am I kidding it would turn into who used the last of the toilet paper and that the other guys room smells like a middle school gym locker
I am yawning. This is the definition of a non-story. Must be a slow day waiting in anticipation for a debate between two people saying nothing specific or detailed.
romney looks like max head room or is it me?
romney looks like max head room /remember that in the 80's
I think Mr.Leher, is partial to Mr. Romney; he seems to defer to Mr. Romney and allow him more latitude in interrupting President Obama and himself. I would appreciate it if the next debate is handled by a moderator who is more objective and does not allow the Mr. Romney to go on an on.... He just let Mr. Romney,again, have the last word in a particular segment.
hay meddows,, i know what a steer looks like, and i know you are a queer,but it is a shame that all the out news casters on msnbc are all queers too,,you all look alike,,i wounder what you all do with each other on your breaks,. and you all must fight over whos turn it is to be under king obammies desk to puff on his peter,. it's no wonder you all have a queers grin on you faces,,boy you must all be brain dead...
hay meddows , what day is your day to get under obammies desk to puff on his black peter,,,now don't fight with all the oter so called news casters,, be sure to give them a turn too...