Kingsport’s Republican Rag

The Times-News reports that Rep. Nathan Vaughn is taking 2nd House District GOP challenger Tony Shipley to task for distributing a newspaper-style campaign piece Shipley calls the “Kingsport Community News.”

Shipley acknowledged the publication is paid for by his campaign.

“We put all kinds of things in it,” Shipley, of Colonial Heights, said of the publication. “I can’t expect (the news media) to carry the mail for me. I needed (newspaper) space to discuss issues … as opposed to how Mr. Vaughn wants them to be reported. … We publish about 20,000 of them every 10 days.”

According to Shipley’s website, Kingsport Community News is the good news of Kingsport, Colonial Heights, Indian Springs, and Sullivan Gardens. Contrary to the candidate’s claims, the Kingsport Community News does not contain “all kinds of things.” The rag is clearly campaign propaganda and is published by The Committee To Elect Tony Shipley, a fact noted on pages 2 and 3 of Volumes I and II.

Is that deceptive? Considering most of the “articles” are about Shipley, written by Republicans or Shipley’s wife and the paper does contain the “published by” disclaimer, I have to say no. It is not. In fact, it’s rather smart. This area is still made up of folks, who firmly believe, “If it’s in the newspaper, it must be true.” Therefore, Shipley is using a medium that area voters trust to deliver his message without challenge.

Will voters be deceived by it? Yes, it is likely. Ultimately, however, voters must take responsibility for their decisions: this includes the process of educating themselves on the issues, verifying sources of information and weighing it accordingly. You know, voting has always been a lot like courting. Candidates will say damn near anything to get you into bed with them – and if you fall for every slick line you’re handed, you’re probably gonna end up screwed. But that’s your choice.

 

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Shipley: Bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee

Hank Hayes changes the approach in part four of his Tennessee 2nd House District series. This article tackles GOP challenger Tony Shipley’s attacks against Democratic incumbent state Rep. Nathan Vaughn and his vote to *increase tobacco taxes – an increase which was intended to finance education funding reform.

Of course, we’ve heard about the tobacco tax ad nauseam. Republicans have used the hike to go after incumbents in several local races, such as Senator Mike Williams, Rep. Kent Williams and Vaughn. (For the record, Vaughn’s Republican neighbors: Mike Harrison, District 9, and Dale Ford, District 6, also supported the tax increase but we don’t hear nearly as much about that. Isn’t that odd?)

Anyway, perhaps due to the change in format, Nathan Vaughn takes the offensive and finally calls Shipley on the fairy tales he’s been toting around to potential voters:

“My opponent says he’s going to build roads in Indian Springs, and he wants to build a road on (State Highway) 93, but then he says ‘We’re not going to have any taxes,’” Vaughn said. ‘We’re not only not going to raise any taxes … but we’re also going to give people everything they want. And then we’re going to take the tax off food.’ How can you run government if you strip it of all the resources it needs to operate? This is disingenuous to the people of this state when you know that it’s never going to happen. He is appealing to an attitude that if I can have something for nothing, then that’s what I want.”

Exactly.

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News or Not?

I understand that during election years, we revisit old issues, take a closer look at incumbents and their voting record. I think this is an excellent idea; however, I’m not entirely sure about this Times-News series (Parts I, II, and III) examining claims made by Tennessee 2nd House District GOP challenger Tony Shipley in his race against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Nathan Vaughn.

Shipley (who, by the way, also wants to eliminate all sales taxes on Tennessee farm Products and, if elected, might just buy all the pretty girls their very own unicorn too) has made various claims against Vaughn. Of course, just because Shipley says it doesn’t make it true. So, it’s worth a closer look and again, I’ve no issue with the newspaper examining those claims.

HOWEVER: instead of just presenting both candidates’ views (and history if applicable) the Times-News is examining specifically Shipley’s claims against his opponent. This means those claims, true or false, are included in the lead-in (and the headline.) This instantly places Vaughn on the defensive and implies his position before he ever states it.

Is that fair?

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Men @ Work – sorta

Heh.  I finally learned out how to swipe things from the video archives, but I guess you’ve figured that out already.

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