Herrity Dives Head First Into The Gutter

Pat Herrity has sent out a mailer that calls Keith Fimian a tax cheat and compares him to President Obama's appointees.  I don't think I've ever seen such slime thrown at a fellow Republican in my life.  Of course the Herritics will come on this blog and claim Keith has run a dirty campaign and attacked Pat non-stop.  Yes, he has run an aggressive campaign but only against Pat's voting record, he's never made a personal attack like this in print sent to fellow Republicans.  And even if you believe that Keith has been too aggressive, this pretty much ends the any moral high ground you guys have self-righteously claimed throughout the campaign.

Its a pathetic day to see a man like Pat Herrity resort to embracing old, fake, and false charges dug up by the DCCC and Gerry Connolly.

Pat Herrity.  Embracing the politics of Gerry Connolly.

That's all you need to know going into June 8th. 

The mailer is below the jump

Comments

[Beantowngurl]

Wow.

Even I am shocked. I knew Herrity was a statist, a moderate pretending to be a conservative, and as local gop often reminds us, a Tom Davis sock puppet. But, I never, in my wildest dreams, thought he was such a gutter snipe.

His internal polling must indicate he's running behind, significantly. Antics like these are the last ditch efforts of a loser, and a sore loser at that.

[Al Genova]

Wonder what Anthony Bedell and the FCRC thinks about Herrity now? They endorsed this clown. Are they going to ride his pony into the gutter as well?

[Dan]

"I don't think I've ever seen such slime thrown at a fellow Republican in my life."

Chris, I know you are a student of history. And of political history. So I know that you know that this campaign between Herrity and Fimian doesn't even register on the scale of dirty campaigns in a historical context. But to say that this is the worst you have ever seen thrown at one Republican by another is preposterous. That statement indicates a complete lack of objectivity on your part due to your having a horse in this race.

I seem to recall ten years ago a Republican presidential primary in the state of South Carolina where the Bushies behaved in a way that was truly shocking toward John McCain. I'm a lot older than you and have seen a lot more campaigns (both dirty and otherwise) and I found that one particularly disgusting. That Bush allowed that to be done in his name spoke volumes, I believe, about his lack of character. It made me believe that he was the type of man who should never be president.

That judgment has nothing to do with political views. I'm sure I will disagree with plenty of other presidents in the future. As will you. But there are certain lines that when you cross them would tend to disqualify you from office. Bush's behavior in South Carolina in 2000 was such a case in my estimation.

So, I do believe there are limits to what is acceptable in a campaign. And this one in the 11th CD isn't anywhere near that territory.

Candidates are free to choose to run negative campaigns. The voters will sort it all out. But to run an almost exclusively negative campaign, as Fimian has clearly done, and then to express shock and dismay and outrage when your opponent responds in kind is unseemly whining of the highest order. If Fimian's delicate sensibilities are so easily offended by negative attacks, perhaps he shouldn't have gone negative from day one. He set the tone.

You are a bit disingenuous when you characterize Fimian's campaign as "an aggressive campaign but only against Pat's voting record". An objective observer without a dog in the fight might call it negative. And might think that distorting the record would be a fair description.

To decry the fight after picking the fight makes Fimian look like the kid who starts a fight and when the other kid knocks him on his ass goes crying to mommy to complain about the kid who merely finished the fight. If Fimian had run a clean, positive campaign we could parse this mailer and make a case that Herrity chose to take the low road and use that against him. But that isn't what happened in this campaign, is it?

Herrity doesn't have a reputation for going negative in his previous campaigns. If Fimian hadn't set the tone he may well not have felt the need to go there this time.

But let's be honest here. Fimian set the tone early and he has stayed almost exclusively negative. Whining about it now doesn't make him look good and Herrity bad. It makes Fimian look like that schoolyard bully who picks the fight and runs off crying when someone hits back.

Even at this late hour I still think Fimian would be best served by finally adding a positive aspect to his campaign. Giving voters a reason to vote for him.

Pay the damned tax lien and put the best possible spin on it and get out a positive message! This ain't rocket science.

[local gop]

i know that as soon as the usual suspects read this they are sure to come out attacking me as a "Herritic", sock puppet supporter, RINO, bla bla bla.

1) herrity's camp should not have sent that mailer out. it shows that he is willing to sink to the level of fimian.

2) i love it that Chris had to put the words 'in print' after the words 'he's never made a personal attack like this'...does anyone know why he worded it as such? Someone? Anyone? Going once...twice...no? its because Fimian has gone to debates and thrown mud like this over and over again. fimian even attacked pat's family, his family. "[pat] only wants this job to feed his family." yeah, real classy keith.

3) the only repercussions this will have is that herrity can no longer claim the high ground, which is unfortunate, but he cant any more. 1 attack from pat, dozens from fimian is in no way equitable, but its is a fly in the ointment.

[Credoad]

Local Gop
I'm a volunteer for Pat not on Staff.

I think it's honest to debate on whether this should have gone out. I don't think this is a practice. If people think this is bad, just imagine what Connolly would or could do.

I also volunteered for Hunt's State Senate race. I watched as Marsden just totally slimed Steve and was disappointed Steve never countered.

Keith has not only attacked Pat and his family - he has attacked the other GOP members of the Fairfax Board by implication. We don't need another congressman who doesn't consider the unintended consequences of his actions.

[Herrity shows his true colors]

its because Fimian has gone to debates and thrown mud like this over and over again. fimian even attacked pat's family, his family. "[pat] only wants this job to feed his family."

Never has Fimian said anything like that about Pat. He has said he doesn't need the job, he wants the job to have an impact.

You can't name any real personal attack Keith has ever launched about Pat or his family.

It takes a lot to call someone a tax cheat, when two years ago everyone came to Keith's defense when Connolly launched this false attack. A lot of desperation that is.

Kyle, do you think that independent contractors for a company not paying their taxes makes the owner a tax cheat?

Herrity is desperate. Herrity is pathetic. Herrity is going to lose on June 8th and he knows it.

[Liberals for Herrity]

Herrity is a serial tax raiser. No wonder Dan and the liberal bloggers love this guy.

[The Donkey]

Is that what this is about?

Well then, yes: the owners of a company that misclassifies employees as "independent contractors" to avoid tax liabilities are definitely "tax cheats."

If that is what Finian did, then Herrity was completely justified in calling him out.

[Dan]

Liberals for Herrity, I don't "love this guy". Although I have no reason to dislike him. I don't dislike either of them. My interest in this primary is simply my desire that the weaker Republican candidate win the nomination. Which, as I have repeatedly stated, means I support Fimian in the primary.

I don't quite understand what purpose is served by you (and the rest of the Fimian squad) insisting on misstating my position about the primary. And I am surprised that you all do that endlessly without ever once attempting to make a case that your candidate would be the stronger candidate in a general election in a Democratic leaning district with an incumbent Democratic Congressman.

Do any of you have any understanding of the district in which your guy is running? Do you really think running around screaming "liberal, liberal, liberal" and proclaiming Tom Davis to be the spawn of Satan who is secretly the Machiavelli behind Herrity's candidacy is going to carry you to victory?

Is it any wonder that the Fimian campaign is being called pathetic? The guy may have many fine qualities, but his campaign is wholly unimpressive. The fact that even his most ardent online supporters can't even make a case for him speaks volumes. Which is a real shame for those of us who want to see him come out on top June 8th.

[Boss Herrity]

Jackass,

The is no misqualification here. As Herrity knows full well being a CPA, people who are contractors are paid in full by their employer and it is the contractor's responsibility to pay their own taxes. The IRS is an abusive agency too lazy to get the real tax cheats, so they go after small businesses to get the money. In Fimian's case, he paid the taxes twice. Once when he paid the contractors, and a second time when he paid the IRS. He probably could have fought it in court and won, by why waste far more than 16,000 doing so?

The only cheat here is Pat Herrity...cheating tax payers by not showing up for work as Sharon Bulova noted when she beat him for Chairman last year.