My associate, over at the Common Sense Blog, turned me on to the fact that the contenders in the GOP primary for TX-17 have devolved into a mud-slinging, name-calling campaign. Candidates Tucker Anderson and Van Taylor have taken the low road towards one another (Waco Tribune).

After reading only two sentences in the above-linked story, I was already hearing strains of "Dueling Banjos":

The dueling Republican candidates still shake hands and trade smiles before speeches as they vie for the chance to challenge U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, but it’s another story in the mailboxes and media.

It appears that recent television commercials, within the district, are the new battlefield. Although the hand shaking and smiling still occurs, the candidates have jumped on the mud-sling bandwagon:

Anderson, who has repeatedly highlighted Taylor’s lack of roots in the district, is now on the receiving end of criticism as Taylor questions Anderson’s residency and campaign style in recent ads.

Ads released Wednesday suggest Anderson is not paying taxes on the Calvert home where he lives about 50 miles southeast of Waco and claim Anderson has used newspaper letters-to-the-editor written by liberals to promote his campaign.

Anderson, who is a former congressional staffer running on his roots in the district, said the Taylor ads make it appear like he is not paying property taxes while he is renting a home owned by his parents.

Anderson showed a tax bill and a deed for a separate Calvert ranch he owns with his brother at a Waco news conference Wednesday and accused Taylor’s campaign of using “falsehoods” to confuse voters.

My personal favorite sentence in the entire article?

Taylor said he was forced to respond when an Anderson campaign mailer compared him to former Democratic presidential candidate and war veteran John Kerry.

Yep, that’s right. the Anderson campaign committed the most grevious campaign sin of all. Comparing a Republican to John Kerry. …If you’re not giggling by now, then take a look at this next statement:

Taylor’s campaign has criticized Anderson’s campaign methods of using two newspaper letters-to-the-editor – in a campaign advertisement and in a posting on his Web site – that he believes were written by people who claim to be liberals on Web sites.

Heaven forbid a liberal endorse anyone outside of his party, particularly a republican. The sky is falling, Auntie Em! The sky is falling!

Of course, Anderson decides to defend himself in a most unique way - by playing stupid:

Anderson he did not know who wrote the letters he used. He said he assumed newspapers vetted letters before printing them.

…Although his assumption hasn’t made one out of me, yet, he certainly made one out of himself. My homie over at Common Sense Blog responded to that little gem, thus:

Vetting letters for political affiliation? What kind of fascist state does he think we live in? Even a Nazi is entitled to writing a letter-the-editor of a newspaper.

It appears that Taylor has asked Anderson to apologize for using the letters. Anderson is refusing. It seems that Taylor is convinced that Anderson planted liberals to write letters to the editor, trashing him (Taylor). Personally, I think they’re both full of it. Anderson for expecting the paper to double-check the letters, and Taylor for assuming that all liberals wear pink ribbons, rainbow buttons, and have a small tattoo of Garfield(tm) on our necks. In other words, how does Taylor know the writers are liberals? Just because they say so, online? Please.

This kind of mud-slinging is something you’d expect between different parties, not within only one. It’s amusing, and amazing, to me how low people will stoop in their campaigns. Heck, this could easily be considered a pre-campaign, as it’s just for the primary. Imagine how these guys will act, if one of them gets to run in a "real" election.

Technorati Tags: TX-17, Tucker Anderson, Van Taylor, Common Sense Blog, Primary

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