October 25, 2024

"The ad... could be the final shot in an extremely negative campaign. It puts the spotlight on [Tammy] Baldwin’s personal life..."

"... in an attempt to turn a low-key Midwesterner into a high-flying East Coast elitist. And it also tries to invert one of Democrats’ most effective criticisms of [Eric] Hovde, the extremely wealthy chairman and chief executive of a bank in Utah."


Is Hovde just fighting fire with fire on the issue of who really lives in Wisconsin or should this be considered some sort of gay baiting?


IN THE COMMENTS: Bushman of the Kohlrabi gives what I think is the correct response to the NYT's accusation:
Tammy is openly gay. She has been praised for her gayness by major state and national media outlets for years. She has been openly celebrated and supported by LGBT groups since she was first elected to the Senate. Every Wisconsinite with a pulse knows she’s gay. Is she now saying she’s embarrassed to be gay? More likely she just doesn’t want voters to know if her partner benefited financially from her Senate gig.

73 comments:

Original Mike said...

"Is Hovde just fighting fire with fire on the issue of who really lives in Wisconsin or should this be considered some sort of gay baiting?

Tammy Baldwin is gay!? This is my shocked face…

This ad has been on TV for weeks. It informed me of something I didn't know (no not that she's gay; I literally could not care less): Tammy Baldwin lives in NYC and she's rich.

paminwi said...

Only the NYT would read gay bashing into the ad.

Big Mike said...

I don’t understand. Is Tammy Baldwin -ashamed of being gay?

RAH said...

If it works, then use it. Democrat's do not play fair . See all the stuff they throw at Trump. So why should Republicans play fair ?

Gilbert Pinfold said...

Or could it more simply be about insider knowledge that can affect financial transactions. I have all my investments in mutual funds at Vanguard (wise or not, but my Econ 101 teacher was Burton Malkiel), and I'm amazed at the stock-picking ability of Paul Pelosi and other Congress-adjacent people. As a former officer of a publicly-traded company, any disclosure of inside information would have landed me in jail (Oh, hello Martha Stewart--why are you here in Danbury and not in Westport?)

Dixcus said...

So, to answer the question posed, one should simply see how the ad would be any different if Tammy Baldwin was married to some Wall Street hedge fund manager (male).

The ad would be exactly the same. Same comments. Same photos. Everything. The word "gay" isn't in the ad.

This ad is explaining to Wisconsin voters that their Senator lives in New York with an extremely rich person and doesn't even travel much to Wisconsin any longer.

That is a very good advertisement. There is nothing controversial about it.

Dixcus said...

I'm pretty sure Tammy Baldwin's salsa is made in New York City.

Dixcus said...

They want to use "gay" as a shield. You can't criticize her because she's gay, or you are engaging in "gay bashing." See how that works. See how they are using their very non-standard sexual preferences to prevent any sort of examination of what they're doing as politicians?

This is why nobody likes assholes.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

I think it is very effective, true, and to the point. Having a beloved family member in the same lifestyle (for 35 years), I don't find it at all hostile to gays. I lived near Dodgeville [WI] when she first became a House-Member. Her bedroom proclivities did not matter to me, nor do they now.

But even in the '90s she was obviously a wannabe elitist, and in the intervening decades she has only set her elitist goals higher and higher. There's no way I see that ever serving the ordinary people of Wisconsin.

Dixcus said...

"It worked, didn't it?" - Democrat Harry Reid, when criticized for falsely accusing Mitt Romney of not having paid income taxes.

DINKY DAU 45 said...

Another FAKE newspaper "Democracy Dies in Darkness" is the official slogan of the American newspaper The Washington Post, adopted in 2017. Bezos told staff not to endorse Harris as it was already in the cards,so he pulled the LA TIMES TRICK (ANOTHER RIGHT WINGER in charge) causing the editor to quit..YUP nice slogan ,too bad it means nothing....

Dixcus said...

This ad is a damning indictment of Maria Bisbane's taste in women. She could do MUUUUUUCHHHH better than the bridge troll she's munching.

DINKY DAU 45 said...

Yup Bibi pulls his October surprise as I stated weeks ago to help his BRO ,the orange guy have people freaking out.. Its so see through..

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Wikipedia lists her past and current domestic partners, does that make it a gay bashing site?

Dixcus said...

Daily Mail reporting that Israel has begun World War III. A bunch of suicide vests manufactured by a beeper company have begun exploding in Tehran.

Bob B said...

It always seemed to me to be the Post’s goal, not slogan.

Big Mike said...

If it isn’t a bratwurst then she absolutely no longer a politician from Wisconsin. Doubly bad if it’s a Nathan’s frank from Coney Island.

gspencer said...

Homo today, Homo tomorrow, Homo forever.

boatbuilder said...

The NY lady appears (in the ad) to be pulled-together as well as fabulously wealthy. There must be a dog whistle I am not hearing.
Is there anyone is Wisconsin who doesn't know about this? She's been a Senator for 12 years and a congressperson for 25.

mongo said...

I live in Maryland. Hovered has sent me a couple of emails recently asking for money. I wish I knew how I got on his mailing list.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Tammy is openly gay. She has been praised for her gayness by major state and national media outlets for years. She has been openly celebrated and supported by LGBT groups since she was first elected to the Senate. Every Wisconsinite with a pulse knows she’s gay. Is she now saying she’s embarrassed to be gay? More likely she just doesn’t want voters to know if her partner benefited financially from her Senate gig.

gilbar said...

Back in the day, our Senator Tom Harkin* had his main home in Virginia..
his second, vacation home was in the BRITISH Virgin Islands..
his legal "residence" was a Post Office Box in the Hotel Fort Des Moines.
He would drop by the state every 4 years or so, to go to the Jefferson Jackson day dinner.
Harkin* the Only Politician, that Ever took the time to lie to gilbar's face (about dogfighting in Vietnam).. This was back when Tom was a Congressman, not yet a Senator

Original Mike said...

The ad informed me of two things I didn't know: Baldwin lives in NYC and she is rich.

n.n said...

Transgender politics is a journolistic mainstay of NYT reporting.

mongo said...

Dixcus , theDaily Mail article I read said nothing about suicide vests exploding. Do you have a link?

n.n said...

The queer perplexity of political congruence ("=") is a progressive condition.

john mosby said...

Dixcus - ha! I remember that Pace salsa ad, too!

JSM

Dixcus said...

Tammy Baldwin is used up. Maria Brisbane could be munching some top-level New York talent ... you gotta go to Wisconsin to get your wax-job wetted? How in the world is Tammy Baldwin getting laid?

john mosby said...

Dixcus, you cant have a whole paragraph about gay stuff and then say nobody likes assholes.

JSM

Dixcus said...

Why isn't Tammy Baldwin doing lesbian stuff in Washington DC where the voters of Wisconsin sent her to look out for THEIR interests?

Dixcus said...

Wait for it.

EAB said...

My guess is they’d run the same ad if her life partner was a man. I think it’s a direct response to the attacks on Hovde not really being Wisconsin. Thinking it's homophobic is deflection. Her theme against Hovde is he’s a jerk. His theme against her is she’s not really Wisconsin Midwest anymore but is an east coast elitist.

Big Mike said...
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Big Mike said...
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Bonkti said...

Identifying a politician's family member is like nudity in films. If it develops an important theme it is not exploitative.

Because coastal elitism is perhaps the central theme of the broader Trump/Republican message, "outrage" at ad may well result in Streisand effects.

Original Mike said...

Well everybody knows she's gay, it's a badge of honor, but as to where she lives or her wealth, no. Do you think the media going's to report that?

The Vault Dweller said...

This ad informed me that Tammy Baldwin is gay. Though I don't live in Wisconsin.

JRoberts said...

Not sure where I heard this (and someone here might be able to deny or confirm), but is it true the Baldwin/Brisbane relationship was not legalized/marriage in an effort to shield them from insider trading violations in Congress?

loudogblog said...

You can't expect equal rights and then expect to be treated differently than heterosexual couples are in politics. Everyone knows that life partners are fair game in politics. (Even though I wish that campaigns wouldn't stoop to this.)

JRoberts said...

Senator Lugar of Indiana basically lost his seat over residency issues. I think there was a House candidate for Georgia who had Tennessee residency until after getting elected.

Gusty Winds said...

He's pointing out a clear conflict of interest.

Aggie said...

OK, then: How should it have been expressed? What was the proper way to do it? I find nothing offensive about the ad, except the Senator's behavior, which has been fairly critiqued. They should back it up with her actual time spend in-state as a capper, if they really want to make their point.

Original Mike said...

Seems obvious, doesn't it?

Christopher B said...

recalibrate your sarcasm and irony meters.

tim maguire said...

The ad seems mostly fair, but I'm having trouble thinking of another politician who's spouse figures so prominently in campaign advertising. How many politicians have finance spouses and it barely comes up?

Tina Trent said...

Who cares who she fucks, as long as she'snot a Kennedy?

Nobody. Talk abouther platform , or tell her to shut her gob-hole.

Iman said...

I don’t get it. Are they intimating there’s something wrong with being gay?

Iman said...

What Congress desperately needs - other than term limits - is they make it illegal to buy ANY stock or make ANY investments while the senator or rep is in office.

Iman said...

Trans women are women. Hot dogs are dogs.

Iman said...

Democrats with their coup made sure that Democracy Died in Plain Sight.

Original Mike said...

She's made a big of his wealth. Ad after ad.

rehajm said...

Millions is kind of a big payday for a retail advisor, even for a NYC CFA at MS

walter said...

I thought she was into cows.

Original Mike said...

big deal

Skeptical Voter said...

i dunno. I suspect that every voter in Wisconsin who didn't live under a meadow muffin out at the local dairy farm knew Tammy Baldwin was gay. So showing her New York city based partner was a geographic rather than a gender attack.

And the last politico who thought the gay issue was a big deal was ol Lesbian Sex Larry O'Donnell. During the 2004 election Larry (never the sharpest tool in the shed although he keeps getting hired by the Dims) thought he could make political hay by pointing out that one of Dick Cheney's daughters was an out lesbian and engaged in "lesbian sex". Larry repeated the words lesbian sex maybe 20 times in a single 60 second ad. He's an idiot.

And times and opinions have moved on. The voters in South Carolina keep returning Republican Miss Lindsey Graham to the Senate every six years.

Original Mike said...

What happened to Spazz?

Rocco said...

Iman said...
"Trans women are women. Hot dogs are dogs."

And [Guinea] Pigs is Pigs.

Peachy said...

The emphasis is on New York and money. That the ad mentions "partner" and the left got triggered - that's just normal freakoutism of the left.

Peachy said...

If she is openly gay - why is it a secret? Is she ashamed?

Sprezzatura said...

I know it's hard to imagine, but our anti-censorship host does a lot of censorship on this blog.

I was surprised that she let so many of my comments exist on the blog today. Presumably she was busy doing IRL stuff so killing free speech on the blog got sloppy for a bit. I stop by every now and then to test if I'm still on the 'delete list.' At some point I'll be allowed back. I've been here since early in 2008 so I know that being banned is not permanent. At some point I'll be allowed back, probably after the election when my anti-DJT POV will be acceptable on this blog.

Peachy said...

You beat me to it.

Original Mike said...

I know what happened. It ain't your anti-DJT POV, Spazz. I thought you were smart. You told me that yourself…

Original Mike said...

It's not one thing. You're an ass. Recent example, shitting on her marriage with Meade.

And I've already transgressed too much by talking to you, I am done.

Original Mike said...

"Sux to be a dipshit."

I'm sure all that money makes it easier.

Mary Beth said...

They should have made two versions of the ad. The first one, just like what they released. Then a second one that is almost the same, but pointedly avoids mentioning the life partner. Same video, just blur out Brisbane.

"This is Tammy Baldwin. She spends most of her time in NYC, staying at a $7 million condo. She does not want us to tell you why or who she is staying with and how that person works advising companies that Tammy regulates. She rarely gets home to WI. Again, Democrats do not want us to explain the reasons why...."

boatbuilder said...

Remind me again. Are "Trans women" women who formerly were men, or men who are now women? It's all so confusing.

boatbuilder said...

"Sux to be a dipshit.
10/25/24, 9:40 PM"
By George, I think he's got it!.

boatbuilder said...

Heh. Brilliant.

Mason G said...

"Remind me again. Are "Trans women" women who formerly were men, or men who are now women? It's all so confusing."

Replace "trans" with "not" and the confusion slips away.

Kirk Parker said...

Let me mention my entirely immodest proposal for a very strict residency requirement both during office and for the preceding N years.

Rusty said...

I don't know why they think I need to know she's gay.

Publiusmaximus said...

Don't say gay!

Lazarus said...

It's nice to see the video where it's supposed to be. It was popping up in other places and I couldn't figure out if Donald Trump or Joe Rogan was New York's third senator.

People say Wyden of Oregon spends more time in NYC than in Oregon, but in general, New York bashing isn't a winning or an appealing strategy. Why put down any part of the country?