Dick Lugar has the reputation, deserved or not, of being the gentleman of the Senate, a now-grandfatherly figure who is well-liked personally if not politically.
Lugar now is in the political fight of his life against Richard Mourdock. Lugar is fighting back, as I pointed out previously, with blatantly false accusations calling Mourdock a tax cheat, and absurd race-card plays.
Now even FactCheck.org is calling Lugar out on the numerous lies being spread by Lugar’s campaign and SuperPAC:
The Republican primary for Sen. Richard Lugar’s seat is apparently too close for comfort. Both Lugar’s campaign and the American Action Network are airing misleading attack ads against Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, the senator’s challenger for the nomination. The ads strain the facts to make Mourdock look like a tax cheat who makes bad investments and does not show up for work.
- The AAN ad claims that “Hoosier pensions and other funds lost millions” because of Mourdock’s “big bet on junk bonds.” That’s an exaggeration. It’s true that three state funds that purchased Chrysler debt in 2008 lost money when that company went through bankruptcy in 2009. But Mourdock didn’t oversee the investments of the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund, which is the only one that actually lost “millions.”
- Ads from both the AAN and the Lugar campaign fault Mourdock for receiving an illegal second homestead deduction on a condominium he purchased in 2006. But the previous owner of the property, not Mourdock, applied for the deduction. Mourdock claimed that he notified the county auditor’s office of the illegal deduction in 2007. And the county auditor’s office has actually said that it erred in not removing the credit.
- The AAN ad also says that Mourdock has “skipped 66 percent of his official board meetings.” That’s true, according to an analysis done by Howey Politics Indiana. In his defense, Mourdock’s office says that the treasurer or his designee sits on 13 boards and commissions, and that Mourdock is nearly always represented by a senior staff member when he doesn’t attend meetings personally.
I’ll repeat something I said several days ago, and which is becoming more obvious with each passing day:
In order to win, Lugar needs to lie about Mourdock; in order to win, Mourdock needs to tell the truth about Lugar.
Is throwing away a reputation built over 36 years really the way Lugar wants to go out? Is a seventh term in the Senate worth the cost of Lugar’s reputation?
Obviously, yes.
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Comments
If he wins, the electorate will forget about the venom, especially if this is his last term.
Mourdock should gut him.
But in that Ted Nugent kinda way…
Seeing as how nearly every Senator has to be carried out of the “World’s Most Deliberative Body” feet first, is this really a surprise?
I lived in IN when grandpa Dick was elected. Compared to what we had in office at the time, he appeared to be somewhere near Dick Cheney in his political bent. Somewhere around his second term when he began to feel invincible, his car began veering to the left as if his wife were driving.
Time to go home Dick. Wherever that may be.
Has there ever been a better case for term limits? The phenomenon you saw with Lugar has been repeated dozens (hundreds?) of times in DC. I lived and worked in DC for 40 years and observed it many times. Being in the Congress just corrupts people, even good people. I don’t really have a clear explanation, but certainly happens a lot, although not always.
A prediction: if Lugar loses, he’ll support the Democrat in the fall.
When a conservative Pub loses a primary, he/she is expected to support the ticket, and almost all do.
But when a more moderate Pub loses a primary, he/she not infrequently will refuse to support the conservative who beat them, and will either sit on their hands or actually endorse the Democrat.
Keep an eye on Lugar if he loses.
Cripes, I hope you are wrong. That always just leaves me wanting to cuse.
Or run as an independent a la Murkowski (and maybe caucus with the Democrats if elected).
Indiana has a sore loser law. If you lose in the primary, you cannot run in the general. Spread the word.
“It’s true that three state funds that purchased Chrysler debt in 2008 lost money when that company went through bankruptcy in 2009. But Mourdock didn’t oversee the investments of the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund, which is the only one that actually lost “millions.””
Mourdock fought against the bailout of Chrysler which left secured creditors — including Hoosier retirement funds — in the dust.
Lugar supported that very bailout.
It’s almost as if Lugar and his pals, in bringing up supposed dirt on Mourdock, are *trying* to remind folks why they shouldn’t vote for Lugar.
Indiana, Dicky Lugar is just trying to save his cushy job. Support Rick Mourdock.
… and the beat goes on. Here is the latest attack by the Lugar campaign:
Lugar has been re-elected to six terms???
If there were term limits, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. In my not-so-humble-opinion term limits for ALL elected offices are way overdue. But don’t expect such to occur soon since it would not be self serving for the average career politician.
Lugar needs to go and hopefully he will be-gone…
I lived in Indiana when Dick Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis and was elected Senator. He always had a strong interest in foreign affairs and developed that interest to gain a good reputation in the Senate. I met him in person several times while living there (I now live in Texas). Today, however, I hardly recognize the man and his expertise in foreign affairs has waned in the face of the growing threat from Islamic fundamentalism and its support of jihad. It’s long, past time for Dick to retire. Since he won’t take that route, he needs to be defeated. When I heard Richard Mourdock speak at CPAC last February, I was very impressed and have been lobbying everyone I know in Indiana to vote for him, including my mother.
[…] In a post reminiscent of the old saw that you have to watch people closely when they talk because liars mouths move up and down when they lie; Professor Jacobson’s Legal Insurrection notes that Indiana Senator Richard Lugar is likely to lose both his seat and his reputation. […]
[…] oft-cited Leftist fact-checker. From the esteemed Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection: Lugar now is in the political fight of his life against Richard Mourdock. Lugar is fighting back, […]
[…] targeted ads will repeat the misleading claim, already debunked by FactCheck.org, that Mourdock cheated on taxes. This is yet another sign of Lugar […]