An Anonymous dropped a comment in my George Carlin post, reproducing a fundraising letter he received from State Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R-Vidal Sassoon.) Here's the meat of it:
- Often in politics, leaders promise to be visionaries who will "turn around Ohio."
All too often, those slogans and promises turn out to be empty.
Ohio's challenges are too serious to simply be managed. They require
forward thinking leadership that is in touch with our common values. Our citizens
deserve leadership that is bold enough to share a detailed vision and is
energetic enough to turn that vision into a reality.
I want you to be the first to know that I will be spending the coming months
discussing what my contribution can be toward building a Whole New Ohio with
my family, friends, and supporters. By Thanksgiving, I will decide whether
to seek to lead our state in 2010.[Emphasis added]
At this point, no additional information is available on KC's campaign website and New Summit Republicans remains static since the coup was put down.
Ted Strickland could do worse than an opponent who will be undercut by his home county party chair (and one of the most powerful party chairs in the state) at every turn. Make no mistake, Alex Arshinkoff will say "feh" to party loyalty and make it his personal mission to take out Coughlin if he runs. And it wouldn't even make the Top Ten Most Petty and Fratricidal Things A2 Has Ever Done list.
Meanwhile, I'm curious who is getting this letter. All I know about Anon is that he's posting from Akron. Summit County is pretty barren land for Coughlin after his unsuccessful run at Alex. He certainly won't get any of the major funders on board and folks who give to him will likely get on Alex's naughty list.
Hence the bleg1 part. Did anyone outside of SummitCo. get the letter? Please drop a comment or an email. Thanks.
1If you are relatively new to blog world, a "bleg" is a blog-based request for information. Blog + beg. And agreed, the lingo is getting increasingly precious.
10 comments:
It was sent to people on his email list. So wherever they are.
Coughlin need not worry... Arshinkoff is going to be indicted in the same mess as Widowfield. Blackmail is a crime... a felony in fact...
Pho... you're killing me with the talking phootenotes. Please, let's not take the worst attributes of legal writing and bring it into the pure, virginal writing of bloggers.
Ask yourself: "WWBGD?" (What would Bryan Garner do?)
Somebody in Arshinkoff's camp thinks it's cute to cut and paste the fundraising letter all over the place. Not sure what purpose it serves but it's free advertising for Coughlin.
My understanding is that Coughlin has plenty of major financial backers from Summit County. And his move against Arshinkoff was a win-win. If he succeeded, he got a stronger more competitive county party. If he came up short, everyone in Ohio would know exactly why Arshinkoff is trying to cut him down. Republicans outside of Summit County don't have much love for Arshinkoff, so casting himself against the Alex machine was not a bad move.
What did Coughlin mean by using the term "ghettoized"??
Is it a verb, adjective, or just plain racial hate speech???
ME:
I disagree on both counts. First off, I think footnotes a useful tool for adding content without disrupting the flow of the narrative. In blogging they can serve the same function as a small sidebar.
I also disagree that Garner would have a problem with them. After all, he has long advocated putting citations in footnotes to avoid cluttering up the brief.
Take the example in this post. It's obnoxious to use blog jargon willy nilly without offering some definition, but a definition in the body of the post (even as a parenthetical) would have disrupted the flow. With the footnote, those who don't know what a bleg is can follow down, and those in the know can read on.
" Whole New Ohio"? That's going to be Coughlin's slogan? Isn't he ripping off that song "Whole New World" from that Disney Movie Aladdin???
That's it? Is he going to campaign around the State of Ohio on his magic carpet like Aladdin?
Regarding the "bleg" thing... You might say that I am fairly involved in political blogging and I had NO idea what it meant. And yes, I agree about it being "too precious."
Why not just say "request for info" and leave it at that?
The footnotes, I don't mind so much.
As to substance, Coughlin vs The Rev. Ted for governor of Ohio? That would be GREAT. Ted would take him out behind the barn and BEAT his ass.
More fun than stomping He Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned
(Kenny boy)
The GOP would be in danger (again) of losing their place on the ballot for future elections (my guess would be 67-30 for the Tedster. 3% for some independent)
Anon,
Perhaps you should actually learn what the word ghettoized means before you make some idiotic accusation that it has a racial meaning.
Pho-
I'll admit that I don't have the slightest idea how one footnotes in a blog. And I realize that there's absolutely nobody who would care to watch a flame war over footnotes in legal writing.
Nonetheless, prepare to be pwned:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1189&context=ajacourtreview
Bryan Garner does not object to using footnotes for citing legal authority, so long as that's all that the footnote does. But when the note becomes substantive (also known as a "talking footnote"), Garner objects very strenously.
Furthmore, most advocates of Garner's plain legal writing school of thought campaign against talking footnotes.
"Judge Woodard joined the many writers who abhor substantive or talking footnotes: footnotes with arguments, explanations, or anything more than bare citations."
She cited Axel Lute, who has called talking footnotes “excrement in the corridors of academe.” She also cited Noel Coward, who said that coming across a talking footnote “is like going downstairs to answer the doorbell while making love.”"
Finally, she cited Judge Abner J. Mikva, who lambasted talking footnotes as “phony excrescences” and “an abomination.”" (Source)
Consider yourself pwned. :)
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