Supporters of Neil Abercrombie and James “Duke” Aiona are circulating a lot of garbage about the opposition online, but the Republicans win the prize for the most odious piece of opala officially issued by the candidates or parties in this campaign.
A Republican Party ad in today’s newspaper calls Abercrombie “a loud-mouthed hippie” and includes a 40-year-old photo.
The dubious facts and offensive tone are reminiscent of the “Compare & Decide” mailer that helped sink Mayor Mufi Hannemann in the primary — and I have a sneaking suspicion that it shares some of the same origins.
GOP chairman Jonah Kaʻauwai was boasting about it in advance on a Republican-friendly website that features National Enquirer-style headlines throwing everything from Nazis and slavery to marijuana and birthers at Abercrombie.
Between this cheap late hit, the GOP’s use of a pilfered photo of Colleen Hanabusa doctored to make her look like Darth Vader and Kaʻauwai’s screed that Abercrombie and Hannemann weren’t righteous enough for the body of Christ, there are legitimate concerns that the current Hawai‘i Republican leadership just doesn’t know where the boundaries are.
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UPDATE: B.J. Reyes at the Star-Advertiser has an interesting blog post noting that the GOP altered the Bob Rosehill letter in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that the ad was purportedly taken from. While Reyes doesn’t specify the changes, he links to the letter, in which Rosehill actually called Abercrombie “a loud-mouthed, haole hippie.” (Emphasis mine)
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