Linda Parks in CA26: the TV ad
by David Atkins
Remember former Republican-turned-centrist candidate extraordinaire Linda Parks, running in California's 26th Congressional district? She's made a cable TV ad buy with three ads. The first of them is here:
The joking--and halting--reference to her favorite ice cream flavor is supposed to quirky and funny, but comes off as an insult to the voters who have been repeatedly asking for some of her concrete stances on issues but coming up empty due to her unwillingness to answer basic policy questions.
Ms. Parks' consistent answer to these policy questions is to demur, stating that her website issues page is at least available, while her opponents' are largely works in progress. Yet that, too, is a dodge. With mainstream Republican and Democratic candidates, one automatically knows about 80% of their positions, particularly in a Democratic district. There are some pretty serious differences, of course, between a blue dog and a progressive--differences that consume much of our time on liberal blogs. But we know that a Democratic representative in Congress, particularly one from California, can be counted on to vote against repeal of the Affordable Care Act, to vote for at least some Wall Street such as exists in Dodd Frank, to support passage of at least basic environmental protections, etc. In terms of solving the country's problems the baseline Democratic position is admittedly often weak sauce, but the distinction between it and traditional Republican policy is quite stark. And in a similar fashion, Republicans ranging from Olympia Snowe to Newt Gingrich can be counted on to vote for a pretty standard set of principles that differ widely from those of Democrats.
So a candidate choosing not to be beholden to any political party must do all the more to clarify for the voters where they stand on major policy issues, because the usual hermeneutical shortcut of party affiliation isn't available.
The closest Linda Parks has gotten to that point is this tweet from Wednesday evening:
Hi Josh. I'm a fan of Olympia Snowe and saw you are following her. I'd like to carry on her efforts if I'm elected
That would be the same Republican Olympia Snowe who voted against equal pay for women and against the Affordable Care Act. The country needs more politicians in the mold of Olympia Snowe like it needs a porcelain hair net. But she stands a real chance of winning this race, or at least denying the victory to a real progressive Democrat.
If you'd like to help, please consider a donation to the excellent Julia Brownley's campaign for congress, and help take over this Republican seat, and keep it out of conservative hands--whether those conservatives are in traditional Republican garb, or in the newfangled sheep's clothing of Linda Parks.
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