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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / Cohen Wins

Cohen Wins

by John Cole|  August 8, 200812:57 pm| 35 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Democratic Stupidity

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fail owned pwned pictures

Who would have ever predicted that running openly race-baiting commercials against your opponent would be a bad thing:

Facing tons of negativity — Ku Klux Klan images, less-than-subtle references to his Jewish faith — incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen (who is white) easily won his primary against challenger Nikki Tinker (who is black) in yesterday’s Democratic primary in a majority-black congressional seat in Memphis, TN. Obama even weighed in on the race yesterday, saying in a statement that Tinker’s “incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It’s time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country.” However, the Cohen folks weren’t all that pleased that Obama never endorsed Cohen over Tinker.

She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career.

*** Update ***

More here.

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35Comments

  1. 1.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    August 8, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career.

    Yeah, don’t bet the farm on that one.

  2. 2.

    chopper

    August 8, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    but has now ruined any future political career.

    she can always get a job making commercials for mccain.

  3. 3.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    August 8, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    BTW, when did this whole “loose-when-you-really-meant-lose” thing start happening? I don’t remember seeing this particular mistake before the late ’90s, but since then it’s fucking everywhere, including ostensibly proof-read advertising copy. My favorite was seeing a printed flier with the words “LOOSE WEIGHT!” in 48-point type at the top. It just made me think of the old joke headline, “Orson Welles drops 100 lbs., kills 3.”

    How do you manage to get out of high school and not learn the difference between “loose” and “lose”?

  4. 4.

    4tehlulz

    August 8, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    >>How do you manage to get out of high school and not learn the difference between “loose” and “lose”?

    When you let the spell checker do all the work for you.

  5. 5.

    Dreggas

    August 8, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    How do you manage to get out of high school and not learn the difference between “loose” and “lose”?

    It’s called No Child Left Behind.

  6. 6.

    TR

    August 8, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career.

    Yeah, don’t bet the farm on that one.

    No, I’d agree she’s done.

    You don’t gain national notoriety as a race-baiting Democrat, get rebuked by your party’s beloved presidential nominee, and then lose in a 4-1 asskicking against a freshman incumbent and somehow move forward from that.

    Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person, too.

  7. 7.

    nightjar

    August 8, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    I’m glad. Was getting tired of reading wingnut analysis on how racist minorities are. This was one individual jerk candidate and the good people in her district said no to smear tactics. Good for them!

  8. 8.

    libarbarian

    August 8, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Bad Spelling is the single greatest threat to the American Family?

  9. 9.

    TR

    August 8, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    >>How do you manage to get out of high school and not learn the difference between “loose” and “lose”?

    Not only that, but “a option”?

  10. 10.

    Zifnab

    August 8, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career witht he Democrats. She’ll be top of the ticket for Republicans.

    Fix’d

  11. 11.

    Adolphus

    August 8, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    How do you manage to get out of high school and not learn the difference between “loose” and “lose”?

    It’s called No Child Left Behind.

    Can’t blame NCLB. Whoever is responsible for those errors graduated from 8th Grade long before it was enacted. You know “the good old days.”

    Unless of course people are turning over their car decal needs to 10 year olds.

  12. 12.

    Incertus

    August 8, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    That “loose” for “lose” is one of the banes of my existence as an English instructor–drives me nuts, right along with the “would of” for “would have.”

    As for Tinker, anyone surprised she was the handpicked successor of Harold Ford Jr.?

  13. 13.

    Martin

    August 8, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    BTW, when did this whole “loose-when-you-really-meant-lose” thing start happening? I don’t remember seeing this particular mistake before the late ‘90s…

    The introduction of texting. An entire generation of people have been encouraged to take a normal vocabulary and squeeze any vowels and common letters out of it and still make sense of the results. They’re pros at that, but the process is non-reversible. They know what the word sounds like in their head, but they can’t remember where all the vowels belong any more.

  14. 14.

    Algerine

    August 8, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    I think she could save a future political career if she’s willing to work for it. First, she apologizes profusely for the ad. A real ‘I screwed up’ apology instead of one of those ‘I’m sorry people got offended’ non-apologies. Then she needs to really really bust her butt supporting Cohen in the general and being his biggest cheerleader after the election. If she can prove she’s a loyal ally of Cohen’s, the ad will get written off as a bad mistake. And if she can prove to Cohen she’s a loyal supporter, it’ll insulate her against any future opponents bringing up the ad to use against her. After all, if the one you attacked stands up for you, that’ll really blunt its effectiveness as a club.

  15. 15.

    aarrgghh

    August 8, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    and this is why they use “dogwhistles” …

  16. 16.

    Napoleon

    August 8, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    Off topic, but Edwards as admitted he was having an affair to ABC.

  17. 17.

    Napoleon

    August 8, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    Also off topic, but on the subject of Ron Suskind. There was a very good interview of him on NPR’s Fresh Air last night (free download available for it) and he strongly defended his position on the forged documents.

  18. 18.

    Napoleon

    August 8, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    Also off topic, but on the subject of Ron Suskind. There was a very good interview of him on NPR’s Fresh Air last night (free download available for it) and he strongly defended his position on the forged documents.

  19. 19.

    Cris

    August 8, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    Unless of course people are turning over their car decal needs to 10 year olds.

    They are, just not to American 10-year-olds.

  20. 20.

    aarrgghh

    August 8, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    that “loose” for “lose” is one of the banes of my existence as an english instructor—drives me nuts, right along with the “would of” for “would have.”

    another phrase (of many …) that irks me — because it’s becoming accepted into common usage — is “first off”, used to start a list. i’m pretty sure it’s a corruption of “first of all”.

    doesn’t drive me to drink, but i haven’t been able to make my peace with it.

  21. 21.

    Egilsson

    August 8, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    This is excellent news for McCain!

  22. 22.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 8, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Napoleon Says:

    Off topic, but Edwards as admitted he was having an affair to ABC.

    I have to admit I long for a bag of popcorn while I watch the dKos melt down.

  23. 23.

    Pb

    August 8, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    aarrgghh,

    Uh, what? Are you older than John McCain? No, really:

    first off
    Function: adverb
    Date: 1880
    : in the first place : before anything else

  24. 24.

    Noah

    August 8, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Meanwhile, in Republican land, America has apparently never improved.

  25. 25.

    The Other Steve

    August 8, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Thank God! I never liked the bastard anyway.

    Maybe he’ll just go away and shut up.

  26. 26.

    chopper

    August 8, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    That “loose” for “lose” is one of the banes of my existence as an English instructor—drives me nuts, right along with the “would of” for “would have.”

    oh yeah? come here a minute. (slap)

  27. 27.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    August 8, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career.

    Isn’t Louisiana still in the Union? A quick move to Louisiana, change of address card to the Post Office, and … voila!

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    August 8, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    However, the Cohen folks weren’t all that pleased that Obama never endorsed Cohen over Tinker.

    To me this seems emminently fair. This left room for Tinker to abjectly apologize and also room for voters to make their own decision. As it was, the voters chose wisely.

    She probably not only lost that election, but has now ruined any future political career.

    Yep. She had been endorsed by Emily’s List. Now she is toxic. Ironically, about the only group who might endorse her in the future would be the Klan.

    Grumpy Code Monkey Says:

    BTW, when did this whole “loose-when-you-really-meant-lose” thing start happening?

    The barbarians are at the gate. Even some educators are throwing in the “towl.”

    Fed up with his students’ complete inability to spell common English correctly, a British academic has suggested it may be time to accept “variant spellings” as legitimate.

    Rather than grammarians getting in a huff about “argument” being spelled “arguement” or “opportunity” as “opertunity,” why not accept anything that’s phonetically (fonetickly anyone?) correct as long as it can be understood?

    “Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I’ve got a better idea,” Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, wrote in the Times Higher Education Supplement….

    Of course, such proposals have been made in the past. The advent of text messaging turned many students into spelling neanderthals as phrases such as “wot r u doin 2nite?” became socially, if not academically, acceptable.

    Playwright George Bernard Shaw was fond of pointing out that the word “ghoti” could just as well be pronounced “fish” if you followed common pronunciation: ‘gh’ as in “tough,” ‘o’ as in “women” and ‘ti’ as in “nation.”

  29. 29.

    Ed Drone

    August 8, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    drives me nuts, right along with the “would of” for “would have.”

    That’s “would’ve,” hence the phonetic mistake (and why isn’t “phonetic” spelled like it sounds?*). My sister uses it in writing, as well as in speaking.

    Ed

    * thank you, George Carlin (or was it Gallagher I first heard it from?)

  30. 30.

    Digital Amish

    August 8, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    BTW, when did this whole “loose-when-you-really-meant-lose” thing start happening?

    Probably about the time someone started thinking noone would notice that they didn’t know the proper construction of “no one”.

  31. 31.

    jbarntt

    August 8, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    The American Prospect seems to think it is fair to blame Republicans for Tinker’s odious tactics:

    So she took a page out of the Republican playbook and appealed to the worst of human instincts — attempting to paint her opponent as a dangerous cultural outsider because of his association with whiteness.

    http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=when_identity_politics_backfires

    I guess Nikki Tinker must be a Republican mole, probably working with Bush/Cheney/Rove. She is a hottie tho’ which only bolsters my suspicion.

  32. 32.

    Church Lady

    August 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    I was at a meeting today and yesterday’s race was a hot topic. The vast majority of the women present identify themselves as Republicans and every single one of them said that they voted yesterday in the Democratic primary in order to vote for Steve Cohen. All were absolutely disgusted by Nikki Tinker’s ads, and all think very highly of our current Congressman. The American Prospect credited Cohen’s win completely to black voters in the 9th District. They forget that 40% of the voters in this district are white. I sincerely doubt that many whites cast a vote for Ms. Tinker after seeing her ads.

  33. 33.

    Chuck Butcher

    August 9, 2008 at 1:03 am

    Just to make the point…Emily’s List is identity politics in one of its worst iterations. I don’t care about reserving funding, but their list of support blows.

  34. 34.

    Krista

    August 9, 2008 at 9:14 am

    That “loose” for “lose” is one of the banes of my existence as an English instructor—drives me nuts, right along with the “would of” for “would have.”

    My pet peeve is when people write “alot” instead of “a lot”. Some of the people who do this are people with whom I graduated. All I can think is, “We received the same education, so what happened to you?”

  35. 35.

    LarryB

    August 9, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    I’d say that the Tinker campaign wasn’t listening during the Dem primary. It’s pretty clear by now that while identity politics are alive and well in the Democratic party, it’s not cool to use it as a club to beat your opponent with. Yay for our team.

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