JeanJean
David RothschildHow did Democratic opposition research miss that challenger in swing district completely made up is resume https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html feels like this should be impossible in 2022.
Update is that Democrats knew and published opposition research on most of this fraud by Republican challenger, but buried it in 87 page report. Seems like this is a Democratic communication failure (more than an opposition research failure) that translated into a Mainstream Media failure https://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/George-Santos-Research-Book.pdf https://twitter.com/LPDonovan/status/1604849554800758790
Adam Thomas@DavMicRot Dems seem more interested in writing book reports than making prudent political moves.
Justin Fitzsimmons@DavMicRot The cynical take is that this is a typical D strategy failure, but the mega-cynical take is that Ds know that blatant fraud only helps R candidates so they kept it quiet.
Lauren Macdonald@DavMicRot still just absolutely insane
Richard@DavMicRot This opposition report leads off with a solid outline of Santos's policy extremism. Yes, the fraudulent resume is a stunning gotcha that should have been exploited, but the fact that this guy is an extremist whackadoodle SHOULD have been a much bigger deal than that. We can (and should) ask why the Times didn't publish this damning story before the election, or during the 2020 election, but we also need to ask where are the stories detailing his political extremism to voters?
@DavMicRot Isn’t this because bc NYT does not focus on local or state stories. This only became relevant to them when there was a national angle - when Santos was elected to Congress.
Martha Howell@DavMicRot Also sounds like his "family-owned business" is a front for unnamed donors.
jljacobson@DavMicRot they did not miss it. They didn't care to do any because their mission was to prevent progressives from taking more seats, not to hold the House. Until we accept that corporate Democrats just do not care and until we hold them accountable, this will continue happening.
Meeche@DavMicRot Does NY allow recalls?
Jarvis Slacks@DavMicRot Someone got lazy.
miriam heddy@DavMicRot Why did the NYTimes publish this only after the election?
Matt Brown@miri_iron @DavMicRot presumably one of his campaign staffers leaked it once the election was over. They get the kudos for having worked on a winning campaign and also revenge on someone they presumably thought was a fraud.
Gregory Hays@DavMicRot Particularly since he was also the nominee in 2020.
toxtethogrady@DavMicRot And Herschel Walker is wondering what he did wrong...
KMorrell@DavMicRot This is interesting. Reminds me of some cases in Europe where spies assumed Brazilian identities in order to embed themselves in society. Like https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2022/06/16/the-brazilian-candidate-the-studious-cover-identity-of-an-alleged-russian-spy/
Different here, apparently, but seems like there may still be some digging to do.
Different here, apparently, but seems like there may still be some digging to do.
John Panzer@DavMicRot maybe they figured the fbi would be all over a Russian financed candidate
Athena Grayson@DavMicRot Did they miss, or was somebody suddenly distracted by the sudden need to check for polonium tea and start all their cars remotely? Somebody buried this deep got there on purpose.
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️@DavMicRot
Media chased Zeldin’s “crime!” narrative. Local news organizations like @Newsday , The Leader, and many others have documented Santos’ shady financial dealings and his shifting personal story.
Media chased Zeldin’s “crime!” narrative. Local news organizations like @Newsday , The Leader, and many others have documented Santos’ shady financial dealings and his shifting personal story.
This 87 page oppo research report was done. It was largely ignored.
(PDF) https://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/George-Santos-Research-Book.pdf
@DavMicRot Show me the cases where a republican campaign was derailed because it was discovered that the candidate was a liar or a fraud or a horrible person. Rudy Giuliani ducking out of the 2000 Senate race is the only case I can think of. Republicans have repeatedly shown that they will vote in droves for liars, child molesters, criminals, wife-beaters, racists, antisemites, violent attackers, and frauds without any regrets at all.
CarrieJL