The video featured above is just great. Tea Party U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan (R. NJ) certainly has been getting pretty nasty with Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D. NJ) in the waining days before the Special Election next Tuesday. Just take a look at how he's been in the last debate:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota and the Republican candidate in next week’s special election, described Newark, where Booker has been mayor since 2006, as an economic “black hole” for “rural and suburban taxpayers.” The city, New Jersey’s largest, is so ridden with crime, said Lonegan, that dead bodies prevent residents from swimming in the Passaic River.
“You may not be able to swim in that river, I think, probably because of all the bodies floating around from shootings in the city,” said Lonegan, provoking an audible reaction from the audience at Rowan University.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” said Booker. “This is what he thinks of our cities — that there are bodies floating in city. How insulting is that to the people of the city and others working together? This is insulting.”
Later in the hour-long debate, which touched on policy issues like abortion rights, the Affordable Care Act, and same-sex marriage, Lonegan responded to a question about the current shutdown of the federal government by targeting the president, who endorsed Booker in a statement in August.
“I’m proud that Republicans are finally standing up to this tyrant,” Lonegan said of Obama.
“I don’t know if my opponent is running against me or Barack Obama,” Booker said later. “Both,” Lonegan responded. “Because you’re one in the same.” - BuzzFeed, 10/9/13
And it's not just Lonegan who's been stepping up the nasty, his own aides are doing it too:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
A top aide to Republican New Jersey Senate hopeful Steve Lonegan went into decidedly not-safe-for-work territory when TPM asked why he thinks his candidate has been gaining on Democratic opponent Cory Booker in recent polls.
In a profanity-filled assessment of the race delivered via phone Thursday, Rick Shaftan, a senior staffer and key strategist on Lonegan's campaign, suggested voters would be turned off by Booker's "odd" behavior including Twitter messages the Democrat sent to a stripper, that Shaftan described as "strange" and "like what a gay guy would say."
"It was just weird. I mean, to me, you know, hey, if he said, 'Hey, you got really hot breasts man, I'd love to suck on them.' Then like, yeah, cool. But like, he didn't say that," Shaftan explained. "It was like kind of like, I don't know, it was like what a gay guy would say to a stripper. It's the way he was talking to her. It's just like like there was no sexual interest at all. I don't know. To me, if I was single and you know like some stripper was tweeting me, I might take advantage of the perks of the office, you know?"
Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., appeared in an as-yet-unreleased documentary about Twitter with the Portland, Ore.-based stripper, Lynsie Lee. Their Twitter exchanges made headlines late last month after Buzzfeed highlighted a brief, private exchange the two of them had on the social network.
"And the East Coast loves you and by the East Coast, I mean me," Booker wrote to Lee.
"Well now I'm blushing :)," she replied.
"Its only fair," wrote Booker.
The Booker campaign initially dismissed the minor media frenzy generated by the Twitter messages. Spokesman Kevin Griffis responded by characterizing the exchange between Booker and Lee as proof "the mayor remains accessible and engages with people." Griffis also joked that the fact Lee works for a club in Oregon that bills itself as the "world's first vegan strip club" was actually "the most shocking thing about this story."
At a press conference, Booker said his communications with Lee were simply proof he spends substantial time on Twitter "listening to people and engaging with people no matter what their profession." - TPM, 10/11/13
And of course Booker shot back at Lonegan's aide's remarks:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
"These comments are disgraceful, and demeaning, and beneath even the incredibly low bar set by the Lonegan campaign thus far. If you want insight into the kind of senator Mr. Lonegan would be, start here," Booker campaign spokeswoman Silvia Alvarez said. - TPM, 10/11/13
And Lonegan's aide wised up:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
"I shouldn’t be talking anymore," Shaftan told the Wall Street Journal. He was responding to a story about a profanity-filled interview he gave to TPM on Thursday.
Shaftan also said his comments, which included describing Twitter messages Booker sent to an Oregon stripper as "like what a gay guy would say," were not "representative" of Lonegan.
"I shouldn’t mouth off like that. It’s not representative of Lonegan, it’s representative of Rick Shaftan," said Shaftan. - TPM, 10/11/13
Yeah, whatever. But then again, what do you expect from a guy like Lonegan. He's a delusional psychopath:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Lonegan's campaign issued a statement encouraging Republicans in Washington "not to capitulate to the president's unreasonable demands" until after Wednesday's special U.S. Senate election in New Jersey. According to Lonegan, he will win that race against Democratic Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker. That in turn will cause Obama to give in to the Republican demands to stop the health care law.
"When I win, Obama will fold," Lonegan said in the statement.
Lonegan has been gaining in recent polls, though Booker still has a double-digit lead. However, his statement said Lonegan believes "his internal polling shows a neck-and-neck race in the U.S. Senate contest and that all the momentum is in his favor." - TPM, 10/10/13
Yes, his internal polling shows him neck-and-neck but every other polling proves differently:
http://www.philly.com/...
Overall, Booker leads Lonegan 53-41 among likely voters, a Quinnipiac University poll found. That’s the same as in its Sept. 24 poll, which showed a race far closer than many expected.
In a state that has consistently voted Democratic in federal elections, Lonegan has pulled ahead among independents, 50-44. In the Sept. 24 survey, Booker led among independents, 47-44.
The results paint a picture of Lonegan closing the gap with a tenacious campaign, but unable to break through to get within single digits as election day nears.
His biggest problem – and Booker’s biggest strength: women support Booker by 62-31. Men support Lonegan, 51-44.
“It’s still not the predicted blow-out, but with a week to go, Newark Mayor Cory Booker hangs on to a nice, if not exactly comfortable, double-digit lead,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Also a factor: registered New Jersey Democrats outnumber Republicans by 730,000, and likely Democratic voters back Booker 92-4. Lonegan’s support among Republicans is 87-10.
Booker’s favorability ratings stand at 57 percent, compared with 32 percent who view him unfavorably – from 53-30 two weeks ago. Lonegan’s favorables are at 36-33, and 28 percent don’t know enough about him to form an opinion – a significant share this close to election day.
The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 899 likely New Jersey voters, with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. - Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/9/13
My guess is those Independents are the same racist, idiotic homophobes that helped elect and will re-elect Governor Chris Christie (R. NJ). Booker held off on going negative for so long that it might've hurt him but obviously not enough. However I do urge you to vote on Tuesday if you live in New Jersey. You can find your polling place here:
https://voter.njsvrs.com/...