OMG! Did I Do This???

Yesterday, I posted a screed about Michael Allegretti, a candidate for Congress here in New York City. I mentioned that Mr. Allegretti's commercial makes no mention of his party affiliation, and that even when asked directly, he categorized himself as "an independent, fiscal conservative" while dodging the question "Republican or Democrat?" entirely.

I don't consider the term "fiscal conservative" to be indicative of party affiliation, nor of Conservatism (of the Sean Hannity/Rush Limbaugh sort) at all. It is possible to be a fiscal conservative and still be a social liberal (see: Rudy Giuliani, Olympia Snowe, et. al.), although I guess what that formulation means is that you're a cheapskate with the public purse and favor lower taxes, but not necessarily decisive on the issues of Government bloat, Gay Rights, Affirmative action, and no friend of Gun Rights.

In God-Guns-And-Gay Conservative circles, this makes you a RINO (Republican in Name Only), if not Satan himself. Not that I particularly care about what those folks have to say; they often seem more concerned with the NEXT world, rather than this one, which makes them suspect in my mind -- even if I do agree with them on (most) core social values.

It was my assertion that by not making his affiliation clear, Mr. Allegretti was perhaps hiding something, or perhaps leaving the impression that he might have something to hide.

What a difference a day makes!

Mr. Allegretti's campaign commercial just aired not ten minutes ago. And guess what? The caption at the bottom of the screen now reads: "Michael Allegretti, REPUBLICAN for Congress".

His website, still makes no mention of his Republicanism, at least not on the homepage, where one might reasonably expect to find that sort of information.

Did I do this? Probably not; I'm of the mind that no one listens to me, anyway, so I figure maybe someone with far more influence also asked the question. Does this make any difference? Again, probably not, but it would seem to me that dishonesty (even of the unintentional omission sort) does have consequences. Especially in elections. See: Change You Can Believe In.

If Mr. Allegretti is a Republican, then he should come out and say so more often, and then take steps beyond just downgrading the democrats; show that you embrace the Republican platform, and not just the fiscal conservatism plank which is now the hip marketing meme for Right-of-Center stealth candidates in these days of Tea Parties and conservative backlash,and embrace your inner-R, Sir.

Just on the off-chance that I did, indeed, give you a gentle nudge, I shall be watching ever-more carefully, Sir.