GOP Running Scared in Harris County

Yesterday a friend of mine received a push-poll aimed at smearing the Democratic judges running in Harris County. These push-polls are designed to smear opposing candidates with little interest in the poll results. Sometimes there is some interest to see which smear was most effective. To the best of her recollection here is part of the push-poll:

Last night, shortly before 9:00 p.m., I received an interesting call. The caller identified himself and stated he was doing a political survey (sorry, but I neglected to jot down the name of the polling company, but it was not a national pollster or a name I recognized). I love surveys, so I readily agreed to participate....

Are you a Democrat or a Republican?

Do you consider yourself a strong or a weak Democrat?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County had been fired from the public defender’s office, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County was affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and that the ACLU is fighting to reduce the age of sexual consent to 13 years of age, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County was receiving support from trial lawyers that file frivolous lawsuits which can cost jobs, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

Should activist Democratic judges be restrained?

....I’ll be honest with you. I used some bad language during the course of the questioning, which dragged on for at least 15 minutes. I emphatically stated that many of the questions were "total bull s@%t."

Still, I was determined to complete the survey. I wanted to know what lies the Republicans were peddling six months before the November General Election.

This was a push poll, and they were obviously trying to sow seeds of hate and distrust for Democratic candidates. Unsuspecting or uninformed voters might have fallen for their ruse. The Republicans must really be worried about their chances in Harris County.

It is highly likely that the Texas GOP will lose the lock they have had on Harris County wide races for over a decade and to try and stop it they are going to the third leg of what they know best - fear, hate, and smears.