Democrat in Debate for Weiner Seat: Hey, Did I Mention My Opponent Is a Psychotic Tea Party Extremist?

This strategy worked wonders for Democrats in the 2010 Congressional elections, I guess they plan on using it now and for the 2012 races. Just keep saying "Tea Party extremist" and watch the lemmings fall in line. Funny, but just recently I saw a plethora of stories on how irrelevant the Tea Party was.

I wish they'd make up their minds.

The state Democratic Party flooded ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's old district Monday with flyers bashing the GOP hopeful in the Sept. 13 special election race to replace him.

"Will we stop extremist Bob Turner from sticking seniors with a $6,400 bill?" asks the ads - referring to an estimated impact of a Republican plan to overhaul Medicare.

The ads don't even mention Democratic candidate David Weprin by name.

Democrats believe bashing Turner over Medicare is a winning strategy, having used a similar message to win an upstate special election earlier this year.

Turner isn't just any garden variety Tea Party extremist. He's worse!

Weprin countered that Turner was worse than the standard Tea Party extremist - promising to cut government by a third but still protect Medicare and Social Security, which make up 40% of the federal budget. "It's an impossibility," Weprin said.

Also an impossibility is a Democrat getting through a day without uttering the words Tea Party extremist.

The New York Times says hecklers were present at the debate, but offers no details who they were. But in case you missed the tone of the evening, they were sure to point it out.

“I’m very scared of his deep Tea Party philosophy,” Mr. Weprin said.

Turner, for his part, offered that we have an out-of-control spending problem, which pretty much anyone with a pulse realizes. But he's a Tea Party extremist, so who's listening?

Mr. Turner, citing his background in business, said that the federal government needed to cut spending by 35 percent, and suggested eliminating the Agriculture and Education Departments and curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency.

“We have a government that is out of control,” Mr. Turner said, stressing that the cuts should be made without increasing taxes. “It’s not only possible, it’s absolutely necessary,” he added.

Mr. Weprin, on the other hand, used the Tea Party name as a pejorative and tried to affix it to Mr. Turner as often as possible. He proposed raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, and defended the place of the federal government in regulating the environment.

As an aside, it was revealed this past weekend that Turner and his wife anonymously adopted the son of an HIV positive woman back in the early 1990's. The mother's story was later made in a TV movie.

Damn Tea Party extremist. One imagines if Turner tried to adopt again he'd probably be ruled out since he's a frothing, radical Tea Party extremist.

By the way, has anyone mentioned the fact he's a Tea Party extremist?

Meanwhile, having been burned by special elections in recent months, the national GOP is pretty much staying on the sidelines. Way to show some stones, folks.

"[They] have been burnt by New York special elections," said Thomas Reynolds, a former Republican congressman from upstate New York who once ran his party's national House election effort. "It will take some very unusual circumstances to attract Washington Republicans to invest in this seat.''

Less than three months ago, American Crossroads, a major backer of conservative candidates, spent some $700,000 in support of Jane Corwin, the Republican candidate in a congressional special election outside Buffalo. Her defeat was a blow after the party picked up an impressive five congressional seats in New York's 2010 races.