You Can Tell A Lot About David Cicilline By His Press Releases

Thanks to Ian Donnis over at the RI Public Radio Blog for posting a press release from Congressman David Cicilline with regard to his probable Republican opponent in November, Brendan Doherty. The most interesting parts are those that seem either untrue or blatantly hypocritical.

The central theme to the release is Cicilline is trying to paint Doherty a certain way, based on his assumed associations and other instances of putting words in his mouth. Rather than turning this around and trying to judge Cicilline for who he associates with, let's take a look at who Cicilline is and what he says.

The more Paul Ryan (remember him? He’s the guy that wrote the bill to end Medicare)

I guess that's one take on it. Let's see what CNN had to say about it.

the Ryan plan would totally reverse the course of recent fiscal history by lowering federal health care spending from 8% of GDP today to just 5% by 2050. If we remain on the current course, the spending would jump to 14% in that time frame.

That doesn't sound like "the bill to end Medicare." So let's just call that one a "False".

Next up from Cicilline:

Eric Cantor (the chief cheerleader for shutting down the government last summer)

Again, let's see how CNN saw it.

Overall spending levels in the new measure would conform to the outlines of an agreement reached in Congress earlier this year.

"I hope we abide by that deal and move forward in a bipartisan way," Cantor told reporters.

That doesn't sound like a man rooting for a government shutdown. Plus, keep in mind that any time there is a government shutdown or the threat of one, it takes two to tango. It's always easy to not budge from your view of an argument and then just blame the other side for being stubborn. Nonetheless, it shows that Cantor was willing to move forward and not just a "cheerleader" for government shutdown. Another "False" for Cicilline.

Let's continue with the Cicilline's words.

Brendan Doherty’s plan to slash corporate taxes, end the capital gains tax and change Social Security benefits for anyone born after 1960

Wait, what? Hmm, I'd love to read a little more about these plans from Mr. Doherty. So where's the best place to look? How about his Issues page on his campaign web site. I've scanned it a couple times now and I don't see those things anywhere in there. Has anyone heard of Doherty's plans to do those things? Or is that just Cicilline projecting what he wants onto his opponent? Hey, I can do that too. How about this, David Cicilline has a plan to go to war with Canada. David Cicilline will reinstate the 95% tax bracket for anyone earning any amount over the poverty line. David Cicilline has a plan to go back to the days of rationing gas and bread. Is any of this true? Of course not. But it doesn't seem like the things he's attributing to Doherty are true either. So yet again, a "False" for Cicilline.

You can tell a lot about a candidate by who they choose to associate with.

Oh absolutely. This is probably true. David Cicilline associates with Congress, the same Congress with an 82% job disapproval rating and a 12% approval rating. You can tell a lot about Cicilline by who he's associating with. So that tells me one thing, Cicilline must be a terrible Congressman. I'll be fair and give him a "True" for that statement.

Back to Cicilline's press release:

Doherty’s loyalty is being rewarded and national Republicans recently sent out a press release hitting David that was later called a “Pants on Fire” lie by Politifact.

So let me get this straight, first Politifact supports Cicilline against a statement that he supported the federal loan guarantee to Solyndra, due to the fact that Cicilline was not in Congress when those were enacted. Yet then Cicilline wants to do the same thing, attributing Congressional Republicans' actions to Doherty, even though Doherty is not in Congress yet. You can't have it both ways, David. This is starting to sound like a broken record, "False."

Ok, lastly:

We can only expect more of these desperate attacks

Huh? From who? If there is one side in this that is clearly engaging in "desperate attacks" and blatant partisanship, it's clearly the reeling and very nervous David Cicilline through press releases like this one.

Most political analysts will tell you that people hate negative campaigning, but they all say it works. I'd agree. However it really only works when your negative ads are also true. If they're not going to be true, it's just going to backfire. This press release backfired on Cicilline in a big way.