Reiff Needs To Get A Life
Jimmy Moore
October 9, 2002
It's official: Jay Reiff is an absolute idiot!
With less than a month to go until a general election that his candidate is most likely to lose, Reiff goes and pulls a partisan stunt like this.
The million dollar question everyone is asking Reiff today: What were you thinking?!
The simple answer: HE WASN'T!
Even if the e-mail was supposed to be an inside joke with Reiff's willing liberal accomplices in the press, he had to know that it might become public knowledge before the election. What good could this possibly have for the Hodges re-election campaign?
Perhaps Reiff wanted to stir up interest in the Hodges campaign since he is losing badly on the issues to Mark Sanford. Of course, with the negative numbers that Hodges has among the voters, this certainly will not win him any new voters.
If the e-mail that Reiff sent wasn't insulting enough, then his non-apology apology was even worse! It sounded so insincere that Reiff kept digging himself deeper and deeper the more he spoke.
Read what Reiff said in his attempt to apologize for this insulting e-mail:
"I thought it would bring a smile to them (the press) -- comic relief in this campaign."
I'm sure it did. But apparently not to all of them since this leaked out to embarrass the Hodges campaign.
"If people were offended by it, I certainly apologize."
IF people were offended, Jay?!?! You have not only offended supporters of Mark Sanford, Mr. Reiff, but every single soldier who is fighting in this war on terrorism. There is no IF about it. You did offend!
"It does not reflect the official view of the campaign or the governor."
That is the biggest load of you know what I've ever heard, too. This is PRECISELY what the governor and his campaign believes about Mark Sanford. Don't try to backpedal now that you've been caught telling the truth for a change!
"I have no doubt (Sanford) is anything but a patriotic American."
Oh now you want to suck up to the opponent you just slanderously slaughtered. 99.9% of Americans love this country and are patriotic, too. The Hodges campaign's insistence on doing whatever they can to tear down their opponent is way past annoying. It's felonious!
Reiff did not stop with his non-apology apology, though. He went on to say that the man in the photograph had an "eerie" resemblance to Mark Sanford.
"It's not Sanford, but it looks eerily like Sanford. The guy looks exactly like him."
Okay, fine. The Hodges campaign has now made this a superficial campaign based on appearance and not on the issues that South Carolina voters want to hear about. Nevermind that Jim Hodges has long been know to be the spitting image of none other than Elmer Fudd!
Can't we just have a campaign that centers around a healthy debate about what each candidate is going to do about jobs, education, taxes, law enforcement and healthcare in South Carolina?
Reiff says he got the photo from someone in the broadcast industry and that it ONLY went to a "handful" of reporters.
This does not excuse the immature and inappropriate behavior of Hodges' right hand man. Whether it was meant to be a joke or not, the damage has been done. Not to Sanford, but to Hodges. With people like Jay Reiff in his campaign, is it any wonder why we need to change leadership at the governor's mansion in Columbia?
Just as George W. Bush returned civility and honor to the office of the Presidency, Mark Sanford will bring back respect and maturity as South Carolina's next governor.
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