NRCC Targets Tierney

With Richard Tisei, the Republicans have a good candidate to take on potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbent Congressman John Tierney in the North Shore district. I think Tierney will win, but it's a race worth watching for sure.

One of Tisei's strengths is that he's not a mean-spirited, carpet-bombing asshole type of Republican. So my guess is that he's smart enough not to spend the next eight months bellowing that Tierney is an international kingpin of illegal gambling. Sure, he'll try to find ways to remind constituents about the congressman's miscreant in-laws, and the guilty plea of Mrs. Tierney for (unknowingly, according to her) abetting her brother's illegal business. But he's too smart to smear Tierney in a vicious, unfair manner that will almost certainly backfire.

Fortunately for Tierney, the National Republican Congressional Committee is run by mean-spirited, carpet-bombing asshole types of Republicans. Today, to celebrate the sentencing of Daniel Eremian, the NRCC launched howcouldtierneynotknow.com. The top image puts the Congressman and his wife's faces onto the jack and queen of spades, and the copy begins: "For more than two decades John Tierney's family ran a multi-million dollar illegal gambling empire."

I have to say I do enjoy the NRCC's insertion of the term "henchmen" into the political discourse; also, the fact that under the heading "The Facts" they managed to misspell "Eremian" not one but two different ways.

And maybe I'm misreading the 6th district electorate. Maybe Bill Hudak lost badly to Tierney, in the 2010 Republican wave elections, because he wasn't enough of a stereotypical nastypersonal-attack-making jackass.

The local newspapers in the area -- even the generally Tierney-bashing Lowell Sun -- have been admirably cautious about reporting on Eremian's trial. Their discretion makes this type of NRCC attack look especially unfair and below-the-belt. If this is going to be the topic and tone of their approach to this race, I don't think they'll be doing Tisei any favors.