We are all born mean, selfish, condescending, sarcastic and rude. Parents, relatives, teachers and church leaders have a full time job training children to be considerate and polite.
I think sarcasm is the hardest to cure...and the worst form of sarcasm is the false appology or false thank you. "Thank you for leaving all your dishes on the table...I needed more stuff to do before I finished my homework."
Earlier today, I saw Russell Pearce's opponent Jerry Lewis on Sunday Square Off and Lewis was well mannered, soft spoken, polite and promised to run a "kind" race. Naturally I assumed that he was serious. Then I went through my in box and saw this email from his campaign.
For Immediate Release: September 24, 2011
Contact: John Giles
The Lewis Campaign welcomes Olivia Cortes to the race! We wish her well, and formally extend our apologies to Ms. Cortes for not having provided the same generous level of assistance to her campaign given by Senator Pearce’s family and supporters. We look forward to watching her interviews on some of the local stations, and to hearing her views in the debate on October 6th. An active and civil discussion of the issues will be good for our city.
There it is, sarcasm in its highest form: the false apology combined with a false welcome. The Lewis campaign combines rudeness with its cousin, poor sportsmanship. Lewis's camp doesn't think that Pearce is playing fair, so instead of simply trying to get out their own message, they are whining about their opponents and using a rather childish form of sarcasm to boot.
Mr Lewis grow up. Stay classy. Be a role model. Be polite and show good manners, and stop whining about your opponent. Just like you have taught kids in Sunday School for the last 20 years.
I'm sure that you don't think it's fair that Olivia Cortes is in the race. Well, there are a lot of us who don't think it's fair that folks spent large (but undisclosed) amounts from presumably out of state (and undisclosed) sources in order to pay circulators to gather enough signatures to recall Senator Pearce.
Those of us who have been in this process a while understand that if you have enough money, you can recall any legislator. And since Pearce has never had an unspoken thought, it's not like he campaigned one way and then voted another. Russell Pearce the candidate is exactly the same as Russell Pearce the Senator.
And speaking of manipulating the ballot, why isn't there a Democrat in this race? Maybe it's because the LD 18 Democratic Party Chairman Andrew Sherwood wrote a column in the Republic advising LD 18 Democrats to stay out of the race.
I'm not running in the recall because I know this isn't the time to turn a nonpartisan election into one. I'm not taking the bait. Only a bipartisan coalition can defeat Pearce and give Mesa the type of representation it deserves.
It looks like some Pearce supporters may have put another candidate on the ballot in order to dilute the vote. This was after the Pearce opponents publicly aired their plan to keep Democrats off the ballot in order to create a "bipartisan coalition" to defeat Pearce.
Naturally, the media have ignored Sherwood's successful efforts to keep Democrats off the ballot but have made a huge deal out of Olivia Cortes. But hey, politics ain't bean bag and no one would expect the Republic--which printed Sherwood's request for Democrats to stay out of the race--to stay neutral.
Jerry Lewis is a different story. Man up Mr. Lewis. Stop whining about the race. Stop claiming that you are going to be "nice" and "kind" while your team is sending out false apologies and sarcastic emails. Show us that you are mature enough to actually serve in the Senate.
I would have assumed that your parents raised you better than this.