The Carnival of Lies

Anthony Brown’s campaign is continuing to become little more than a carnival of lies with its laser focus on issues that are unrelated to the issues that matter to the majority of Marylanders.

Last week I told everybody to beware of shiny objects: noting that the Democrats will do anything at this point to not talk about Anthony Brown’s shortcomings. Another piece of that puzzle fell into place yesterday when Maryland NOW, the group that got all of this started, unsurprisingly endorsed Anthony Brown for Governor. And to continue with the current state of affairs in this campaign, immediately lied about Larry Hogan’s record:

Sara Wilkinson, president of Maryland NOW, praised Brown as a “strong and effective leader on issues critical to protecting women’s and families’ well-being” and criticized what she called Hogan’s “long and frightening record” on women’s health issues.  

“We feel that Mr. Hogan hopes to disguise his positions and his record of legislative efforts to ban a woman’s right to choose. Also, his hostility to birth control is a troubling anachronistic stance,” Wilkinson said.

Republican Larry Hogan has made one thing abundantly clear — he doesn’t trust women to make their own health decisions. 

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From his opposition to a woman’s right to choose, even in cases of rape or incest, to his support for a constitutional amendment that would ban many common forms of birth control — Larry Hogan has proved time and again that he’s just another right-wing Republican who thinks it’s his place to get between a woman and her doctor. 

Maryland women deserve better– that’s why we’ve launched a new ad, “Women’s Health,” calling Larry Hogan out for trying to hide his conservative agenda that would take Maryland in a dangerous direction. Show Larry Hogan that he can’t mislead Marylanders by sharing this video on Facebook and Twitter RIGHT NOW. 

On Monday, the Maryland chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) denounced Larry Hogan for refusing to answer five basic questions about whether he would undermine Roe vs. Wade or attack access to birth control. 

In their statement, NOW said “Mr. Hogan is too extreme to serve as governor of a diverse state like Maryland. He has a long and frightening record, so it’s all too likely he will abuse his power as governor to attack women’s rights and access to necessary health care.” 

With just 42 days left until Election Day, it’s up to us all to ensure Marylanders know the truth about Hogan’s conservative agenda. Click here to watch “Women’s Health” and then help spread the word by sharing it online with your network.

Thanks for your help, 

Tia Nearmyer
Operations Director, Brown-Ulman 2014

So to recap, the Brown Campaign, the Maryland Chapter of the National Organization for Women, and the Democratic Governor’s Association have put all their chips in the middle of the table in an effort to paint Larry Hogan as an extremist on abortion.

The depths that people will go to and the carnival of lies that they will create just in order to win an election is both amazing and disturbing all at the same time.

The Hogan campaign put out a statement about all of this nonsense this afternoon.

Hogan denounces Lt. Governor’s latest round of dishonest attack ads  

ANNAPOLIS, MD – September 23 – Larry Hogan today issued the following statement on Lt. Governor Anthony Brown’s latest round of dishonest attack ads. 

“Anthony Brown is now doubling down on his false and vile ad campaign by putting out even more ads that are even worse and tell even bigger lies than the previous ones. 

What’s worse, it now seems these ads are being paid for in part with special interest money from the very corporations Anthony Brown hired to build his failed Health Exchange, which is currently under a federal fraud investigation.  

My belief is that all women in Maryland should have access to the birth control of their choice; this is my position as a lifelong Marylander, a business owner, a candidate, a husband, and a father of three grown women. It will be the policy of my administration should I be honored to become the next governor.  

 In fact, my support for unfettered access to birth control for every single woman in Maryland is documented by all news organizations they mention as sources for their dishonest ads claiming otherwise. Improving the lives of women and increasing access to health services requires that we turn our economy around.”

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Once again, Larry Hogan is the adult in the room trying to talk about the issues that matter to the voters who have to make a decision in six weeks as to who they want to lead our state in the next four years. The Brown Campaign seems hellbent on making that decision easy for voters, by making their candidate seem so desperate to win that they will continue to lie about Larry Hogan’s record, even after they’ve been caught and called out publicly for doing so.

Even Barry Rascovar, who is hardly a Republicans apologist, is piling on Brown for his campaign of nonsense:

Brown’s napalm bombs are landing but they are way off-target. They amount to a smear campaign combining half-truths and flat-out untruths. 

Brown and his cohorts at the Democratic Governors Association want voters to believe Hogan has a “dangerous Republican agenda” and a “dangerous conservative ideology” that will devastate women’s abortion rights and abolish Maryland’s gun laws.
Let’s scare ‘em into voting for Brown!  

None of this is true.

Hogan isn’t a wild-eyed Tea Party radical. He stands to the left of former Gov. Bob Ehrlich on his approach toward Democratic Annapolis. 

Yes, he’s conservative, but his statements on social issues have been cautious and moderate. 

Abortions? Hogan, a devout Catholic, opposes them. But he stated again Thursday he will not do anything as governor to change the status quo. 

Gun laws? Same thing. Hogan doesn’t like the restrictions but he’s not foolish enough to believe he could do anything to change what Democrats and voters approved to rein in illicit gun use. 

Dangerous agenda? No, but it is very much a platform crafted by a businessman who believes smaller government works best, that Democrats have been too quick to raise taxes and that Maryland’s anti-business reputation has cost the state tens of thousands of jobs…. 

….Brown’s smear tactics leave a rank odor. It will linger. It’s a self-inflicted wound that may become a huge — and unnecessary — campaign liability.