How do your pants not burst into flames for this?

by folkbum

Then the [Gableman] ad shifts gears, saying, "Louis Butler worked to put criminals on the street," followed by a picture of [Justice Louis] Butler next to a grainy mug shot of convicted child molester Reuben Lee Mitchell. The ad says Mitchell was convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities. "Butler found a loophole; Mitchell went on to molest another child," it concludes.

What the ad doesn't say is that Butler was Mitchell's public defender--not a judge--on his appeal. He got the case overturned, but the state Supreme Court reinstated the conviction. Mitchell committed the later crime after serving his sentence, according to Gableman's campaign.

I mean, we all got to know Mark Graul (Gableman's most visible campaign hack) as a skunk and an Abramoff-loving sleaze-bucket from his work with Mark Green and Annette Ziegler. But to suggest, as Graul does, that this ad is fair is just about as clear a lie as you can get without actually having to whittle your nose back down to size. I mean, "fair" is a subjective term, and Graul's perspective on the race probably skews whatever sensibilities didn't get bought off from him when he worked for the Republicans in Congress.

But Graul also suggested it was accurate. When I say, "I ate a sandwich for dinner and the sun went down," I'm being, I suppose, accurate, only insofar as I don't intend for you to think that my eating a sandwich caused the sunset. But my concern for your accurate sense of my meal-eating in relation to nightfall would cause me never to say such a dumb thing, because I know that it leaves an inaccurate impression. As does this ad. As does "Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained," to borrow the old joke.

Seriously. How do you make this ad and face your wife and children in the morning? More: Mathias has the ad and a long, thoughtful response. iT points to the AP version of the story, which all but calls Gableman and Graul liars to their faces. iT also reminds us that Gableman is soft on crime. And the Brawler doesn't much care for Graul, either.

EVEN MORE: Plaisted on the race card.

ALSO: Butler's campaign.