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July 09, 2012 07:00 PM UTC

At Least It's Not Your Ridiculously Bad Walk Piece

  • 66 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: FOX 31’s Eli Stokols:

Ramirez told FOX31 Denver Monday afternoon he’s upset.

“They can think what they want about my mailer,” Ramirez said. “But to talk about my daughter and insinuate that I’m running around on my wife, that bothers me. And it bothers my wife and daughter more than me.”

…FOX31 Denver spoke Monday with one of the publishers of Colorado Pols, who referred to the reaction by Ramirez and Colorado Peak Pols as “manufactured angst.”

“Nobody’s insinuating that [Ramirez]’s running around on his wife,” said Jason Bane, a co-founder of Colorado Pols. “The point is he’s got this random collection of photos with no explanation, so there’s no way to know who’s his wife or daughter. There was no attempt to insinuate he’s cheating. It was just – who are these people?

“There’s pictures with his wife, his daughter, with a guy dressed up as Ronald McDonald. For all we know, Ronald McDonald could be his uncle.”

—–

UPDATE: Via Twitter, @RepRamirez is posting a bunch of pictures of his daughter, ostensibly to clarify her appearance in the walk piece below. Ramirez’s wife, meanwhile (@mrsramirez2002) is really mad about something that must have grown into a super horrible story after different stories were told to her. Because, you see, we didn’t actually say anything about their daughter.

What is truly amusing in all of this manufactured angst is that it just reinforces our original point about the folly of a campaign piece that makes several silly errors arranged within a confusing collage of pictures. Would you assume that the blonde in the top left was his daughter? Would you guess, just by looking at the picture, that the woman in the karate outfit was his wife? Hell, maybe Ronald McDonald is his uncle.

This is just a weird, awful campaign piece for a lot of reasons. We didn’t say anything more than that.

—–

(cross-posted from Jeffco Pols)

It didn’t seem like things could get worse for State Representative Robert Ramirez. After being forced out of the race for SD-19 by the entrance of much more credible candidate Lang Sias, he’s being significantly outraised and outspent by dynamo opponent Tracy Kraft-Tharp in his re-election bid.

Then again, all of Ramirez’s problems are, perhaps, the result of his own ineptitude. Take, for example, this recent handout/mail piece. Keep in mind that the Republican actually spent money to create and distribute this piece to actual voters.

Let’s start with the obvious. On that sublimely terrible red-text-on-yellow list of accomplishments, Ramirez left out bullet point number three. Seriously, how hard is it to make a list? Sure, it’s easy to overlook a numbering error in the early drafts of campaign piece, but it’s downright stupid for those mistakes to make it into the final, distributed version. Does Ramirez even know how to count?

And what’s with that Facebook link in the lower right corner? Few people are going to go on Facebook to check out a candidate anyway, but nobody is going meticulously type in a complicated URL replete with numbers, question marks, and underscores. Ramirez doesn’t even have a Facebook link on his website — where something like that would kind of make sense — so why on earth would he pay money to put it on his mail piece? You can’t click a link on paper.

So Ramirez took a photo with somebody pretending to be Ronald McDonald down at the Capitol. Neat. Setting aside the fact that Ramirez certainly didn’t get permission to use one of McDonald’s most recognizable corporate trademarks for political purposes, why would he want to? Is he trying to brand himself as the fast food candidate in this race? Beyond that, no candidate should ever publicize photos of them standing next to a clown. Hell, Ronald McDonald looks better in that photo than Ramirez.

Rep. Ramirez played no part in reinstating the Senior Homestead Property Tax Exemption. That happened all by itself.

There’s no question that the two photos of Ramirez with Governor Hickenlooper were used without permission. It’s obvious why Ramirez would want to associate himself with the most popular politician in Colorado, but Hick would no doubt rather be taking bill-signing photos with Kraft-Tharpe.

Then again, maybe Ramirez wants people to think he’s a Democrat. One million dollars for veterans benefits? That’s a lot of state spending from somebody who labels himself a small government conservative.

That attractive blonde woman posing with Ramirez in the upper left-hand corner? That’s not his wife (his wife appears alongside the representative in a much smaller photo adorned in a kung-fu uniform). The woman in the picture may be a family member, but Ramirez should probably point that out in a caption. Looks like he forgot to hire a professional to take a few photos of his family — bizarre, considering even no-hope candidates figure out that they should do that.

The worst photo of all, however, is the large profile shot of Ramirez on the right hand side. While it might make a great photo for a membership card at the local gun club, it shouldn’t be the centerpiece of his first major push to connect with voters. Ramirez doesn’t look like a sitting state representative. Instead, he looks like some cross between a Kentucky Militia leader and the Unabomber. He clearly had a much better photo to use — his official shot from the capital is just centimeters to the left, there — but for whatever reason he decided, “Hey, I don’t want voters to associate my name with my face, use the photo of me in the shades with the flags. I look cool, like a Hispanic Tom Clancy.”

This has to be one of the worst campaign pieces we’ve ever seen. That would be bad enough if Ramirez was the token Republican opposition in a heavily Democratic area. But he’s the incumbent legislator in a swing district. He can’t even number a list correctly, and yet this dude has a vote on issues that affect the entire state.

Although, if this piece is any indication, not for much longer.  

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66 thoughts on “At Least It’s Not Your Ridiculously Bad Walk Piece”

    1. That thing in the upper-right hand corner is just a flag-based logo.

      There’s plenty to mock with this walk piece, but as far as I can tell (there might be a state seal in one of those pictures with Ronald McDonald or something) that’s not one of them.

  3. diary refers to mail piece. Headline seems correct. Kind of ironic to be criticizing the piece on poor proof-reading when there’s a glaring example of it in the diary.

  4. A) you assume the piece is intended to be read by literate voters.  Probably not.

    2) links must be a good thing – he’s technical right?

    d) no gays were married, pregnancies prevented or terminated and no taxes were raised in the creation of this waste of paper and ink, exactly as God intended.  See – the argument that gov’t is inferior and incapable and generally sucks. This piece proves that,  yes?

    And BTW- the the Big Line is f’d.

        1. “Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too”

          (6/27/11 Bachmann campaign kick-off)

          how much fun to celebrate the spirit of a serial killer! (courtesy of the GOP)  

          1. It all starts to  makes sense…

            Bachman on Americorps

            “…what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically-correct forums. As a parent, I would have a very, very difficult time seeing my children do this.”

            Which would explain why her son Harrison ran away to join up.  Did he ever report back from the camps?

  5. And this is not a point I make to say that everyone without a degree is stupid. My own father is a regional administrator in a federal agency and he never went to college.

    However, Ramirez is one of the R’s on the education committee who has been critical of the role of higher education… and public education in general.

    Methinks a little critical thinking prior to the creation of this lit piece and perhaps some remedial education woulda done a world of good for ole Bobby!

    1. …and there is nothing wrong with someone, who doesn’t have a college degree, serving on a Higher Education board.

      Quite frankly, the opinions of those who have not been to college should also be valued in any discussion on Higher Education.

      There are plenty of reasons to criticize Ramirez (who’s loss I happily look forward to) but this is NOT one of them.  

      1. …..I thought, yeah, like I’d be a good person to oversee the military?  (I’ve not been in it.)  

        While outsider “fresh air” can sometimes help an institution, in general, such a person hasn’t a clue about the missions or the cultures.

      2. If you haven’t flirted with, let alone been intimately involved with higher education, what can you possibly bring to the committee? Other than a desire to cut, cut, cut? I don’t want a plumber who’s never seen a toilet before working on my house’s plumbing.

        Far too often we think first-hand knowledge isn’t necessary or is overrated. Why hire someone knowledgable when we can hire someone inexperienced who will then need to be brought up to speed by experts? Brilliant.

        1. Fellas, your views disappoint me.

          Public education deserves everyone’s input, as it’s the institution founded upon uplifting all.

          To compare it to the military (who’s responsibility is protection) and plumbing (a business industry) sure does sound like the input of someone who doesn’t understand it… but then again, what do I know about education? I only have a Bachelor’s Degree in a major that I created at Occidental College (IPS program), a Master’s Degree in Film Directing from Chapman, and spent a year and a half serving as a public school tyro-teacher in East Los Angeles, but again, what do I know?

          Education is egalitarian – both for the students and the administrators.

          1. What does the committee oversee? Is it high school? If so, I agree. But if it’s college, then I have to respectfully disagree. Someone claiming oversight there must have, as a minimum, the practical experience of having had to earn a college degree.

            Education does concern us all, but it’s not too much to ask that those in charge of it show that they’ve mastered it for themselves first.

              1. I’d still want someone who went to college on that one, just like I’d want someone with courtroom experience on a judicial committee.

          2. Good boards strive to have a composition that reflect the community. The community includes people who don’t have degrees for any numberof reasons. Why shouldn’t they be included on the committee?  

              1. In light of the destruction of 347 homes in Colorado Springs, where that community has 39 fewer firefighters and 50 fewer police than it did five years ago, the argument that “keep their money make their own choices” no longer holds water, so to speak.

                People get what they pay for. If you don’t want to pay taxes, please don’t ask for police to guard your homes against vandalism and looting, guard your cars against break-ins (as was the case at the hotels where some victims stayed) and please don’t ask for protection of your home against wildfires. Colorado Springs is now seeing what 20+ years of TABOR has done for them.

          4. of higher education, I think input from all people is of value. However, I don’t want just anyone on the education committee. I don’t want anyone who hasn’t gone through this process making decisions about how I go through this process. To me this is just common sense.

            Are we saying that someone who has never attained a G.E.D. or diploma should be put in charge of K-12 education policy?

        1. one of those standards should be mastery of basic math, and yes, a college education if you want to serve on any sort of higher education board.

          We should look for the best, not the worst. Of course these days a lot of the worst are serving.  Look at what Jan Brewers minimal education has done for Arizona.

      4. He serves on the Education Committee.

        And yes, it’s all fine and dandy that he hasn’t been to college. But maybe if he had he would have enough sense to not put out such a douchey lit piece.

        And yes, it’s all fine and dandy that he has an opinion about higher education. It’s ironic that he would disdain public education since he’s so uneducated.

  7. Does the Republican party not offer any oversight or expertise to their candidates? It almost seems like they’ve abandoned Mr. Ramirez and left him to his own devices. What a cruel organization to let him expose himself so publicly.

  10. Peak Politica, Ramirez, and even Ramirez’s wife are trying to gin up some lame twitter outrage. Why continue drawing attention to this shitty lit piece?  

    1. Someone calls you out on something shitty you’ve done, accuse them of attacking…

      * Your family

      * Your religion

      * ‘Merica

      Ramirez probably got too many participation ribbons in Kindergarten. He can’t possibly just be BAD at this, obviously some mean ol’ Democrat is lusting after his daughter!

      (Protip for RR/CPP: Even when I was a teenager, I didn’t take “attractive” to mean that the person saying it was lusting after me. Hell, my grandmother called me “attractive” as a teenager. A nice color of nail polish is “attractive.” It’s about the tamest possible descriptor of a woman who looks nice in a picture. If you don’t want it noted that your daughter–who probably, like all teen girls, is going for “attractive”–is attractive, you probably shouldn’t pose with her, and without your wife, in front of a big American flag, back-and-center on your lit piece. Now, if Pols had said “Ramirez is probably tappin’ that fine ass,” you might have grounds to angry-tweet.)  

    1. have to be securely lashed?  Oh wait, that’s the presidential platform .  Or is that only something he believed in as Governor, like healthcare taxes?  

  12. Who reads campaign lit who get in the mail or dropped on the lawn, anyway?  But, if you glance at it and think maybe it is me, maybe the eyes are really going this time….so you look at it more closely and find that you are reading the damm thing…..Just saying.

    1. I’m sure that was the intention. That and to scare the living shit out of small children with the creepy Stephen King clown photo…

        1. And I wasn’t all that big on them to start with.

          Remind me sometime to tell you about my experience during college at Barnum and Bailey’s Circus with the clowns–talk about an acid trip that turned ugly…

  13. for the most hilarious piece/reaction I’ve read in a long time. After many stressful weeks, I needed a good laugh. Hilarity provided.

  17. …”It bothers my wife and daughter more than me.”  

    Um, I know you said it bothered you, but saying it bothered them more than you kind of negates it to an extent.  Amazing!!!!

    1. Not saying all well educated people do perfectly in matters abstract and grammar, but there’s a definite trend line.

      OTOH, I guess the concept of “3” isn’t so abstract.

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