The Other McCain

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Calling Vernon Parker ‘Boy’? Quayle’s Smear Machine Backfires in AZ-3

Posted on | August 10, 2010 | 64 Comments

A dozen candidates are seeking the Republican nomination to replace retiring Rep. John Shadegg in Arizona’s 3rd District, and regular readers know I’m 100% for Vernon Parker. 

In March, our good friend Barbara Espinosa introduced me to the mayor of Paradise Valley, whose impressive resume is highlighted by the fact that he got his start in politics with the legendary Lee Atwater.

As if that weren’t all the proof you ever needed that Mayor Parker is a rock-solid conservative, he’s also been endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

 Unfortunately, the Quayle family wants to bequeath a seat in Congress to the former vice president’s 33-year-old son Ben, whose campaign is resorting to cheap smears against Parker. And last week, the Quayle machine issued a press release that included this disastrously dishonest sentence:

If Vernon Parker were the Republican nominee, he would quickly become a national poster boy for the Democrat Party; the seat would be lost in November; and Barack Obama would go on destroying our freedom and our economic future without obstruction from District 3 in Arizona.

Far be it from me to scream “raaaaacism” over a thoughtless choice of words, but Parker spokesman Jason Rose is less charitable to Ben Quayle: “To have the 33-year-old son of one of the wealthiest families in America refer to a leading Republican African-American as ‘boy’ is over the top.”

The back-story here is interesting. The big-money team hired by the Quayle dynasty resorted to its latest attack because Parker had pointed out a bit of transparent phoniness. As Andy Barr of Politico reported, Ben Quayle was trying to Astroturf a “family values” image:

Arizona Republican congressional candidate Ben Quayle recently sent out two mailers with pictures of him playing with two girls who appear to be his daughters.
Only problem: Quayle, 33, and his wife Tiffany have no children. . . .

This was the younger Quayle’s “potatoe” moment — it gave Keith Olbermann a chance to be genuinely funny for a change — and the Quayle campaign responded by trying to smear Vernon Parker as “unethical.” While we may excuse as merely thoughtless the use of the term “poster boy” in that smear, it actually points out the real problem: Quayle is a boy, an immature kid, as Barbara Espinosa says:

Ben Quayle, 33 years old, has had 4 jobs since 2002, has only worked for the 3 companies a year each, balance for the Quayle family, never voted in an local election . . . has lived in Arizona periodically until 2006, bought a home in District 3 December 2009.

Perhaps more importantly, Boy Quayle’s claim that Parker would become a “national poster boy for the Democratic Party” is the direct opposite of truth. Black conservatives like Vernon Parker are the Democratic Party’s worst nightmare. In smearing Parker, Quayle is actually reinforcing the worst stereotypes of the GOP, the same way that the vicious “raghead” smears on Nikki Haley in South Carolina did.

Many of my friends in the conservative blogosphere are backing other good candidates in the AZ-3 primary and that’s OK — so long as we agree that (a) under no circumstance should a well-qualified candidate like Vernon Parker be targeted by unfair attacks from fellow Republicans, and (b) under no circumstance should any conservative support Boy Quayle. It was, in fact, another candidate (Paulina Morris) who made the definitive case against Boy Quayle:

So you can support anyone in AZ-3 except Boy Quayle and still be my friend, but as for me, I’m sticking with the mayor.

VERNON PARKER for CONGRESS

Category: Arizona, Barbara Espinosa, Congress, Election, Republicans

Comments

64 Responses to “Calling Vernon Parker ‘Boy’? Quayle’s Smear Machine Backfires in AZ-3”

  1. Kojocaro
    August 10th, 2010 @ 6:25 pm

    interesting youngforeskin just caused my irony meter to explode

  2. TERRYL
    August 11th, 2010 @ 4:36 am

    READ WHAT QUAYLE SAID…HE DID NOT REFER TO VERNON PARKER AS A ‘BOY’ HE MESSED UP A SLANG SENTENCE… AND PARKER COMES OFF CALLING HIM RACIST-HORRIBLE CALL ON PARKERS BEHALF

  3. TERRYL
    August 11th, 2010 @ 12:36 am

    READ WHAT QUAYLE SAID…HE DID NOT REFER TO VERNON PARKER AS A ‘BOY’ HE MESSED UP A SLANG SENTENCE… AND PARKER COMES OFF CALLING HIM RACIST-HORRIBLE CALL ON PARKERS BEHALF

  4. Kojocaro
    August 11th, 2010 @ 2:38 pm

    i like parker but i agree with terryl parker is making a big mistake

  5. Kojocaro
    August 11th, 2010 @ 10:38 am

    i like parker but i agree with terryl parker is making a big mistake

  6. Brian O'Connor
    August 11th, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

    Without a doubt, Ben Quayle has proven that he is not ready to move up to the big leagues (and I am not sure if he will ever be), but he did just release a pretty cool Obama bashing commercial.

    “Barack Obama is the Worst President in History”

  7. Brian O'Connor
    August 11th, 2010 @ 12:09 pm

    Without a doubt, Ben Quayle has proven that he is not ready to move up to the big leagues (and I am not sure if he will ever be), but he did just release a pretty cool Obama bashing commercial.

    “Barack Obama is the Worst President in History”

  8. Boy Quayle, Republican Party Animal? : The Other McCain
    August 11th, 2010 @ 8:25 pm

    […] Points Memo has more.Not that there’s anything wrong with getting rowdy, but next time Boy Quayle wants to fake fatherhood or smear other candidates, he ought to consider that glass house he’s living in. var […]

  9. Birdgirl
    August 12th, 2010 @ 10:32 pm

    Sad that Parker has to cry “racism” in order to gain attention. If he is upset that he was called a poster boy, he needs thicker skin. Politics involves a lot of stuff and Parker obviously does not have the strength to let things slide off him and concentrate on the issues. By making an issue of his race, he is now a “black” candidate, not just a candidate. Way to move racial equality backwards Vernon.

  10. Birdgirl
    August 12th, 2010 @ 6:32 pm

    Sad that Parker has to cry “racism” in order to gain attention. If he is upset that he was called a poster boy, he needs thicker skin. Politics involves a lot of stuff and Parker obviously does not have the strength to let things slide off him and concentrate on the issues. By making an issue of his race, he is now a “black” candidate, not just a candidate. Way to move racial equality backwards Vernon.

  11. neal
    August 13th, 2010 @ 12:20 am

    Good Lord … this is soooo silly … it’s childish!

    Why does everything need be so damned politically correct!

    I hate seeing the GOP acting like libby sissies!

  12. neal
    August 12th, 2010 @ 8:20 pm

    Good Lord … this is soooo silly … it’s childish!

    Why does everything need be so damned politically correct!

    I hate seeing the GOP acting like libby sissies!

  13. Barbara Espinosa
    August 14th, 2010 @ 10:47 pm

    Quayle is tanking since the story came out about hobnobbing and writing for a smut site under a Bruce Landers from Boogie Nights. http://www.thedirty.com...http://twitter.com/nikrichie
    Stacy before you get upset that I did not take you to any of these places when you were in Scottsdale. I’m pure didn’t know they existed.. But now that I do you are in for a fun time when you come back.
    Barbara

  14. Barbara Espinosa
    August 14th, 2010 @ 6:47 pm

    Quayle is tanking since the story came out about hobnobbing and writing for a smut site under a Bruce Landers from Boogie Nights. http://www.thedirty.com...http://twitter.com/nikrichie
    Stacy before you get upset that I did not take you to any of these places when you were in Scottsdale. I’m pure didn’t know they existed.. But now that I do you are in for a fun time when you come back.
    Barbara