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Candidate slammed for being a Gamer

 
Candidate slammed for being a Gamer

http://www.politico.com/news/stories...043.html?hp=l7

Quote:
Maine state Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz is not a witch.

She is, however, an orc assassination rogue with a potty mouth — and the Maine Republican Party believes that disqualifies her from public office.

In an unusual press release issued Thursday, the Maine GOP attacked Lachowicz for a “bizarre double life” in which she’s a devotee of the hugely popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft. In the game, she’s “Santiaga,” an "orc assassination rogue" with green skin, fangs, a Mohawk and pointy ears.

Lachowicz is a Democrat running against incumbent state Sen. Tom Martin in south-central Maine, a heavily Democratic district of about 80,000 people. Martin, elected in 2010, is the first Republican to hold the seat since the 1960s, and his seat is one Democrats are eager to flip back.

Lachowicz has blogged under her own name about her World of Warcraft achievements as well as left-wing politics in a dedicated section of the liberal DailyKos.Com. The Maine GOP excerpted several provocative lines form her posts including one on tax policy that concludes, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I may have to go and hunt down Grover Norquist and drown him in my bathtub.”

Other postings use curse words and make to the joy of “stab[bing] things,” joke about “being in a Socialist guild” and admit to “seriously slacking off at work.”

Martin said he was unaware of the state Republican Party’s press release or Lachowicz’s hobby until contacted by POLITICO. He said he’s met his opponent once so far and she “seemed like a nice lady.” He said he deplores “mudslinging politics.”

Read the rest of the article HERE
When I first saw this, I could only think that, "Wow, and this guy wants my vote?" Especially in this day and age, gamers are not a group you want to alienate. With Smartphones, Tablets, and PS3/X-Box, gamers now make up a huge portion of Americans. To alienate that mass of voters is to kill your hopes of being elected.

I was more taken by this excerpt:

Quote:
“We think anyone making comments about drowning Grover Norquist and stabbing things shows a shocking level of immaturity and poor judgment that voters should know about,” Maine GOP party spokesman David Sorenson said. “Certainly the fact that she spends so much time on a video game says something about her work ethic and, again, her immaturity.”
I agree with the first sentence and disagree with the last sentence.

Anyone who is within the sphere of politics who thinks they might one day run for office should avoid writing things in public spaces that include some of the phrases being bandied about. It shows a lack of common sense and, yes, maturity. She shouldn't be denied a seat in the State Senate for being a gamer, but she might very well be denied a seat for being a gamer that admits to their hobby causing them to underperform at work.

The way they're going about it isn't appropriate, but the Maine GOP may have a valid concern somewhere in there. I think we need more context to form a substantive opinion -- how does she represent herself on the campaign trail, and let's see her questionable comments in context.

Edit: There's a follow-up article:

Quote:
“I regret that some things I said before I knew I was running for office could be misconstrued and offended some people,” she said. “Many of these comments go back quite a long time.”

[...]

“I don’t understand why I’m being targeted for playing online games when all I’ve done is campaign on the issues,” she said. “That’s the baffling thing. I’m out talking to people all the time about how what the Republicans are doing is affecting working class families in the district. I’d really like to get back to that.”
One of the more interesting facets of the two articles is their veiled commentary on Main party headquarters. The GOP candidate is quoted expressing disdain for the party's attacks:

Quote:
Martin said he has no plans to make an issue out of Lachowicz’s alter-ego and explained that the parties frequently operate without consulting candidates in local Maine races.

“From the first time I was elected, I didn’t like the mudslinging,” said Martin, who owns Nitram Excavation Services. “Somebody’s personal life is their personal life. What you do in society and in the community is what matters. I’ve seen three or four attack ads against me from the Democratic Party. We have no control over that, which is unfortunate.”
The Democratic candidate, on the other hand, says:

Quote:
The Maine Democratic Party defended Lachowicz by posting a plea for donations for "a gamer who's under attack." Lachowicz said, however, that she can’t accept any further campaign funds and she wasn’t involved in the decision to create that plea.

Still, the effort could be lucrative. The story of the attack on Lachowicz drew an outpouring of support for her from the gaming and online communities. For her part, however, she’d rather not become their emblem.

“I don’t understand why I’m being targeted for playing online games when all I’ve done is campaign on the issues,” she said. “That’s the baffling thing. I’m out talking to people all the time about how what the Republicans are doing is affecting working class families in the district. I’d really like to get back to that."
The winning line, IMO is this one: "Lachowicz said her current game of choice now is Angry Birds."

Yeah, she's not "slammed for being a gamer" she's slammed for making comments in favor of choking someone to death.

Actually she was slammed for both, but the question of how old those comments are is a valid question. If she made those comments online in the 1990s, let it go- sure she was immature at teh time, that doesn't mean she is now...

Quote:
Originally Posted by silveroak View Post
Actually she was slammed for both, but the question of how old those comments are is a valid question. If she made those comments online in the 1990s, let it go- sure she was immature at teh time, that doesn't mean she is now...
If you actually click on the article there is a date stamp on her comments, 2009.

People can be dumb. As a senator, she wouldn't slack because of gaming, and seriously, who hasn't snuck a post in on this site during work or school hours? And making a joke about killing someone is just that, a joke. And of course, it wasn't even said in a malicious or threatening way. In fact, the manner of killing was kind of ridiculous and was obviously not meant to be taken seriously. A cheap joke one day really shouldn't cause problems the next.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Ben View Post
If you actually click on the article there is a date stamp on her comments, 2009.
Then she's gonna have to suck it up. If she made them 20 years ago, even ten years ago, well before her political career, fine.
If she's already into her political career and stupid enough to make comments like that, then tough.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zelkon View Post
People can be dumb. As a senator, she wouldn't slack because of gaming, and seriously, who hasn't snuck a post in on this site during work or school hours? And making a joke about killing someone is just that, a joke. And of course, it wasn't even said in a malicious or threatening way. In fact, the manner of killing was kind of ridiculous and was obviously not meant to be taken seriously. A cheap joke one day really shouldn't cause problems the next.
It's fine to have that opinion but there is nothing wrong with bringing up someones comments and letting the voters decide whether or not they want to elect someone who jokes around about murdering political opponents.

She'd probably be too busy taking international junkets to foreign countries on the taxpayer dime to game.. it's the way of the political class. So you're probably right she wouldn't slack because of gaming.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Ben View Post
Yeah, she's not "slammed for being a gamer" she's slammed for making comments in favor of choking someone to death.
I'm going to accuse you of selective reading, Lord Ben, because the image of the flyer that shows her RL face alongside her WoW avatar's face, along with details of her character name name and class (which image dominates the flyer), makes it evident that she's also being attacked for being a gamer. As do the quotes that have been cited in this thread.

I read it but they're painting her as out of touch, the same as what happens with any other candidate for pretty much any reason. The real focus of the attack is on her enthusiastic support of murder.




 

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