Think You've Seen How Low Republicans Can Go?

OK, let's face it, we're as jaded as they come when it comes to the low-rent campaign tactics Republicans will use to smear their opponents. We've seen them swift-boat decorated Veterans like John Kerry and Max Cleland and we've watched them go after the wives of candidates, such as in 1988 when they exploited Kitty Dukakis's battle with alcoholism and floated a rumor that she had once burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War.

But this may be a new low even for them… And this is GOP-on-GOP smearing in the form of a mailer sent out by California Republican Bill Conrad, a candidate for State Assembly, attacking his primary opponent Tom Berryhill for having -- are you ready for this? -- heart surgery and promoting the idea that voters should not support Berryhill because he might die soon.

"Tom Berryhill doesn't have the HEART for State Assembly," says the mailer, which then goes on to list "facts" about the survival rates of people who have Berryhill's surgery and implores voters to consider "…the costs to taxpayers for a special election when poor health renders him unable to fulfill the duties of office."

Have a look:



You can see the full ads here and here.

Wow, I guess if Berryhill were a Democrat, they wouldn’t have been this gentle with him.