Did Gottheimer go too far in calling opponent a “Fraudster”?

By Rubashov
 
Politicians… and the labels they apply to those who oppose them.
 
The latest political commercial paid for and approved by Congressman Josh Gottheimer attacks opponent Frank Pallotta for having worked on Wall Street.  The commercial is short on facts of any kind.  Based on nothing more than having worked on Wall Street, Gottheimer labels Pallotta a “fraudster”.
 
Fraud is a criminal act.  And “fraudster” is defined as “a person who commits fraud, especially in business dealings.”  That is a rather heavy allegation to make absent any evidence of criminal misconduct.
 
Does this mean we can label Phil and Tammy Murphy “fraudsters”?  Cory Booker?
 
If merely working on Wall Street equals fraud, then does taking a campaign contribution of a certain heft constitute bribery?  Could we see a future political commercial with the tagline: “Josh Gottheimer… he takes bribes and is supported by fraudsters.”  Indeed, if all of Wall Street can be summed up as “fraud” – then are lobbyists, the industry as a whole, engaged in “bribery”?  Does it follow that Mrs. Gottheimer, a well-known lobbyist, is engaged in nefarious acts?  Should it be alleged in a campaign commercial?        
 
Going forward – at least in New Jersey – will all political campaigns use this Gottheimer standard when measuring how to define an opponent and his or her actions?  Will future candidates so casually label another candidate a criminal?  And where will it end? 
 
Now that candidates are accusing each other of criminal activities will it be such a reach to label each other for their disgusting habits?  For instance, if one need only work on Wall Street to be labeled a criminal, then it follows that one need only be male to be labeled a hand-job. 
 
Wikipedia points out that “different studies have found that masturbation is frequent in humans. Alfred Kinsey's 1950s studies on US population have shown that 92% of men and 62% of women have masturbated during their lifespan. Similar results have been found in a 2007 British national probability survey. It was found that, between individuals aged 16 to 44, 95% of men and 71% of women masturbated at some point in their lives… The Merck Manual says that 97% of men and 80% of women have masturbated and that, generally speaking, males masturbate more than females.”
 
Now anyone who has ever read the scribblings of this superannuated lapsed Marxist should know that we have no love for Wall Street.  And yet it must be said that most are not convicted of fraud.  Certainly not 97%.  Therefore, the probability that Gottheimer is a masturbator is greater – much greater – than his statement that Pallotta is a fraudster.  Does it then follow that it should be used in a campaign commercial? 
 
We can see it now – the campaign commercial of the future – wherein Candidate A calls Candidate B a “jerk-off” and Candidate B replies by calling Candidate A an “ass-muncher.”  Of course, these labels would be adjusted based on the self-perception of the candidates, a particularly “blue-blooded” candidate, for instance, might refer to his opponent as “an aficionado of the hand” or some such.
 
Gottheimer’s crew superimposed Pallotta’s face on a foreclosure sign.  Will Pallotta’s people return the favor – but instead on Conan O’Brien’s infamous masturbating bear?  How elevating all this will be!  How erudite!
 
None of this should surprise us coming from Josh Gottheimer.  He was second-in-command of a corporation that

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called “the PR firm from Hell.”

Really… you can watch Maddow say it here…

Lest we forget, before he was elected to Congress in 2016, Josh Gottheimer followed his buddy Mark Penn, the Clintons' polling guy, to take over an international public relations/lobbying corporation.  Gottheimer held the number two position as international Vice President (his buddy Mark Penn was international President).  Here is Gottheimer’s biography from the website of “the PR firm from Hell.” 
 
Global Leadership
Josh Gottheimer, Executive Vice President, Worldwide / Global Chair, Corporate and Public Affairs Practices
 
Office: Washington, D.C.
Email address: josh.gottheimer@bm.com
 
Josh is Executive Vice President, Worldwide at Burson-Marsteller and is Global Chair of Burson's Corporate and Public Affairs Practices.
 
Josh was Director of Strategic Communications at Ford Motor Company. His responsibilities included communication strategy and message development; overseeing Ford's US corporate advertising; and supervising the Washington DC Public Affairs operation. In his time at Ford, he helped develop the company's corporate message, "Driving American Innovation."
 
Between 1998 to 2001, Josh served as Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. In that role, he drafted speeches, op-eds and articles for President Clinton. Among others, he helped draft the State of the Union addresses in 1999 and 2000, several comedy speeches, and the 2000 Democratic Convention speech.
 
After leaving the White House, Josh was a Senior Advisor to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He was also a founding partner of the Cambridge Writers Group, where he provided strategic communications advice, developed message strategy and drafted remarks for public and private sectors clients (including Fortune 100 CEO's, university presidents and several elected officials).
 
In the 2004 presidential race, Josh served as Deputy Director of Speechwriting and Senior Policy Advisor to the John Kerry for President Campaign. In this role, in which he traveled with the Senator, Josh wrote speeches, op-eds, and policy memoranda. In addition, he aided in the development of communications and political strategy. During the primary season, Josh was Deputy Director of Communications & Chief Speechwriter in General Wesley Clark's bid for the Democratic nomination.
 
Josh is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School and was a Thouron Fellow at Oxford. Josh was a political analyst for BBC television and radio and has held scholarly appointments at major universities. He has published articles in The Washington Monthly, ABA Magazine, and was the editor of Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches (Basic Books, 2003) a collection of inspiring speeches from five social movements in American history. Josh is also a member of the New York State Bar.
 

"When evil needs public relations, evil has (Josh Gottheimer’s company) on speed dial.”

(Rachel Maddow, MSNBC)