Unfortunately, Mandela Barnes fell just short of unseating Ron Johnson. It sure wasn't for a lack of trying or poor messaging or anything like that. Even though Team RoJo outspent Barnes campaign by tens of millions of dollars, Barnes lost by less than one point.
Early on Wednesday morning, just before 1 am, RoJo emerged from underneath is rock to address the people at his election headquarters. He told them that the race was over and that he was sure he had won, but he wasn't sure enough to declare victory then and there and wanted one of the major networks to call it for him.
And is the norm for him, RoJo couldn't just thank his supporters and be done. Nope. He had to mewl about all the lies and "character assassinations" he had to go through:
"We've looked very closely at the numbers," said Johnson. "We feel very confident that there's no way that they can really make up that gap. But, you know, I'm not going to declare victory until all the numbers are in. But I just want to give you guys the sense that this race is over."
Johnson struck a somber note when reflecting on the closeness of his race.
"I do believe that this time truth has prevailed over the lies, over the character assassination," Johnson said. "But what I will say, unfortunately, it's still so close. And, that's a little depressing, isn't it?"
What a tacky and ungracious to say. And the fact that Ron was lying through his teeth about it makes it truly outrageous.
Sadly, there's more. There's always more.
It turns out that their was lies and character assassination happening. Not just happening, but at a professional grade level. And it was coming from Team RoJo. Dan Bice, muckraker for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, dropped this tidbit on Wednesday:
[Chris] LaCivita, one of those responsible for "swiftboating" former U.S. Sen. John Kerry in 2004, was the general consultant for the Johnson campaign. He had the difficult task of figuring out how a candidate who spent the last six years making himself the most polarizing figure in Wisconsin could beat a young, gregarious and affable opponent.
LaCivita's three-prong program: "Attack, attack, attack."
And the attacks took the form of lies, character assassinations and pure racist dog whistles.
RoJo and friends were always shading Barnes' skin to be several shades darker, repeatedly lied about Barnes' proposals and played to his racist base like a master musician. And even though they were being repeatedly called out by the media, the right and the left, they just kept doing the same things and RoJo's racist base just ate up everything he could dish out to them, regardless of how absurd or flagrantly false it was.
It would sure be nice if AG Garland would get around to arresting and indicting the traitors and election fraudsters like RoJo, preferably sooner than later. But you'll have to excuse me for not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
