(An update: this video has been removed from youTube. So far, no one has come to take credit for it, so this leads me to believe that my initial assessment of it was entirely accurate. Will the anonymous user who posted it acknowledge what was done here?
This was posted to youTube under the moniker PoliticsVT, who had two videos. They have both been removed. - promoted by JulieWaters)
In the past week, a video's been referenced in the comment threads here that suggests that Brian Dubie wants to tax small stores and that it's okay to tax them as much as we want:
A few problems I see with this:
the quote in question isn't from Brian Dubie, but instead tax commissioner Richard Westman;
the quote itself isn't specifically sourced. It references "Vermont Public Radio" and "April of 2010" but doesn't provide anything specific enough to find out exactly when this statement was claimed to have been made
The quote is taken out of context with no clarity as to what the intent was behind it.
It's extremely easy for me to imagine that this was someone saying that this is what us liberals think, that it's okay to tax mom and pop stores as much as we like. Without a broader context, I don't see how we can make a judgment about this specific quote, but it's presented as some sort of attack on Dubie himself.
Look, we've just seen a really nasty example of what can happen when clips are edited for partisan political purposes. I've no problem with attack ads, but they need to be properly sourced, documented and valid. I don't see an indication that this one is, and given that I asked for clarification from the person who posted the links and never received a response, I'm inclined to think that this is bogus.
I'm sure Dubie would make a horrible governor. He's shown more interest in platitudes than policy. But we need to go after him for what he's actually involved in or avoided.
And yes, I'm going after something produced by someone who clearly shares my goals, because I don't think my goals are truly served by this sort of approach.
It's good for neither politics nor policy to muddy the waters of our debates with this sort of innuendo.
250-1
75-1
