Democrat House candidate throws race card at Save Jersey. Let’s examine why that’s ridiculous.

It’s Silly Season, Save Jerseyans. The time when losing campaigns throw ‘Hail Mary’ passes and say increasingly nutty things to garner media attention before the ship slips below the surface of the water.

Enter NJ-07 where radical Leftist Democrat Peter Jacob is losing his House race – badly – to incumbent Republican Leonard Lance.

You don’t need to see polling to assume how poorly things are going for Team Jacob. Silly Season Rule #1: the sillier the line of attack, the greater distance said silly candidate needs to make up before Election Day.

Judging by the nonsense we’re going to discuss below? Rep. Lance is safer than a Kennedy running in Massachusetts.

It all started when this site strongly criticized the Democrat upstart for INCREDIBLY suggesting that Omar Mateen, perpetrator of his summer’s horrendous Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, was simply mentally ill, willfully ignoring clear evidence of ISIS influence and down-playing the threat of radical Islam…. and blaming gun laws, too, of course. Jacob attacked Rep. Lance for suggesting otherwise. We did a follow up when the 911 tape confirmed the shooter’s radical Islamic motivations and called Jacob out as, at best, a dangerously naive young man.

At worst? He’s a scary radical ideologue who shouldn’t be permitted anywhere near the Capitol Building gift shop let alone an actual office of authority.

Capitol Hill BuildingMy position as a commentator on public affairs is pretty simple and uncontroversial: voters in New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District — who lost loved ones on September 11th — deserve to know if their aspiring federal representative doesn’t take the radical Islam threat seriously. Don’t ya think?

Not everyone agrees. Team Jacob felt it needed a boost given how little noise the campaign has generated to date (the race isn’t considered remotely competitive this cycle; the district didn’t even make the latest Cook Political Report watch list), so the campaign jumped on our second post (published long after the first one went up), sending out e-mail blasts over the course of the last week (including a fundraising e-mail!) defaming Leonard Lance, SaveJersey.com and yours truly by accusing each of us of promoting “racism.”

The alleged basis for this nonsense: A campaign spox claims SaveJersey.com’s decision to place unambiguously labeled photos of the candidate and the terrorist in the same post — in a story about both men — is somehow, in of itself, an act of racism. Lance’s campaign is apparently racist, too, because they promoted the post criticizing their opponent on social media.

Try to wrap your head around THAT one, folks. A stretch? More like a leap. People who want to be offended have very active imaginations! And campaigns desperate to get a media hit will do or say just about anything in October. 

The media rightly ignored Jacob’s goofy narrative (because it’s not much of a story) until, allegedly, a vandal spray-painted a swastika (twice) on the candidate’s home in recent days. I sincerely hope whoever perpetrated those acts is caught and prosecuted accordingly. There’s no place for that crap in our political system. At all.

Bu trather than “going high” (as Hillary Clinton likes to say) in the face of a repugnant act and uniting the district against the force of hate, the Jacob campaign went low and repeated the garbage claims lodged at this site and Leonard Lance in its e-mails to supporters to NJ 101.5 and other outlets.

I’m going to keep this simple and contain my comments to three points, Save Jerseyans. And they’re very important points:

  • There’s absolutely no basis whatsoever for the Jacob campaign to maliciously tie Leonard Lance or SaveJersey.com to detestable, indefensible vandalism. This site has not and will not wade into any race-baiting or targeting of individuals based on their appearance, race or religion. Never have, never will. Period, end of sentence. Unlike many on the Left who are obsessed with superficial things like skin color and ethnic origin, this site is proudly color blind and our ever-expanding audience is a reflection of great, diverse Garden State. Leonard Lance, for his part, is the consummate gentleman and famous for his civil approach to politics. Only someone LOOKING for a media angle could read racism into anything this site has published…. in fact, I’m told that the Jacob campaign REJECTED Leonard Lance’s offer to attend a scheduled Jacob for Congress press conference as a gesture of unity, reportedly on the basis of Lance’s endorsement of Donald Trump. Hmmm….
  • The most ironic part of the Jacob campaign’s transparently self-interested attack on SaveJersey.com? We’ve consistently served as a voice of reason during a crazy political season. I loudly and vocally opposed Donald Trump during the primary season and repeatedly criticized the Republican nominee for the crazy noises coming out of his mouth. I went on News12 and repudiated his plan to implement a religious test as unconstitutional. Yes, we’re known for pushing back on out-of-control rhetoric coming from both sides of the aisle. So when the Jacob campaign lumps us in with the Trumpster and alleges we’re contributing to a toxic climate? Not only does it scream of a transparent ‘agenda,’ but the substance of it is completely uninformed commentary from a clearly amateurish operation. Is this the best quality campaign NJ-07 Democrats can offer voters?
  • More irony? In my humble opinion, candidates should win or lose on the issues, not taking the Trump approach of blaming the media. That’s free advice but it’s invaluable advice all the same. Jacob Peters may be young but he’s on a very adult stage right now. He’s a candidate for Congress, one who happened to say something very naive and yes, plain old dumb and offensive, about a very serious terrorist threat. We called him out on it as we’ve done on many similar occasions in the past, in different cycles, going back to 2008. SaveJersey.com always has and always will challenge both GOP and Democrats on issues and will continue to do so particularly when their positions are dangerously off-base. Someone needs to do it! If Peter Jacob can’t handle sincere, fair and researched scrutiny from the media? He’s in the wrong business. If he’s not genuinely interested in uniting NJ-07 (my original allegation from the first post) as his recent rhetoric suggests? He should drop out now and take Trump with him. They’re cut from the same cloth at least in this one decidedly unflattering respect. 

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Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8390 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.