Huh?
The strangest moment of gubernatorial debate #2 arose during one of the clash’s testier exchanges, Save Jerseyans. Facing tightening polls and pressure neverous Democrat leaders, Mikie Sherrill’s campaign tried to make hay out of Jack Ciattarelli’s past career as a successful publisher for medical companies, some which also manufactured opioids.
“I think you’re trying to divert from the fact that you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill said to Ciattarelli, attempting to fend off an attack concerning her own ethical shortcomings. “Families across this state deserve to know more about that.”
Deserve to know what, exactly? That Jack made money legally?
Terrence McDonald of the NJ Monitor (who’s not a conservative) went as far as to call Sherrill’s attack line “dangerous.” Reckless or not, it’s also an especially strange drum for Sherrill to beat considering that she made millions of dollars on the stock market, including in the defense sector, INCLUDING while she sat on the U.S. House’s Armed Services Committee. That’s called insider trading in any other context.
I also can’t help but wonder: did I miss Mikie Sherrill accusing Phil Murphy of killing thousands of seniors during the Covid pandemic? An accusation for which there’s a lot more evidence due to the incumbent governor’s idiotic lockdown policies which helped spread the disease among one of our most vulnerable populations? Unlike Jack, Phil had to pay millions – of our tax dollars – to the families of victims of his nursing home debacle.
Let’s face it:
Reckless is what the Democrats do in 2025. The party is a mess, its rhetoric is chronically violent, and if you have any doubt about whether Sherrill’s campaign is walking a “dangerous” path with its latest accusations, ask Ms. Kirk all about it.
After debate #1, I mused that Sherrill, not Ciattarelli, sounded like the candidate who’s down in the polls and knows it.
I walked out of debate #2 fairly convinced that Team Sherrill thinks she’s behind – or at least falling behind – and needs to swing wildly in the hopes of making something, anything, land on the Republican nominee. There’s no other rational explanation for one of the weirdest, sloppiest attempts at a gotcha moment in contemporary debate history.
