Recently, The Dead Pelican, a popular Louisiana news aggregate website published by conservative Chad Rogers, reported that Moon Griffon, a well-known Louisiana talk radio host and conservative, had some no-so-nice things to say about Jay Dardenne, the Republican candidate for Lt. Governor. Quoting:
Conservative talk radio host MOON GRIFFON had strong words for Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Jay Dardenne today. Griffon believes that Dardenne is lacking in conservative credentials, and highlighted what he believes to be Mr. Dardenne’s liberal leanings.
“Under no circumstances will I vote for Jay Dardenne for Lt. Governor,” said Griffon.
“I can’t look in the mirror if I vote for Jay Dardenne.”
“We’ve got to get rid of the RINO’s in the Republican party!” said Griffon.
Griffon cited Dardenne’s voting record as proof that Dardenne is no conservative.
The voting record that Mr. Griffon spoke of can be found here.
There’s some brilliant cross-promotion going on here.
It’s worth mentioning that the Dardenne campaign has spent at least $250 in advertisements on Chad Roger’s website, according to campaign finance reports. During the same period, Mr. Dardenne also spent $900 to advertise on The Hayride, a relatively new website operated by Scott McKay. (Incidentally, The Hayride uses exactly the same free WordPress template that I used three years ago).
Yesterday, Mr. McKay responded to Moon Griffon by way of attacking Mr. Dardenne’s opponent, Caroline Fayard. Ms. Fayard, you see, comes from a successful and wealthy family. Her father is a lawyer. And she was politically active even when she was a teenager (contributing to both Republicans and Democrats). Ergo, according to The Hayride:
The point is that Fayard ought to represent the absolute worst candidate for conservatives to see on the ballot – she’s a trial lawyer, spawned by trial lawyers, who has been throwing money at lefty politicians practically since before she could drive.
You may agree with Mr. McKay’s antipathy toward “trial lawyers,” but remember, Ms. Fayard’s father Calvin made national news two years ago when he jumped ship from the Clinton’s in order to raise money for Sarah Palin. Personally, I’ve always thought the “trial lawyer” meme to be vacuous and petty, because it seems like Republican operatives and pundits make that argument about any and every lawyer running as a Democrat.
Mr. McKay may believe it’s wise to attack Ms. Fayard because she’s donated to political campaigns, even when she was a young woman. Personally, I don’t think this is a fair line of attack, and again, I can’t help but wonder if this item on Mr. Dardenne’s campaign finance reports has had any influence over Mr. McKay’s coverage of the election:
$900 may not be a heckuva lot of money, to be sure, but it’s still much more than the Dardenne campaign spent on advertisements with KLAX and WNTZ in Alexandria, WGMB and WVLA of Baton Rouge, and KAQY of Shreveport, during the same reporting period. And that’s worth noting. Mr. McKay’s website isn’t exactly a news organization with a huge readership; it’s a relatively new blog site built on a free WordPress platform. I don’t fault Mr. McKay for his political entrepreneurship. In fact, I think it’s impressive.
And yes, I know, I know: I actually work for an elected official, but for what it’s worth, I’ve never received a penny from a political campaign. In fact, I’ve never been paid by anyone to advertise on this blog, despite my most earnest attempts.
Mr. McKay can teach all of us bloggers a lesson, though, unfortunately, Louisiana Democrats don’t have the same propensity to throw money at like-minded bloggers for banner ads, even if there’s a guarantee of consistently positive coverage. Cheapskates.
CenLamar 
Wow. Fayard gave to Palin???? And that’s the DEM candidate???? Seriously, Louisiana’s Dems are really bottom-of-the-barrel. If there isn’t going to be a distinction between the parties, what’s the point of voting for a Dem? Might as well get the real deal and vote for the R!