Indiana Political Marketplace: How far is too far?

[Tiassa]

Indiana Republican Gets a Lesson in the Political Marketplace

Back in February, Indiana State Representative Bob Morris (R-Fort Wayne) caused something of a stir when he fired off a rhetorical salvo at the Girl Scounts of America:

Nonetheless, abundant evidence proves that the agenda of Planned Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the Girl Scouts, which is quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood instructional series and pamphlets are part of the core curriculum at GSA training seminars. Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley of Denver last year warned parents that "membership in the Girl Scouts could carry the danger of making their daughters more receptive to the pro-abortion agenda."

The attack arose from the question of why Morris was the only member of the state's House of Representatives to refuse a resolution recognizing the GSA's centennial anniversary.

The Fort Wayne representative's fusillade came across as so appalling that Morris' fellow Republicans did not simply flee the fallout, but stood against him:

After controversial remarks by one Republican lawmaker attacking Girl Scouts as a radical group that supports abortion, House Speaker Brian Bosma made his feelings clear Tuesday, one Thin Mint cookie at a time.

Bosma, also a Republican, pointedly offered Girl Scout cookies throughout the day and munched them as he presided over the House.
It was a snack prompted by state Rep. Bob Morris, a Fort Wayne Republican who recently sent an e-mail to fellow GOP lawmakers explaining why he had been the lone lawmaker opposing a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts ....

.... At one point Tuesday, he told House colleagues he had "purchased 278 cases of Girl Scout cookies in the last 48 hours."

And when time came for the House to adjourn, he asked all lawmakers who had been Girl Scouts—and seemingly every female legislator stood—to give the daily motion to adjourn.

(Schneider)

The rebuke seems to have been effective insofar as we hear from Niki Kelly and Benjamin Lanka of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Republican state Rep. Bob Morris of Fort Wayne received just one contribution after his outburst against the Girl Scouts earlier this year.

His latest campaign finance report filed this month shows he raised $5,000 between Jan. 1 and April 13 – all of which came from one donation from the Northeast Indiana PAC for Better Government.

The donation came April 10 – well past the February airing of Morris’ comments calling the Girl Scouts a “radicalized” organization that supports abortion and lesbianism.

The political action committee is financed by several prominent business executives, including Richard Freeland and Don McArdle. The group has been a major player in local Republican politics for years, giving thousands of dollars to different campaigns. Morris now has about $19,000 on hand. He is facing Democrat Lee Jordan in the fall.

The caveats here are that Jordan's numbers were not available at press time, and early voting is already underway for the May 8 primary—but Jordan and Morris both appear unopposed for their party's ticket. It is possible that voters will still back Morris; Fort Wayne is part of Indiana's Third Congressional District, and scored a Cook PVI of R+14 in 2010.

Still, if the political marketplace is suggestive, the sparse contributions might suggest that even Fort Wayne Republicans worry that Morris crossed over into tinfoil realms.

We'll see how this goes.
____________________

Notes:

Morris, Bob. "Rep. Bob Morris: Girl Scouts have 'radical policies'". The Scoop. February 23, 2012. JournalGazette.com. May 1, 2012. http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...GS01/120229962

Schneider, Mary Beth. "Ind. lawmaker munches cookies to counter Girl Scout remarks". USA Today. February 22, 2012. USAToday.com. February 23, 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...uts/53205262/1

Kelly, Niki and Benjamin Lanka. "After outburst, Morris gets 1 donation". Political Notebook. May 1, 2012. JournalGazette.com. May 1, 2012. http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...886/1002/local

[spidergoat]

I just can't get over the fact that girl scout cookies aren't actually made by girl scouts. How lazy is that? What are they learning when they sell them? How to stand next to a ready made product and look pretty?

[quadraphonics]

I just can't get over the fact that girl scout cookies aren't actually made by girl scouts. How lazy is that? What are they learning when they sell them? How to stand next to a ready made product and look pretty?

Mostly they learn how to have their parents go around and sell the cookies to their co-workers at the office. But there is usually some standing-next-to-a-table-of-cookies duty as well, sure.

[Michael]

They are learning a little of how to market and sell Chinese made stuff. Perhaps a good skill to have in the coming decades..

[Asguard]

I just can't get over the fact that girl scout cookies aren't actually made by girl scouts. How lazy is that? What are they learning when they sell them? How to stand next to a ready made product and look pretty?

Spider the other fundraising the scouts do (here) is selling sausages and drinks on the side of the road (or outside bunnings or other places) and we certainly never made sausages or coke

[Cavalier]

I just can't get over the fact that girl scout cookies aren't actually made by girl scouts. How lazy is that? What are they learning when they sell them? How to stand next to a ready made product and look pretty?

I have no problem with marketing a product that is branded by the GSA's efforts. If I buy a totebag from PBS, I don't assume the PBS workers are hand-weaving them prior to each sale, or crafting me a set of Ken Burn's Civil War DVDs from scratch. Most charitable and social organizations do not manufacture their own swag.

In fact, I am not sure I like the optics of sending one's daughter off to the GSA to learn how to bake cookies (and on an industrial scale too). Plus, if the scouts made the cookies by hand, then they would not be as uniform in appearance and taste.

It's like complaining that Apple doesn't make their own iPods, but rather hire manufacturing companies to do it.

[Tiassa]

Spider the other fundraising the scouts do (here) is selling sausages and drinks on the side of the road (or outside bunnings or other places) and we certainly never made sausages or coke

I wouldn't worry about the chaff posts. They're marginally relevant insofar as they pertain to the Girl Scouts at all, but, in truth, the topic post highlights that there are, apparently, some degree of "too far" in American politics.

Most Americans who participated in Scouts, school fundraisers, or community sports programs loathed the hawking of cheap spices, overpriced chocolate, or whatever the hell they were expected to go door to door pitching in order to fund their soccer league, Scout troop, or school.

The whole point of it all thirty years ago was not simply fundraising, but also that incredibly stupid notion of "building character".

I buy Girl Scout cookies because they're good. In some cases, I'll cut off the poor kid pitching for his school music program or community baseball team and just buy something because I hated having to recite the "professional" sales pitch to random strangers—something parents in my corner of the Universe seemed to love to make my generation of children do.

The whole point of building character in this sense is to make the kids do unpleasant, embarrassing things for a greater cause. Of course many of my American neighbors are going to mock these sales campaigns; indeed, they should. But, you know, at least have some compassion when face to face with a child whose parent pushes her out to greet strangers outside a grocery store and ask them to please buy some cookies, or a chocolate bar, or whatever.

But, getting back to the topic post issue, I think part of the reason nobody's really saying much about it is that there isn't much to say. It's fascinating that this might be the line in Indiana. Ripping on the Girl Scouts in the context of the eternal fear that feminism will turn our daughters into lezzie sluts? In truth, no matter how outrageous it sounds, it's not actually all that far out in the strange regions known as the American right wing. I don't know the statistics for Girl Scouts in "middle America", but there must have been a hell of a lot of them in prior generations. For some reason, Morris' screed against the Girl Scouts has absolutely bombed. Sure, liberals would find it outrageous, but I'm curious about the notion that even conservatives aren't ready to financially support his re-election bid.

To the other, I'm dubious about Democrat Lee Jordan's chances. Perhaps he won't need much for financial support once the general campaign begins in earnest.

[Asguard]

I must say when I started reading his comments I thought they were a bizarre reference to the high level of sex at the age group above scouts (venterers and rovers and there equivilant for the guides), but this is nothing but a reflection that these age groups tend to be becomming or are sexually active and therefore when you mix males and females people are going to hookup, same things happen in the older levels of highs school and Uni and in every other area which puts 15-16 year olds and above together.

[Michael]

I recall selling stuff as a boyscout to pay for trips camping and whatnot. I don't remember if it was cookies, maybe some sort of candy and of course raffles.

I'm not even sure if people would buy homemade cookies anymore - they're more trust a cookie made in China than in someones home oven.