ELECTION ’12//CONGRESS 15 | There may finally be consensus in the race for the 15th Congressional District. Both candidates need to step away from Final Cut Pro and quit posting videos to YouTube.
Today, Eric Swalwell’s campaign posted a mock debate between himself and an actor portraying Rep. Pete Stark. The 12-minute long video falls flat and contrived as a clip two weeks ago posted by Stark that showed him clearly and clumsily reading off a cue card.
In this video, Swalwell plays the straight man, while a young actor with hair and eye brows colored grey, rambles through quotes previously uttered by the original Stark. However, this version of Stark, actually, looks more like Fremont’s bellicose Mayor Gus Morrison.
It’s not the first time Swalwell has tried his hand at acting. He appeared in a low-budget movie, he says, was done as a favor to a campaign volunteer. The impetus for this video comes from the Swalwell campaign’s months-long push to get Stark to debate the first-term Dublin councilman.
Those hoping to invest 12 minutes of their life with the expectation for a payoff in laughter or poignancy will be disappointed here, because there are none. Like previous campaign videos put out by the Swalwell campaign, this one is amateurish and low in production values. (As opposed to this 30-second spot put out last week by Rob Bonta’s campaign for the 18th Assembly.)
Aside from that, could you imagine any other candidate for local office this year, let alone the House of Representatives, resorting to these types of corny stunts? And, is spending time on a video of this type and at this stage of the campaign–just three weeks from Election Day–the best use of their time and energy? Or, is this a sign things are getting desperate?
ebcitizen.com 
As the “young actor” (I was 32 at the time) “with hair and eyebrows colored grey”, I gotta say… “looks more like Fremont’s bellicose Mayor Gus Morrison”… first off, ouch. But also, (after looking up Gus Morrison), okay, yeah, I kinda see it.
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3:47 – might want to answer the question dipshit.
here, i'll make it easy for you.
Why give a no-name councilmember from a no-name part of the bay area more name recognition?
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Hate to break it to you 3:47 but Stark has been there for us for 40 years. I know a few folks that want to make a big issue out of his outbursts but that's why we've voted for him and that's why we'll continue to vote for him.
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2:58…”We've seen Pete at a couple places this summer and keep track of where he is and what he's doing via facebook”
Oh yeah, Pete showing up a couple times at rah-rah events where his campaign makes darn sure that NO ONE will ask him any awkward question. Certainly no even where the press, written or televison will have any chance to catch a quote of any type.
In other words, yes you may have seen smiling Pete at campaign approved “gaffe free” events.
But has Pete done even one event where the average voter can question his stance on the issues? NO, he and his campaign team have completely shut the public out.
The he puts out those laughable videos, that even the newspapers skewered as silly.
“Pete Stark Answers the Tough Questions”
More like “Pete Stark reads answers to T-ball questions”
Go to his site, watch two of them.
W-A-T-C-H Pete R-E-A-D, See Pete, See Pete read, See Pete fetch the ball. See Pete is still awake at 3:00 PM
Bottom line is that Pete Stark is hiding.
Everyone knows it, yet you try to foist some programed event as though Pete was really doing anything other than smiling and shaking hands.
He has been hiding for 5 months since his primary debacle wherein every time he showed up, he gaffed his way to lower polling. Fumbling and bumbling every single appearance.
Remember the blowup at the Tri-CED Recycling Center.
All the campaign aides tugging at his sleeve to drag him to the waiting escape car. TOO LATE, Pete went off script and blew up at the press.
Go to ABC7 and watch the cool steady Pete go off the rails, yelling at reporters.
That was Cornu's first attempt in her new position to allow Pete to appear in public.
She caught on quickly, and we haven't seen Pete since.
Deep six Pete.
Even in the Trib's recent article it talks about everyone in the campaign center nervous as Pete enters, wondering what he'll do today. Is he normal or will he gaffe?
After he doesn't blow it the Trib reports.. “The line brought more applause and, no doubt, a collective internal sigh of relief.”
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12:41. are you really that big of a hypocrite? Defending a mockery of a video that shows the utter lack of contempt Eric has for voters or the office he aspires to?
Also, if i was the congressman why would i lower myself to speaking to a child and hope to be taken seriously? It's a gag at best. We've seen Pete at a couple places this summer and keep track of where he is and what he's doing via facebook.
I guess the big question that continues to elude the amateurs here is..Why give a no-name councilmember from a no-name part of the bay area more name recognition?
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that makes no sense.
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I can beat an actor playing Lebron James at 1 on 1…not sure what that proves
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OMG Cindy, you criticize Swalwell for his silly video suggesting he is showing the voters little respect.
Of course you totally overlook the fact that Pete Stark has been unwilling to face the voters since June.
He is dead set to run through the entire election without once appearing in public where the voters could discern his position in a open forum.
Your finding flaws in Swalwell is amazing in light of Pete Starks lack of any respect at all for the public's right to engage the candidates.
His foolish videos are silly. yes, Pete can read his lines, but is he still capable of thinking on his feet?
Apparently not, or they wouldn't be hiding him.
BTW, as of 4:00 PM Monday, Pete was at home in Maryland and his local office had no idea when he'd next return to the district or where if anywhere he'd appear.
Call them, ask them the same question.
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Swalwell looks like he's thinking WTF am I doing here next to a kid in a gray wig. He doesn't even look like Pete Stark. This video looks like one of those sexual harrassment videos you have to sit through at work.
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It's been gnawing at me since I first saw this video; I'm a little stunned at how little respect Swalwell is showing the voters and the Office he seeks. He is stooping to gimmickry, to self-mockery that is really rather concerning. If elected how will he treat the seriousness of the work in front of him.
I recently told a local candidate that old “cutesy” ads had to go. That this is a time of serious issues facing a serious nation and that the years in front of us are crucial to our future as we dig ourselves out of the Bush years but apparently Swalwell doesn't take the task seriously. Really rather sad – Cindy Corrello Hilke
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10:47 you said a
“Hayashi hit piece by Valle- effective”
When did it arrive in the mail? Which day?
Content?
It would be nice if EBCitizen would post it so we could all see what it looked like.
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Eric is a Asst District Attorney- pretty sure Khanna makes more $$ working for a Silcon Valley law firm. Not too many yachts in Dublin
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Is it just me or does swalwell look just as nervous debating this stand-in as he did the real congressman?…and what is wrong with his face?
it comes off as a petty childish stunt pulled by a kid trying to get attention. eric's 15 minutes of fame are over. he can go back to all his affluent white friends with their yachts and country homes and get whatever is wrong with his face taken care of before khanna steps up to the plate in 2014.
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Mail this week:
Pro Hayashi piece today (weak) includes husband judge
Pro Swalwell piece on fri- good except could not read chart of stark missing votes
Anti Swawell piece- rookie
Hayashi hit piece by Valle- effective
Pro Quirk piece with wedding, boy scout and karate pics with son- hysterical
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By MW:
Since Dianne Feinstein is refusing to debate her opponent, in other words Elizabeth Emken, in the race for the US Senate, things would get really embarassing for Feinstein, and extra especially for the Democratic Party, if Emken therefore staged a “debate” with Feinstein similar to the one Swalwell staged “with” Stark, and then Emken asked questions relating to the extremely close relationships Feinstein, Willie Brown, John Burton, Bill Lockyer, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and other high ranking Democrats had with such characters as Durkee, Duane Garrett, and organized crime kingpin M.L. “Larry The Liar – Arlington National Cemetery” Lawrence.
For instance, a major San Francisco office building that Lawrence was the primary owner of went up in flames at 3AM in the morning, in other words at the standard time for mafia arranged arson fires in office buildings, and just before CAL OSHA was scheduled to a do a followup and more thorough investigation into the building's many asbestos violations.
However since Lawrence was a major source of election campaign contributions and under the table bribes to the Democratic Party, therefore Feinstein, Willie Brown, John Burton, Bill Lockyer, Nancy Pelosi, the Clintons, and Pete Stark, etc, all “knew” that Lawrence was a legitimate businessman and supposedly not an organized crime kingpin.
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Hey, if you want some real fun, go to Pete's site and hit both videos at once.
You get the video AND audio of both at once.
http://www.petestark.com/video/pete-answers-the-tough-questions
Wait Wait, more fun with Pete. Bring up the site, then bring up the same site on a second screen.
Then hit the button on all 4 videos at once and you get 4x the fun, 4x Pete Stark… Harmony
A real crowd pleaser of action.
Now I tried it with 6 videos at once, but trust me, its better to limit it to from 2 to 4 at once. Six at once just sounds like a crowd at a cocktail party.
If I was Swalwell, instead of cooking up that video he just released, I'd get someone skilled in mixing video and then take Pete's videos along with all the other stuff on youtube and some ABC/Channel 7 stuff, Chronicle interviews and mix up a hilarious brew all set to some great music.
I bet you'd get 100 times or 1,000 times the views vs the current video if it was done well.
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I think I'll pass for now on the video.
Now, I happened to call Stark's office today, just curious if he was even in town.
She said he was back in Maryland, but that he had been here last week or over the weekend. She also said that he was coming back next week, but she didn't have any events he would be attending.
Anyone know what Pete did last week while visiting the district?
Oh, she said something about the Livermore Lab celebration or something in the recent past.
I saw no mention of this in the news or on his site.
How about any polling in this race by either side.
Perhaps they're doing it, and its all turned out to be too close to call and as such they're not announcing it to the press.
The trouble with these concocted videos by Pete and Swalwell is that no one is gonna watch them.
Regardless of quality, the undecided voter will never see them and the decided voter won't change their mind.
Pete is acting smart, or should I say finally keeping his head down, talked or arm twisted into staying out of the public eye. In the primary Pete was Swalwells main advertising. Pete handed the opposition publicity they could never have purchased even with $500,000.
But for Petes string of gaffes, he be cruising to a 60% victory with Swalwell getting about 40%.
Now I doubt Pete can get even 55%…perhaps not even 50%.
How about mailers. Any new ones by Pete. Any at all by Swalwell?
How about the Hayashi hit pieces?
Come on, there has to be one this week or else everyone has gone crazy.
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Maybe the choice was a personal observation.
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Bellicose?
Definition of BELLICOSE
: favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars
Look for another adjective Steve.
Gus Morrison
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