Well…we were having a nice little primary on the issues. The race for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Philadelphia had been remarkably free from rancor, race-baiting, and dirty politics. That has all changed in the last couple of weeks. It started with Rep. Chaka Fattah suggesting that Michael Nutter isn’t black enough. It ramped up considerably yesterday. Self-financed millionaire Tom Knox and fourteen-year city council veteran Michael Nutter had been getting on famously and seemed to genuinely like and trust each other. No More:
…flyers were distributed outside at least two Catholic churches early yesterday accusing Nutter of changing his religious beliefs for political reasons…
“Remember that Democrat Tom Knox is a practicing Catholic,” the flyer reads. “Michael Nutter? He was Catholic when it was convenient for him, so he could get a quality Catholic education. Now? He quietly left the Catholic Church to become a Baptist, probably because his polls told him it would be a smart move.”
The flyer had a red headline and Knox’s name at the bottom in red, but there was nothing on it to indicate who was responsible for the literature. It was placed on car windshields outside at least two Catholic parishes in opposite ends of the city…
… Nutter, 49, was raised Catholic but started attending Baptist churches in the mid-1980s.
“It’s clear to me, based on the other filthy literature Tom Knox has been mailing out, that this is clearly more of his nasty tactics,” Nutter said, brushing off Knox’s denial.
Then, standing in front of the Philadelphia Zoo, where he had gone to meet voters, Nutter put both hands in his pants pockets and calmly disparaged Knox in the most brutal language of the campaign.
“Tom Knox is a low life and a scumbag for being associated with this kind of vile, vicious kind of literature,” he said. “It is an absolute insult to all churchgoers and Christians that this kind of literature is handed out in front of churches. All we are left to ask is this question: Tom Knox, have you no dignity?”
It’s hard to picture Michael Nutter using the word ‘scumbag’. He’s obviously angry as hell. Meanwhile, Tom Knox is clearly desperate. The cars outside my house are littered with anti-Nutter fliers paid for by the Knox campaign.
Something about Knox has always bothered me. This latest attack on Nutter’s religion should backfire. If Joe Trippi is behind this, he should never be hired again by anyone, and John Edwards should fire his ass.
The primary is tomorrow. I hope Knox gets slaughtered.
