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Message to Tong: Release the Release!

A  Democrat from Connecticut attacked his opponent with false information and then deleted all traces of his misstep at the first sign of trouble. We need you to sign the Release the Statement petition so this man is held accountable for his actions!

The full story:

Several days ago, a Rush Limbaugh Facebook fan page posted a link to the Facebook page of a Republican mayoral candidate in Stamford, Connecticut. They encouraged followers to ‘like’ the Mike Fedele for Stamford page and learn about his campaign.

Fedele’s opponent, William Tong, smelled opportunity in manipulation. Knowing how toxic the Limbaugh name is in Connecticut, he realized that he could take a cheap shot at Fedele if he insinuated that the real Rush Limbaugh had actually endorsed him. He could cast Fedele as a radical, partisan Republican by tying him to the ultraconservative Rush Limbaugh. Fedele would be toast, he hoped. The Stamford mayoral race would be over before it began.

Know this up front: the Limbaugh fan page is clearly nothing more than a fan page. For people who don’t catch on immediately, a sentence at the top of the page actually says outright, “Disclaimer: Rush Limbaugh does not operate the Rush Limbaugh and the EIB Network fanpage. We are simply enthusiasts of his work.”

So William Tong was not confused nor tricked; he was gaming for the mayor’s office. Fortunately, his sneaky political maneuvering did not work as he hoped. First reported by Daily Ructions and then by Daniela Altimari of the Hartford Courant, the news media quickly sniffed out Tong’s ploy. He was hit hard for his mistake.

Rush Limbaugh himself took a moment during yesterday’s radio show to acknowledge that he had never even heard of Mike Fedele, much less endorsed him (transcript here), and he released a similar statement on his Facebook page. The fan page also reiterated that they were not affiliated with Limbaugh.

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So what did Tong do yesterday? He took the coward’s way out. Instead of owning up to his mistake and apologizing – or even trying in vain to defend his publicity stunt – Tong just deleted all traces of the mistake.

The Rush page said that Tong’s ploy is “exactly the kind of manipulative political gaming no person in our country should support, no matter their party.” They are right. William Tong needs to own up to his mistake or get out of the race. He needs to show the public what he did, or move out of the public light.

RightMessage.org officially requests that William Tong release his press release and own his words.

William Tong is what’s wrong with modern politics. Republican or Democrat, Green Party or Libertarian, Americans can agree that leaders should be elected honestly, not by manipulating the public. They should certainly not be men like William Tong, who attack their opponent’s character on the back of a lie.

Do you agree? Sign the petition for Tong to release the release!