Brian Hickey Shocked And Appalled That Philly Never Got To Know The Loving, Genteel Johnny Doc
As regular sparring partners with former City Paper managing editor Brian Hickey (shown here knifing up a Hillary Clinton voodoo doll in what we can only assume were happier times), even we were surprised (and yay, discomfited) when dude threw off a decade-plus writing career to be the public voice of Johnny Doc during his bid for the PA Senate. And we were even more surprised (and frankly, completely fucking elated) when Doc lost — but not because we wished Hickey ill. In fact, it was quite the opposite; we couldn’t understand Hickey’s motivation, as Doc is/was/will always be the textbook definition of Everything That Is Wrong With Philadelphia. To his credit, though, Hickey has always pled an earnest — if vaguely reminiscent of a battered wife — case for Doc that, “Oh, you just don’t know him like I do.” And now that the dust is settling, Hickey is, well, repeating himself. But this time, it’s personal. He’s placing Doc’s loss squarely at the feet of that creature so many have blamed for their woes, only for Hickey, it’s hyper-ironic. He blames The Media.
For two months, the campaign found itself under daily assault from the papers. Don’t get me wrong: That’s all well and good. This was an election and the public’s right to know should never be squelched. That said, it often felt like there was only one candidate in the race and when stories aren’t being written about the others, any little turn of a word from a copy editor or headline-writer (who aren’t out in the field) becomes fodder for a negative television ad. That’s precisely what happened. Having spoken to many people since Tuesday, it became clear that that barrage was effective in turning voters away from John, particularly in Center City, where the massive Presidential-driven turnout proved to be a, if not the, deciding factor to Larry’s benefit).
If you’re going to look into one candidate, you should look into all the candidates with the same passion and fervor. I’m not sure that happened here. Instead, it seems like it became a referendum on John Dougherty, not a three-way campaign.
It goes on like that. But you have to wonder: If the Doc campaign was headed up by someone as obviously media-savvy as Hickey is, who couldn’t have seen this coming? I mean, the least he could have done was to put out a photo of the candidate with a lawnmower. Or, you know, not have allowed some of the most obvious and disgusting race-baiting we’ve seen in a while. Oh, well. I guess there’s no crying over spilt milk. Oh, I’m sorry, my bad, there is. See link below.
PhillyBlunt: My Bullshit Candidate Didn’t Win, Waaaaaaah
