MAOS --

No matter how you feel about us, in the end we perform an invaluable public service.

[cleeng_content id="524394530" description="Why stop now? It's just getting interesting!" price="3.49" referral="0.10"]Sure, we tend to call people rotten names, lowering the bar of an already lowered bar of political discourse, and take great pleasure in kicking those who are down.

Guilty as charged.

But along with all that fun stuff, the stories we produce are exhaustively researched, with an unparalleled amount of due diligence.

Why do you think the Feds, the State, and the different local investigative agencies pay such close attention to what we have to say?

It’s because we hand them great shit on a golden platter.

Such was the case with Steve “ShitBird” Gonot.

As we once indicated in a sworn deposition, that’s capital “S”, capital “B” and the rest all smooshed together.

Sure we call the shitbird a ShitBird, but we also provided the Broward State Attorney’s Office with an 11th hour, middle of the felony trial, key bit of information used to sink the Battleship ShitBird.

ShitBird was found guilty on several felony counts of stealing from his campaign account, sentenced to one year in jail, and is currently out on appeal.

Some of our most ardent fans, like the Garden Gnome, believe “very-smart” people don’t resort to such pedestrian tactics.

Of course, it’s this type of critical thinking that comes from a guy who manages a 7-11.

STFU, and get me a Slurpie.

What a blithering fucking idiot that one is … creative name calling is as much a part of American politics as waving Old Glory.

But don’t just take our word for it, let’s have others do the retorting:

• In 1952, Harry Truman called Republicans “a bunch of snolly-gusters,” which set off quite a shock wave.
• Late labor leader John L. Lewis’s description of Roosevelt’s first Vice President, John Garner was pure genius – “a labor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey-drinking evil old man.”
• Garner, of course, was the one who described the office he held as “not worth a bucket of warm piss.”

According to Rick Farmer, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Akron, “attack ads are very effective.” Farmer, an expert in the field, believes negative ads are more memorable than positive ones, and comparative ads work because “people have a cynical view of politics and tend to believe the negative very quickly.”

Research by the University of Georgia found that not only are attack ads initially effective, but their impact increases over time, perhaps because they produce an emotional response.

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Recently, the City of Lauderdale Lakes finally completed the FY11 Ending audit (6 months late); the report was briefly previewed to staff and then sequestered under lock and key. This document, this public document about the public’s business, is not available to the public.

Our recent request for a copy was denied.

Pray tell why?[/cleeng_content]