Did The Cubans Plot To Smear Senator Menendez?

Last night the Washington Post reported that Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Justice Department officials asking the Justice Department to pursue evidence obtained by U.S. investigators that the Cuban government concocted an elaborate plot to smear him with allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes, during his reelection campaign last year.

The reasons given as to why the Cuban government would go through such extraordinary lengths to smear our good senator seems to be a little silly. Menendez who is of Cuban descent, has been a vocal critics of the Castro regime during his tenure in Congress and at the time, was preparing to assume the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

This alleged plot sounds a bit amateurish and a little to 1960's - 1970's Cold War-ish to believe but evidently it's true. Does the CIA actually still do these things today?

Senator Menendez was on CNN this morning talking about it

Middletown GOP Smear Campaign Has Begun

Evidently sometime last week select Middletown residents were contacted to participate in a phone survey,purportedly to poll residents as to their opinions on local elections, politicians, the township committee, etc. Following a series of reasonably innocuous questions, the survey devolves into a smear campaign against Patricia Walsh.

Smearing opponents is, unfortunately, a long standing GOP practice. It is unfortunate that the Middletown Republicans are so devoid of ideas that they need to stoop to this level of campaigning so early in the season. Usually they wait until the last week of a campaign to smear their opponents, this way there is no possible way to respond to their allegations.

I guess we can look at this as a positive though, at least now we know what the local Democratic candidates, Patricia Walsh and Jim Grenafege will be dealing with until November.

It is a shame that the local GOP can't win an election on its own merits and that they have to resort to dirty tricks and smears to win it for them.