Brogdon Misquotes, Misrepresents McCarville in Campaign Email

In his latest campaign email, Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon speaks about his latest television commercial. You know, the one I was critical of, and called 'deceptive'.

His email says the following:

I find it extremely important that voters are presented with all the facts before they go into the ballot box July 27th.  I have been very open and honest with my record of promoting smaller government, protecting your freedom, and lowering taxes. Unfortunately, my opponent has been dodging her record of voting for the bailout over the last year.

Watch our latest T.V. advertisement now!

The bailout vote gave one TRILLION dollars of YOUR money to bail out financial institutions and gave the federal government control over certain private businesses.  This was not small government, fiscal responsibility, nor Oklahoma values.  So, I find it very important Oklahoma Republican voters are aware of Representative Mary Fallin’s voting record.

McCarville, an Oklahoma political reporter, recently wrote:

" Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon's campaign warchest is thin compared to opponent Mary Fallin's and some observers say Fallin should give thanks for that. They point to this Brogdon commercial, which some believe would resonate with voters if Brogdon had enough money to saturate the television airwaves with it."

Dedicated to Liberty,

Randy Brogdon

[emphasis as in original]

However, there is a huge inaccuracy in the attribution of Mike McCarville's statement that I, as a "brother" blogger, feel compelled to correct.

On Thursday, July 8th, Mike McCarville wrote two posts about Brogdon TV commercials.

At 1:59pm, he posted about Brogdon's attack ad. In the post itself, there was no commentary - just the YouTube video of the "Mary Fallin Compromise" advertisement.

Again, let me reiterate. He wrote no commentary about the ad. You can see for yourself here.

But, that was not his first post of the day about a Brogdon commercial. At 5:27am, he posted about Brogdon's excellent "Freedom" ad.

It was about that ad, a positive commercial about Randy, that McCarville made the following commentary:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon's campaign warchest is thin compared to opponent Mary Fallin's and some observers say Fallin should give thanks for that. They point to this Brogdon commercial, which some believe would resonate with voters if Brogdon had enough money to saturate the television airwaves with it.

Again, here is the link to this particular post by McCarville.

As you can see with your own eyes, McCarville did not make that statement about the attack ad, but about the previously released positive ad.

This was a blatant misquote and misrepresentation by the Brogdon campaign. The implication in the campaign email is that Mike McCarville, the most widely read and prominent political blogger in Oklahoma, posted that particular quote about a widely criticized ad. Unfortunately for the Brogdon campaign, that was absolutely not the case, and they have been caught in something that cannot be explained away. There is no excuse, there is no justification for such blatant untruthfulness.


Oklahoma Values have been a topic that has been much discussed by the candidates for governor.

One of the premier Oklahoma Values is that of Honesty.


**UPDATE**: Mike McCarville now reports, "Randy Brogdon has apologized. He said the error is his."