A story in The Herald-Sun this morning reports that Lewis Cheek will attend a candidate interview with the political-action committee Friends of Durham. Here is how the story compares the Friends group to Durham’s other main PACs, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and the People’s Alliance :
The Friends are generally considered the most conservative of the three PACs. Among candidates, the rule of thumb is that a winning campaign needs support from at least two of the organizations.
This is an absurd characterization. It implies that all three are bundled in the middle of the political spectrum and that only “generally” is the Friends group considered the “most conservative.” In actuality, the Durham Committee and the People’s Alliance are, by any objective measure, on the far left of that spectrum while the Friends is just right of center. Saying that, say, Richard Lugar is considered the “most conservative” senator among Tom Harkin and Ted Kennedy would be just as inapt.
