“The problem with smear campaigns is that too often they work.” —Mark Shields
Robert M. Tarr. Were it not for bad luck, he would have no luck at all. As the Union Leader’s Mark Hayward pointed out in his Union Leader hatchet job on Bob Tarr, he and his wife Pauline came to the Queen City in the late 1990’s, taking up residence at the New Horizons Shelter where they married thereafter.
He worked at a dollar store as a clerk, but was laid off when he was arrested on child molestation charges. Thereafter, his wife passed away and his children were placed in foster care. His only means of income now is a Social Security Disability.
I will concede that Bob Tarr can be tough to be around. He rambles incessantly, does not speak clearly, isn’t terribly articulate and his appearance is rough and disheveled. I do not say those things to be be disparaging, but rather to provide a context as to why it is so easy for the system and the local media to pig pile on a guy like Bob Tarr. Bob Tarr is an easy mark for ridicule and persecution.
Another example of the societal liberal hypocrisy existing in our midst. Bob Tarr has challenges. But instead of blowing the horn and waving the banner of tolerance, understanding and compassion, Bob Tarr emerges as a lightening rod for scorn. Analogous to the booger-encrusted kid on the playground who smelled like sour milk…Kids would knock his books out of his or her hands, or play keep-away with his hat…the old fashioned bullying of yesteryear.
We all get it about Bob Tarr and his quixotic run for the Gubernatorial nomination. Say what you will about Bob Tarr. But one thing noteworthy about Bob is that he appears not to be giving up, while many others in the same situation, might have thrown in the towel long ago. Bob Tarr, in all respects, is trying to do the best he can, the best way he knows how and some acknowledgement is due him for that.
Reading this Mark Hayward piece was perplexing. My first impression is that Mark was having a slow news day, having written such a barb about a local political gadfly like Bob Tarr who is largely irrelevant on the political canvass. Sorry to say it, but it is a fact.
So, why was this column so necessary? How did it contribute to the body of information about local and State Politics? I say, not so much.
