Cape Congressional Candidate Blindsided For Using Disabled Man In Video

WL – After hammering hard for weeks on 9th District Congressman William Keating’s performance in office, Republican challenger John Chapman has suddenly been put on the defensive – by a campaign video of his own.

The Chatham attorney’s web site has prominently featured a video in which Plymouth residents say they’re not sure who their congressman is. It’s part of Chapman’s claim that Keating, a two-term Democrat, has been what he calls “ineffective and invisible.”

Now his campaign has taken down the video and Chapman has apologized, after WATD-FM reporter Charles Matthewson told Chapman on the air Monday night that one of the residents interviewed is his stepson, who is disabled with an IQ of 65.

“He could not tell you who the president of the United States is,” Matthewson said, as he questioned Chapman and Keating during a live debate.

“I apologize because that certainly was not the intent of the ad,” Chapman replied.

On WATD Matthewson also said his stepson wasn’t capable of understanding a consent contract for the filming, so he was “disappointed” to see his stepson shown as a typical resident.

Chapman immediately apologized. “I wasn’t there with the filming, but I will tell you that I’m sorry to hear that, and it’s unfortunate,” he told Matthewson. “It was certainly not the intent of the ad to take advantage of anyone. It was meant to point out a sentiment that I had felt throughout the district.”

Total dick move by this reporter to purposely wait until he was on the air to blindside Chapman with this. No need to inject yourself into the story bro, and make no mistake about it, the only reason to handle the situation the way this guy did is to get headlines. Reporters jobs should be to make sure that Politicians stick to issues and don’t get wrapped up in bullshit that doesn’t matter, not to add flames to the fire. This was an honest mistake and should be a non issue politically.

That said, ANYONE who was involved in the making of this video should never work in that industry again. I’m talking camera man, producer, interviewer, production assistant, all of them, they should all be fired. How can you go through the process of interviewing him, having him consent, editing, and airing without noticing he is disabled and has an IQ of 65? Although in all fairness, they must have thought they hit the jackpot with him and been pretty excited, maybe that clouded their judgement.

“Who is your congressman?”

“I love lamp”

“Perfect, sign this and we’ll give you a cookie!”

Do you know what’s even worse than that though? The reporter totally exploiting his stepson. How about him throwing the poor bastard under the bus by saying he wouldn’t even know who the president is? Chill man, we get it, he’s slow, you don’t have to rub it in his face on the friggin’ radio. “LOOK AT HIM! HE’S AN IDIOT! LOOOOOOK AT HIM!!!!”

P.S. Please don’t comment telling me I’m siding with one party or the other, I never have and never will. I dislike democrats and republicans equally, and I only write about them when they do something stupid, which is ALL THE TIME.