Presidential Press Release: DEEPLY DISTURBING CAMPAIGN TACTICS FROM LEINAD

[Adam Griffin]

Right out of the gate? Geez - I need to step my game up, I suppose!

PRESIDENT GRIFFIN CONDEMNS NASTY, DIRTY, UNTRUE AND SECRETIVE ATTACKS ON HIS RECORD

For Immediate Release

Nyman

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The reality is that under the first term of the Griffin Administration, the hemorrhaging has stopped. President Griffin's second term will be about climbing back to prosperity (sound familiar?) with a new, thorough and carefully-calibrated Constitution that will not be rushed. Through that and with the leadership only the President can offer, we will begin to see growth across all Regions and at the federal level once again.

Additionally and as far as the Governor's claims of success in the South concerned, those who were around know that nobody has yet to top the levels of activity and competition in the South that President Griffin fostered between August 2012 and February 2014. Giving him a second term as President will provide the people of Atlasia with the same renaissance from sea to shining sea.

[Adam Griffin]

Between this and your private attacks on my decision to support Leinad, I must say, I think you're better than this.

Also, is it now OK to post private messages? I remember it used to be an issue.  

You mean a direct private message - to you - asking if you recruited him to run and referring to him as "generic"? I hardly think that constitutes an attack. I wasn't speaking to undecided voters and un-engaged voters while concocting a bunch of lies to soil my opponent's reputation in their eyes. In fact, I'll be more than happy to share it!

I'm disappointed to see you supporting such a "generic" candidate in this race. Did you recruit him? This is about the Supreme Court appointment, isn't it?

After you accused me of "political games and attacks" while not answering my question or providing any context whatsoever, I then responded with:

Yeah, I was genuinely asking. I can't think of anything I've done "political game"-wise that would justify such an about-face.

You see, I - unlike my opponent (as well as you, apparently) - have nothing to hide in all of this.

The simple fact of the matter is that I am being attacked unfairly via mass-produced, generic messaging campaigns, with likely dozens of slanderous messages being sent out about my record. I've sent a grand total of 4 messages about this election - all today. Two of them were to you. I have not lobbed a single criticism about my opponent via PM to any undecided or persuadable voter, nor as any part of a campaign to introduce myself to the voters. Also, this isn't a private message in violation of the rules, because it was not transmitted to me nor quoted via the platform. Please, stop trying to spin this into something it is not, and you definitely know better.

Slut-shaming is never a pretty thing, Tmth, and it's obvious who the victim is in all of this.

Since you've refused to answer, confirm or deny anything, I have no idea what crawled up your back bumper and made you decide to abruptly flip your support, to possibly recruit someone to run against me and then to possibly encourage them to send out slanderous material, but since you refuse to tell me what caused it, what happened and have never expressed any criticisms to me prior, I can't be concerned about it anymore. I may be President, but I'm not the classroom nurse who's tasked with keeping track of which disorders each student has and which pairings of crazy pills get dosed out to whom.

[Adam Griffin]

Rather than get into a bunch of quote-splitting replies where I batter each of you back with the truth, I'll just put it all together.

First of all, Tmth appears to be trying to drive a past narrative in order to paint a present picture. He's always been very good at this, and very good at getting newer players to buy into his nice guy persona. "Drama" is not something I've caused as President, or really at all in many, many months. If this counts as your drama, then fine, but know that it's the first. However, I have every right to bring dirty campaign tactics to the public eye; you don't get to get away with talking smack behind closed doors in Atlasia. People who have been here long enough know that (including Tmth!). I know that for me personally, anything I will say in PMs, I will say publicly, and I will say it publicly first.

I made a very simple promise as President. I would work across the aisle, I would prevent the trolls from disrupting our game, and I would ensure our focus is on generating a successful ConCon.

On the bipartisan front, every piece of legislation to pass the conservative super-majority Senate has passed with my signature, save for the one home-school bill that would allow parents to keep their adolescent children out of the public and against their will. I have appointed conservatives to the Game Moderator and Secretary of State positions, am in the process of evaluating more for the replacement position of Game Moderator, and if I had had more interest in the form of other applicants, then there would likely be more. On the surface, this should have been the most polarized Senate and administration based on their composition; instead, it has unarguably been the least polarized and partisan administration. On the troll front, virtually all of the trolls from the fall have either disappeared or taken a back seat. They are no longer disrupting day-to-day activities. I promised that I would obliterate them if they got in our way; they haven't. Isn't that a joyous set of developments? I'm sure that if segments of the populace are freaking out over me unveiling Leinad's Deeply Disturbing tactics, then they'd be freaking out if and how I had to handle these people in a proactive war for the soul of the game. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I suppose, but that comes with the office of President. On the ConCon front, the process continues to plow forward as it always has. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but practically everybody disappeared for an entire month during the game. The "December Presidency" is always the hardest, because activity plunges. This year - with fewer people than in many years - its plunge was notably starker. I can't direct nor focus ConCon debate when everybody is prioritizing their holidays over the game. Nobody possesses that ability. Activity has since rebounded and the ConCon - our number one goal and priority - continues again. We have wrapped up vast segments of the document and at this point, a variety of minor details will need to be worked out. I am confident where we are at, and I always said that it would likely take two terms to finish up the ConCon. We are on time and on budget.

It's funny that some of my detractors point to the Senate as a beacon of activity. It has been hardly so. It's possible to use one hand fairly easily to count the number of pieces of legislation that it has passed since I took office. I haven't publicly attacked them for it, and I'm disappointed that members of that body - with whom I have worked in bipartisan fashion every step of the way - would try to levy criticisms at me, when I have been more active as a body than they have been.

This election, the past one and the entirety of the experience here, now and going forward really, really do remind me of 2008-2016. People saying that I haven't succeeded because I haven't delivered to them all of their wildest dreams in less than 3 months. There is clearly brighter times ahead, and the work going into the structures shows us that light is at the end of the tunnel, but we're not quite there just yet. The person to hold this office during the next administration will undoubtedly preside over prosperity if the trajectory continues. My first term was about stopping the hemorrhaging; my second term will be about raising us back to former glory. Patience, everybody. Big changes don't come quickly nor easily, nor to people who throw the progress they've made under the bus when things seem less than ideal.

I always promised that this would be a two-term proposition, and that I would not run again if I had failed. I have not failed. We are in a better position than we were in October. Let's compare:

We have an active President.
We have a ConCon process that is nearing completion.
We have a game population that has stabilized.
We have a Senate and a President that works together on all issues.
We have the least political atmosphere during my four years in the game.
We have a cabinet that is increasingly being filled with active and dedicated people.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the revival really begins.

[Adam Griffin]

Ah, moving the goalposts there Griff! #Labor4SWE

They've never been moved: just bringing everybody back down to earth and reminding them of my actual promises! #2Termz
#FU2016