WaPo: Negative ads get positively surreal

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15435421/

Campaign tactics veer toward smear
Negative ads get positively surreal

By Michael Grunwald

Updated: 4:52 a.m. ET Oct 27, 2006

<<snip>>

-In New York, the NRCC ran an ad accusing Democratic House candidate Michael A. Arcuri, a district attorney, of using taxpayer dollars for phone sex. "Hi, sexy," a dancing woman purrs. "You've reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line." It turns out that one of Arcuri's aides had tried to call the state Division of Criminal Justice, which had a number that was almost identical to a porn line. The misdial cost taxpayers $1.25.

-In Ohio, GOP gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, trailing by more than 20 points in polls, has accused front-running Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland of protecting a former aide who was convicted in 1994 on a misdemeanor indecency charge. Blackwell's campaign is also warning voters through suggestive "push polls" that Strickland failed to support a resolution condemning sex between adults and children. Strickland, a psychiatrist, objected to a line suggesting that sexually abused children could not have healthy relationships when they grew up.

-The Republican Party of Wisconsin distributed a mailing linking Democratic House candidate Steve Kagen to a convicted serial killer and child rapist. The supposed connection: The "bloodthirsty" attorney for the killer had also done legal work for Kagen.

-In two dozen congressional districts, a political action committee supported by a white Indianapolis businessman, J. Patrick Rooney, is running ads saying Democrats want to abort black babies. A voice says, "If you make a little mistake with one of your hos, you'll want to dispose of that problem tout de suite, no questions asked."

-In the most controversial recent ad, the Republican National Committee slammed Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) for attending a Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party. In the ad, a scantily clad white actress winks as she reminisces about good times with Ford, who is black. That ad has been pulled, but the RNC has a new one saying Ford "wants to give the abortion pill to schoolchildren."

[Olney Blue]

1. Shameless liars.

[Lefty-Taylor]

6. Notice the preponderance of GOP-- not Democratic -- lying-ass ads. They've all taken

pages out of the Rove handbook. Of course, other Repukes have "taken" pages in other ways.

[LuckyLib]

2. This is happening all over the country. I'm waiting for them all

to be compiled in an ad of one blast of outrageous charges, followed by "This is how the Republicans frame the democratic choice process. Is this where we want our country going? Vote accordingly."

[Doctor_J]

3. Is there a single Dem ad in the list

so they can claim it's "bipartisan"? :eyes:

[dajoki]

9. A few...

but article states that it is mostly GOP.

[progdonkey]

14. After the list, but not bullet-pointed...

Some Democrats are playing rough, too. House candidate Chris Carney is running ads slamming the "family values" of Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.), whose former mistress accused him of choking her. And House candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has an ad online ridiculing Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) for attending a late-night fraternity party. "What's a 50-year-old man doing at a frat party anyway?" one young woman asks, as a faux Sweeney boogies behind her to the Beastie Boys. "Totally creeping me out!" another responds.

So, let's tally: Republicans say a person who misdialed a phone number and got a phone sex line, and then immediately hung up and redialed the correct number, is a pervert; that a candidate is guilty of the crimes of his lawyer's other clients; that Democrats want to abort black babies; and that the evil black man is coming to rape your white daughters.

Democrats say a person who's been cheating on his wife for five years and was beating her and tried to choke her to death is not a good example of "Family Values"; and that a 50-year-old congressman who likes to hang out at frat parties may not be the right person to represent his district.

Sounds about equal. :shrug:

[dajoki]

16. How 'bout it...

Sherwood is my rep. and in deep trouble in what should have been a safe seat for him. Carney will kick his ass, I hope.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. The GOP is desperate and attempting to get Democrats to stay home

NO SALE! :rofl:

[w13rd0]

5. They rightly note...

...that most of the slime is being launched from the Republicans, while the Democrats are slamming their GOP opponents on policies and practices. "Moral values" my ass, the Republicans are a bunch of filthy bastards.

[aquart]

7. NJ's Tom Kean Jr. is now running ads all full of joy and light.

Basically, he's promising to be a Democrat without any taxation.

And if you buy that one, folks..........

[dajoki]

10. Santorum's trying to sell that same bridge n/t

[LoZoccolo]

8. The Republican Party must be destroyed as an example to future generations...

...that people don't put up with this shit. When I see this stuff I add it to this big list of reasons to do just that.

[Cass]

11. "If you make a little mistake with one of your hos,..."

A candidate actually made a commercial using that language? Holy cow, that's sick.

[dajoki]

12. Welcome to DU Cass...

Yeah that one particularly stinks.

[progdonkey]

13. not a candidate... Jesus' General has a post about it with a link...

It's a product of "America's PAC," which is heavily funded by a billionaire RWer named J. Patrick Rooney (like a poor man's Richard Mellon Scaife). That's just one of twenty four ads that group has made. (Another one is titled "Hazardous Dukes" and it asks "Why are the Democrats on the same side as David Duke?" It talks about Duke being against the war.)

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2006_10_15_patriotboy_archive.html#116123222294241555

Another good resource: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/individuals/j_patrick_roone/index.html

[StarTurtle]

15. Love the headline.

"Campaign tactics veer towards smear"? Those ads aren't veering towards anything -- they're deep in the middle of the swamp.

:grr: