Thursday, October 26, 2006
The values party loses it
There are 2 ad campaigns I would like to draw your attention to. I find it instructive to look at the controversial attack ads of both parties and contrast them. The most famous examples have been hashed over pretty extensively: the white woman flirts with black candidate ad from Tennessee has been pulled by the Republicans after causing an uproar, and Rush Limbaugh has provided all sorts of fodder for Democrats after his over the top response to Michael Jay Fox's stem cell ad.
The first ad to focus on is on behalf of Dr. Victoria Wulsin who uses the words of Representative Jean Schmidt from the floor of the House of Representatives. The reason the ad is so effective is that Schmidt calls a decorated war hero (John Murtha) a coward in the speech and is roundly booed. The ad is absolutely truthful in using Schmidts own words to damn her. Schmidt is in a dither because of the ad, and the reason for her concern is another study of her absolute lack of intelligence on grand display for the world to see.
She has sent two letters to the Wulsin campaign pointing out that the rules of the House do not allow for footage of proceedings on the floor to be used in campaign ads. The absolute ludicrous nature of the complaint ought to be readily apparent to any who care to consider the positions of the principles involved. Schmidt is bound by the rules of the House because she is a House member. Wulsin is a (very important distinction coming alert) private citizen!
There are several things that Wulsin may do that Schmidt may not because of this important distinction. Did you know for example that Schmidt may not use her capitol hill office to call campaign donors from? But wonder of wonders, Wulsin may use any office she wishes to use to call her donors from. Amazing! The absolute silliness of Schmidt getting all huffy over this is very instructive here. Maybe she ought to have considered how this would play in a campaign before she got up on the house floor and slandered a war hero. To be honest, Schmidt comes out of this entire affair looking doubly idiotic: once for the insult and again for invoking house rules on a private citizen.
The next ad comes from a Republican. If you do alot of surfing of liberal blogs you may have seen this on Eschaton. Republican Mike Fitzpatrick is running an ad against his opponent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, which calls Murphy a liar in regards to his record as a prosecutor.
The party that purports to speak for Christian conservatives provides yet another very public example of the lack of moral compass when it comes to achieving their goals. I'll wager that Fitzpatrick spouts off at every opportunity about family values and all the other code phrases we know the right uses to signal the evangelical base that he is their guy. This is the same party that sends the hand picked messenger of God, President George Bush, to campaign for an admitted adulterer who carried the affair over the course of 5 years and who has to loudly proclaim his innocence of charges of choking his mistress. This is the same party running ads in Tennessee that are flagrantly racist, the party led by men who proclaim waterboarding is not torture and we do it and intend to continue to do so, the party of Abramoff, I mean the display of immorality by Republicans is breathtaking. Yet because their leaders mouth the platitudes the evangelical sheeple want to hear, the Republicans continue to count on those votes cast in the name of morality. Even while harboring known child predators and then installing them in positions to oversee exploited children, just so long as the words are right the conservative Christians don't care. Badmouthing gays (even as the closet doors fly open revealing multitudes of Republican leaders and top level staff) and being pro life over rules ALL else... To me those priorities are just twisted.
So who cares if they lie a little in their campaign ads. I challenge any Republican who cares to try to show me an example of a Democrat so blatantly lying in their campaign. This isn't about some policy disagreement or not seeing eye to eye on the stats in question. This is a Republican saying his opponent is lying about prosecuting crimes... and himself being exposed as a liar in doing so. Pathetic... but what can you expect?
The first ad to focus on is on behalf of Dr. Victoria Wulsin who uses the words of Representative Jean Schmidt from the floor of the House of Representatives. The reason the ad is so effective is that Schmidt calls a decorated war hero (John Murtha) a coward in the speech and is roundly booed. The ad is absolutely truthful in using Schmidts own words to damn her. Schmidt is in a dither because of the ad, and the reason for her concern is another study of her absolute lack of intelligence on grand display for the world to see.
She has sent two letters to the Wulsin campaign pointing out that the rules of the House do not allow for footage of proceedings on the floor to be used in campaign ads. The absolute ludicrous nature of the complaint ought to be readily apparent to any who care to consider the positions of the principles involved. Schmidt is bound by the rules of the House because she is a House member. Wulsin is a (very important distinction coming alert) private citizen!
There are several things that Wulsin may do that Schmidt may not because of this important distinction. Did you know for example that Schmidt may not use her capitol hill office to call campaign donors from? But wonder of wonders, Wulsin may use any office she wishes to use to call her donors from. Amazing! The absolute silliness of Schmidt getting all huffy over this is very instructive here. Maybe she ought to have considered how this would play in a campaign before she got up on the house floor and slandered a war hero. To be honest, Schmidt comes out of this entire affair looking doubly idiotic: once for the insult and again for invoking house rules on a private citizen.
The next ad comes from a Republican. If you do alot of surfing of liberal blogs you may have seen this on Eschaton. Republican Mike Fitzpatrick is running an ad against his opponent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, which calls Murphy a liar in regards to his record as a prosecutor.
The ad, which features the standard deep-voiced narration and ominous music, claims Murphy's frequent statement that he "prosecuted some of the toughest criminals in New York" is untrue.Oddly enough, the liar in this regard is actually Fitzpatrick, not Murphy. Eschaton links to the appointment letter which gives Murphy the title "Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York." Atrios also links to an extensive write up at Phillyburbs.com that conclusively proves Murphy did prosecute high profile cases from West Point (including an instructor accused of child molestation). The final nail in the coffin of the Republicans smear campaign is provided by Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan, dean of the Academic Board at the United States Military Academy who says flat out that even though he did not endorse any candidate in the race he knows Murphy did not lie about his employment as a prosecutor.
The party that purports to speak for Christian conservatives provides yet another very public example of the lack of moral compass when it comes to achieving their goals. I'll wager that Fitzpatrick spouts off at every opportunity about family values and all the other code phrases we know the right uses to signal the evangelical base that he is their guy. This is the same party that sends the hand picked messenger of God, President George Bush, to campaign for an admitted adulterer who carried the affair over the course of 5 years and who has to loudly proclaim his innocence of charges of choking his mistress. This is the same party running ads in Tennessee that are flagrantly racist, the party led by men who proclaim waterboarding is not torture and we do it and intend to continue to do so, the party of Abramoff, I mean the display of immorality by Republicans is breathtaking. Yet because their leaders mouth the platitudes the evangelical sheeple want to hear, the Republicans continue to count on those votes cast in the name of morality. Even while harboring known child predators and then installing them in positions to oversee exploited children, just so long as the words are right the conservative Christians don't care. Badmouthing gays (even as the closet doors fly open revealing multitudes of Republican leaders and top level staff) and being pro life over rules ALL else... To me those priorities are just twisted.
So who cares if they lie a little in their campaign ads. I challenge any Republican who cares to try to show me an example of a Democrat so blatantly lying in their campaign. This isn't about some policy disagreement or not seeing eye to eye on the stats in question. This is a Republican saying his opponent is lying about prosecuting crimes... and himself being exposed as a liar in doing so. Pathetic... but what can you expect?
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