Dems vs. Dems---Anonymous Character Assassination Ads

[eblack101]

Sunday, December 14, 2003

When Democrats Attack Democrats

Using the war on terror for political gain is not just George Bush?s game. Some Democrats have now taken their strategy of acting like Bush Lite to a new low--launching an ad in South Carolina and New Hampshire that uses images of Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean?s commitment to defending America.

The ad was bought and paid for by: Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values , an organization that doesn?t have to reveal the identity of its donors?and it is one of the most despicable attack ads ever launched.

The ad shows a magazine with Bin Laden on the cover. As the camera zooms in, a narrator says:

?We live in a very dangerous world. And there are those who wake up every morning determined to destroy western civilization. Americans want a President who can face the dangers ahead. But Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience. And Howard Dean just cannot compete with George Bush on foreign policy. It?s time for Democrats to think about that? and think about it now.?

The ad could have been bought and paid for by George Bush, but it wasn?t?it was bought and paid for by a secretive group of unnamed Democrats.

Who, you must be wondering, are: Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values?

Their press release says, they plan to air this ad in other early primary states, and they?ve bought ?over $400,000 of airtime in Iowa for ads focusing on Howard Dean?s positions on the issues of guns, Medicare cuts and NAFTA.?

Under any circumstances, using Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean is despicable. It is especially hypocritical if the attack comes from those who supported the war in Iraq.

Osama bin Laden is still at large because the President turned his attention away from al Qaeda to pursue his war with Iraq?the war that every major candidate for the nomination except for Howard Dean supported. John Kerry voted for it. Dick Gephardt wrote the Iraq resolution and stood beside George Bush in the Rose Garden when the president signed it.

There?s one thing that even the most cynical political operative knows is true: hateful attack ads like this might push someone down in the polls, but they do so by discouraging people from voting. People see this mud being slung around and they give up. It?s the same politics of the past that has led to more than 50% of Americans not voting at all.

About this ad in the Blogs:

News of this latest character assassination attack continues to spread across the blogosphere. Over at Dean Nation, Dana Blankenhorn writes:

It wasn't just aimed at Governor Howard Dean, M.D. These people were aiming at you, at us.They don't want the grassroots involved in politics. They want us to stay silent, afraid that if we speak up, we'll be hurt.

From one of the other blogs writting about this ad I was able to learn the email address of this group and wrote them the following email:

Friends,
And it's a real stretch to call you that. What Do You Think You're Doing?
I mean it. Please, tell us:

Are you trying to show us that Democrats can be just as stupid and self destructive as Neo-Con Republicans?

Are you trying to permanently split the Democratic party and alienate everyone who knows that Howard Dean is going to take the White House?

Are you trying to commit political suicide in the face of the re-formed or more to the point, traditional, Democrats who are re-asserting what this party has traditionally stood for, and whose members will remember you for the distructive amoral ass-wholes you obviously are?

Do you plan to take all of us out of the running against Resident Bush just because you need to exercize your outsized, yet patently adolescent egos?

Stand up and be counted, boys. The NYTs and Washington Post among other leading newpapers, all of the relevant political blogs on the internet (right, left and center), as well as all the major television and cable networks news depts. would like to interview you and show us who you are and what you think you're trying to accomplish. Even more relevant, they'd like to give us an opportunity to understand just who you think your audience out here in mainstrean America is?

Since you're clearly so fond of irresponsible publicity, here's your golden opportunity. Come out and talk to us like men, or do you intend to continue to hide behind the sheets of anonymity, like Klu Kluxers or Knights of the White Camellia?

Which is it going to be, lads?

Come out, come out, where ever you are...



If you people would like them to know what you think about this anonymous and scurrilous style of campaign character assassination, you can email them at:

[e-mail]

You can also discuss here what you think of this kind of anonymous Dem vs Dem attack ad.

eric

[blm]

1. False information. Dean was never antiwar.

In fact he supported Bush having final determination on use of force, even if unilateral as laid out in IWR. Those key positions were also part of the Biden-Lugar bill which Dean said he would have voted for. So....Dean's position was much closer to Kerry's and the others, but Dean's attacks on them for IWR totally ignored his own support on those same provisions he railed against.

Dean lied about the differences for his own gain, and the lazy press was complicit.

Has anyone gotten an apology from Dean for opportunistically calling the others "Bushlite" or not? Isn't that an insult harmful to Dems? Especially coming from centrist who governed AS a compromiser aligning most often with his GOP buddies?

[Myra]

2. Gimme a break. All we've seen so far is a lead to the media, but no ad...

Broadcast on TV.
At least not one person here has posted that they've seen
this supposed attack ad *broadcast* on TV. But supposedly
it was set to air this weekend.

All we've seen is:
1) "Leak" to media.
2) Fund raising from Dean as a result.
3) Lots and lots and lots of posts on DU about what a victim
Dean is, and how mean those other Dems are, and how you
must *denounce the ad* and the only way to do that is to
*donate* to Dean...Denounce/Donate...Denounce/Donate...

Even if it's broadcast on TV, there's no telling
for sure where it's from or what the motive.

[eblack101]

3. See it yourself at Dean for America www.deanforamerica.com

Myra,

It's real, available for viewing, and as I understand it, the time has been bought for both this weekend as well as future dates.

At least one union is asking for their money back, because in backing Gephardt, something like this wasn't what they had in mind.

At any rate, dial it up and see for yourself.

eric