Letters to the Editor
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That's the thing
Ken only WISHES he had the authority. Which begs the question; if he doesn't, who does? Hmmmm.... maybe Karl Rove? Or maybe the people who gave the money to the RNC specifically to run this ad?
If we could "follow the money" on this one, who knows WHERE it would take us?
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if
if bush wanted it taken down, it would be down in minutes. just a matter of how much inducement is there.
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I'm not Mehlman's friend in any way, but...
It does say in the article that... "Diaz said the ad was an "independent expenditure" produced by an arm of the Republican National Committee that is legally prohibited from coordinating with Mehlman. Because of this, Diaz said, Mehlman did not see or approve the ad before its release." Which is possible, I don't know the relevant campaign laws.
I only bring this up because we want to leave the cant and innuendo based on partial readings of the facts to the other side, right?
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I'm not suggesting anything illegal
But something's really wrong with this picture.
On one hand we have: "Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertisement."
And on the other, we have: "independent expenditure" produced by an arm of the Republican National Committee that is legally prohibited from coordinating with Mehlman."
How can the RNC be legally required to take responsiblility for the ad, but be legally prohibited from coordinating with the people actually producing the ad?
!
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Also under the heading of Ken's Bad Day....
On the same menu on MSNBC was the unfortunate moment when Mehlman was shown a bumper sticker that said "Steele, Democrat". He pulled a switcheroo and launched into a mile-a-minute speech on Michael Steele's strengths for Maryland. His answer to the bumper sticker...none.
So, it appears that in the "last throes" of their campaigns, Republicans are not only avoiding photo ops with Bush, they are running ads without identifying their party affiliation, and posting yard signs on which the proud "Republican" stamp is impressive only for its complete absence. And if that wasn't weird enough...now we have bumper stickers identifying Republicans as Democrats. Kind of a new take from Fox identifying Foley on TV graphics as a Democrat. Foley bad...Democrats bad. Now it's Democrats good....Republicans Democrats.
Guess when you can't scare them, intimidate them, disenfranchise them or kill them in Iraq...you have to switch strategies and try to pass yourself off as one of them on election day.
As flattering as this may be... it's a whole new (and fascinating) low in the Republican Power-At-All-Costs bag of tricks.
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Well, duh
Even if he didn't have the authority, he could intercede with whoever did. But Mehlman won't do anything to take down the ad or see that it's taken down. He's going to stay the course.
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Mehlman's
job is to get nilhilists elected. No matter what. High levels of outrage against this and other ads bring glee to the GOP operatives because they base their success of the ad on the level of the outrage. In plain terms, the target audience of these sick ads is narrow and when the recoil angst reaches a feaver pitch Mehlman and his ilk realize that the ad has served its purpose: Reaching the target audience of sick'o bigots and fearmongers and those truly appaled by the substance which brings more glee to the target audience and the Mehlmans of the world.
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Ken
Ken Mehlman will say whatever he has to in order to get what he wants. Clearly he doesn't want the ad pulled.
On another note, someone mentioned yard signs not indicating party affiliation. I've been looking at the many different yard signs in my small city & not one indicates party affiliation (both Dem. & Repub. candidates are doing this). And while there are a variety of designs, they all have liberal doses of blue and white, and smaller doses of red and black.
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Credibility?
Next time Mehlmen appears on Hardball, I hope Tweety will have the cojones to ask him how anyone could ever again believe anything he says. If Mehlman can lie about this with a straight face, his credibility is -- or should be -- shot.
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Forget Mehlman - what about Tony Snow
Concerning the Corker ad ….. Am I the only one in the country outraged by Tony Snow’s comment on Chris Matthews last night about African Americans always “playing the race card” in political campaigns? Talk about revealing what lives beneath your rhetoric! Coming from the purportedly “balanced and fair” WH Press Secretary, Snow’s charge that African Americans essentially always use racism as a ploy to gain political sympathy was stunning. The fact that he seemed either oblivious to the racism embedded in this belief or, worse, was unconcerned about it was the real news item in this interview and made the racist ad on which he was commenting seem almost innocuous by comparison.