Apparently Ottawa's PR campaign isn't working too well. Even CanWest seems hot and bothered.

The ad in question is offensive of many, many levels, most of them racist.

What's the mean IQ of test audiences for television ads in Tennessee? I watched the ad, and then I watched it again, because I couldn't believe how incompetent it was. All the people in the advertisement come off as idiots except for the white guy with the sunglasses who comes off as a typical cynic.

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A spokeswoman for Corker's campaign told CanWest News Service that the Republican candidate has ''condemned the ad, and doesn't think it's an appropriate ad.''

Under U.S. election laws, Corker is not allowed to communicate directly to the Republican national campaign on advertising.

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Well that must be fun - to run in a campaign where party headquarters, i.e. Karl Rove, gets to play things of which you don't even approve.

Do the Dems really want Canada to run world affairs?

The take in the US seems to be the racism angle, but I rather think it is largely a pornography bent.

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Critics said the ad, which is funded by the Republican National Committee and has aired since Friday, plays on fears of interracial relationships to scare some white voters in rural Tennessee to oppose Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. Ford is locked in a tight race, hoping to become the first African American senator since Reconstruction to represent a state in the former Confederacy.

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Originally posted by 500_Apples:
American Egalitaire,

What's the mean IQ of test audiences for television ads in Tennessee? I watched the ad, and then I watched it again, because I couldn't believe how incompetent it was. All the people in the advertisement come off as idiots except for the white guy with the sunglasses who comes off as a typical cynic.

I hope those bastards get nailed.

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Apples: Tennessee is Tennessee. What can you say? These people test market these ads and they KNOW they will have an impact. This ad may indeed give this tight race to Corker. Ford didn't help himself much a few days ago by publicly fronting up Corker in a parking lot where Corker was giving a press conference. Corker had been ducking a debate. The hypocrisy is if the roles were reversed, people in Tenn. would be praising Corker as tough and a guy who 'walks tall' (Tennesee was home to the Sheriff Buford Pusser mythology). But for Ford to do it is portrayed as 'uppity.'

The GOP had serious fears based on polling data, that the bumpkins were going to sit this one out so they had to find a way to galvanize the dispirited rednecks. This ad really fills the bill - not only does it play the race card it gets in the gun issue (very important in the south), the death tax, the terrorism issue and takes a swipe at Canada - all in 30 seconds. And its so outrageous that its getting airplay all over America on all the news/talk shows.

Brilliant. Racist, stupid, offensive, sexist, pandering, patronising, but in American politics that's what works.

For this the GOP may win Tennessee and keep control of the Senate. And I just know there are racists in Virginia who are sticking with Allen BECAUSE of the flak he took over the "macaca" remarks.

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Even though a woman’s voice discloses that “the Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising,” Mehlman said the RNC was not, in fact, responsible. He said the ad was produced by an independent group contracted by the RNC, with whom he is prohibited from communicating.

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[ 25 October 2006: Message edited by: scribblet ]

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Mehlman said the RNC was not, in fact, responsible. He said the ad was produced by an independent group contracted by the RNC

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I think that should be: an "independent" group, since obviously the people they contract to do their dirty work will be VERY carefully chosen.

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Trust me, if the RNC wanted the ad pulled they could pull it. It's a patent falsehood to say otherwise.

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But I think jeff house is right - that's the beauty of the ad, isn't it? It works on two levels - for southern racists, many of whom are probably also fundies, if the pornography doesn't piss them off, then the idea of interracial sex will!

The Repubs are not rank amateurs. Look how quickly they fought back against the Michael J Fox ad in Missouri by dragging out their own celebrities. Patricia Heaton ought to be ashamed.

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Originally posted by John K:
the strategy is probably to stem the bleeding.

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In addition, most political pundits refer to a concept, whose name I cannot stand and won't repeat here, but basically it is a term coined to reflect the reality in American politics: white people often say they don't mind voting for black politicians. When it comes time to actually do so, however, the anonymity of the ballot box means that in comparing the voting intentions/claims (opinion, entry and sometimes even exit polls) of white folks for black candidates with ACTUAL voting patterns, the anonymity of the ballot box means that black candidates receive roughly 10% fewer votes. These ads are designed specifically to play into that cowardice.

[ 25 October 2006: Message edited by: Dex ]

[ 25 October 2006: Message edited by: Dex ]

[ 25 October 2006: Message edited by: Dex ]

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Originally posted by Yiwah:
I'm sorry...but was that a joke? Is this produced by the Onion?

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Wow, you're correct, he's not right, he's left!!
Can we run this as an NDP ad next election??

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Originally posted by scribblet:
Actually it wasn't either political party, it was third party advertising. by the Republican Ideas Political Committee, a not very well known group with no official tie to GOP organizations.

[ 25 October 2006: Message edited by: scribblet ]

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But the why does the ad have this statement at the close?

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The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertisement, paid for by the Republican National Committee and not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee.

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The Republican National Committee said Wednesday it was taking off the air an attack ad that critics said was a racial slur against Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., one day after the party’s chairman said he saw nothing wrong with it.

. . . .

Officially, the ad was commissioned and paid for by the RNC’s independent expenditure unit, which isn’t allowed to coordinate or communicate with the national party or its candidates. That became a point of contention as Republicans fought among themselves over who was responsible for the spot.

Even though it included a disclaimer that said “the Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising,” Mehlman maintained Tuesday that the RNC couldn’t do anything about it.

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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15418962/

Of course, the ad replacing it isn't much of an improvement:

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In its place is a new spot called “Shaky,” which started airing Sunday in Knoxville but has expanded statewide. It alleges that Ford “took cash from Hollywood's top X-rated porn moguls” and that he “wants to give the abortion pill to our schoolchildren.”

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he “wants to give the abortion pill to our schoolchildren.”

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wha??? seriously now??

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On the brink of what could be a power-shifting election, it is kitchen-sink time: Desperate candidates are throwing everything. While negative campaigning is a tradition in American politics, this year's version in many races has an eccentric shade, filled with allegations of moral bankruptcy and sexual perversion.

. . . .

The result has been a carnival of ugly, especially on the GOP side, where operatives are trying to counter what polls show is a hostile political environment by casting opponents as fatally flawed characters. The National Republican Campaign Committee is spending more than 90 percent of its advertising budget on negative ads, according to GOP operatives, and the rest of the party seems to be following suit. A few examples of the "character issues" taking center stage two weeks before Election Day:

· 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 that of 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 cannot have healthy relationships when they grow 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."

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http://www.mclaughlinonline.com/services/political/clients.htm