The NRCC’s ‘bad call’

October 23, 2006

Last week, I expressed some amazement at the RNC’s willingness to not only broadcast an attack ad they knew to be false, but also to stand by it, even after it had been exposed as a patently dishonest.

Over the weekend, we learned of yet another example.

Both major-party candidates for a congressional seat are decrying an ad sponsored by a national Republican committee that accuses the Democrat of billing taxpayers for a call to a phone-sex line.

The ad, which began airing Friday, shows Michael Arcuri leering at the silhouette of a dancing woman who says, “Hi, sexy. You’ve reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line.”

Arcuri’s campaign said an associate mistakenly dialed an 800-number sex line two years ago from Arcuri’s New York City hotel room, and released records supporting the claim. The number shares the same last seven digits with the number for the state Department of Criminal Justice Services, which was dialed the minute after the first call was made.

Arcuri, the district attorney in Oneida County, said the ad was “clearly libelous” and threatened to file a lawsuit. His GOP opponent, state Sen. Ray Meier, described it as “way over the line.”

And what of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which created the ad and bought the airtime to mislead voters? NRCC spokesman Ed Patru insisted the commercial was “totally true.”

I fully acknowledge that I’m terribly naïve. I foolishly believe that politics can be honorable and noble, and that campaigns should not only be about ideas, but also at least have the veneer of truth.

But I think it’s worth remembering that we’re dealing with a Republican Party that, at least for the time being, simply doesn’t care anymore. Shame was thrown out the window a long time ago. There is no honor or dignity in their drive to hold onto power; they simply want to win. If that means blatantly lying to the electorate, so be it.

In the context of a completely different Republican ad, Matt Yglesias said over the weekend:

The Democratic Party is full of politicians. They need to learn to do politics — the whining just looks weak and pathetic.

I think that’s true, but what does it tell us about a situation like the NRCC’s ad against Arcuri? If we’re not supposed to whine about how frighteningly dishonest Republicans are, is it preferable to simply lie as shamelessly as they do? Should the DCCC simply start making up bogus attacks, stand by them even after they’re exposed as frauds, and then argue, “We’re just playing by Republican rules”?

I hope not, but once again, I feel like we’re watching a boxing match in which Dems are wearing gloves and Republicans are wearing brass knuckles. When confronted with the fact that the weapon is against the rules, the GOP pugilist shrugs his shoulders and keeps on swinging. The GOP will feel awfully bad about all the cheating they did … just as soon as they’ve finished the fight.

For what’s it’s worth, at least seven television stations in Syracuse, Utica, and Binghamton refused to run the NRCC’s ad, because it’s a lie. In the meantime, Arcuri is thinking about a libel suit against the Republicans’ campaign committee.

At least the Media is scared in some places.

This is the fruits of the Republican’t promise to make this an election about local issues and digging into the histories of every Democrat running for office. Their definitions of truth is “well, someone believed it at some time, so it must have been true”.

That said, while we should defend vigorously and call the Republican’ts stinking liars, our ads should be attacking them on the War on Terror (how I hate that title) and the fact that they have not caught Osama bin Laden and the reason is simply because they are incompetent boobs.

Take their (one) issue away from them and leave them nothing but punctured lies.

  • It just makes me think of the episode of the Simpsons where Marge fights SSCCATAGAPP (Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples And Teens And Gays Against Parasitic Parents). In a political ad, the group shows an obvious Marge Simpson impersonator.

    I’m Marge Simpson, and even I’m opposed to Families Come First! Now it’s time to do some coke off the blade of a knife!

  • Again, shouldn’t a functional referee, such as the media, hold politicians to task for their lies? What good does it do for us to take the high road, if by not so blatantly lying, we simply get called liars and crooks for balance? And if we did lie, there’s a media arm in place to scream at the chandaliers about the injustice of it all.

    We are wimps for fighting back, yet guilty of the same crimes. The center can not hold.

  • So called “whining” about the Republicans’ dirty politicking is a doing politics. One issue in the campaigns is that the Reps are lying, scheming, corrupted people. Dishonest ads fit into that I think. Here they go again…lying.

  • All of ads from the NRCC that I’ve seen are more than deceptive, they’re downright dishonest.

    Sally Vastola is a “former” DeLay associate. Enuf said.

  • bring on the goat ads!

    and yes, figuring out how to restore media quality as a referee who cares about facts and is willing to call things as they are rather than striving for manufactured balance is absolutely key to restoring the functioning of our democracy. anti-consolidation rules, a return to the fairness doctrine would help, but how do you change the lazy “we read press releases as news” culture? start reform at the major J schools around the country?

  • In Illinois the NRCC is running ads attacking Tammy Duckworth and Melissa Bean. Apparently, Bean is a “Nancy Pelosi wannabe” and Duckworth wants to let illegals over the border and give them amnesty.

    At least Duckworth was able to put together a counter-ad relatively quickly with the help of Obama (who appears in the ad).

    The NRCC has elevated itself to attack dog status for its crummy candidates in both districts.

  • The only way to stop this is to whack them in court – hit them with libel suits, plus seek injunctions to stop the ads. Until the Dems are willing to actually fight and punish the lying bastards, there’s no disincentive to them

  • I haven’t been much of a fan of Rahm Emmanuel, though I have respected his efforts. Perhaps when you consider what we’re up against, he is the right choice for DCCC chairman, as Nancy Pelosi says.

    Here is a laudatory article on him from this weekend’s Washington Post.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102101049_pf.html

    I take things like this, along with the very laudatory segment about Pelosi on 60 Minutes last night, as proof we’re being taken seriously now, and that the MSM has come around to realizing they had better start to “make nice”.

    Emmanuel reminds me of my Grand-uncle, Jim McKelvey, who was an Old Pol and Machine Politician who worked for Harry Truman from World War I onward. He saw politics as a “blood sport” and had no problems with fighting bare-knuckled, all of which he passed on to me before dying when I went into political work. Whatever we effete lefties want to say about those Old Pols, they Won Elections and put the fear of God into any Republican they came up against. I think we are seeing now, after the last six years, that you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, and that is why I am now glad Emmanuel is where he is, agree with him or not. He and Pelosi know that, and they’ve come to the fight properly armed. Emmanuel wants to stick it to the pigs as badly as I do, and that’s all the agreement I need.

  • A response add would be good, focusing solely on the deception of the Republican party and not just this add. Tie a bunch of the deceptions about Iraq, etc. into the ad, noting that the deception runs throughout the GOP party, from the top to the bottom. Point out that this is why the only choice a voter can make to restore any sort of honesty based/accountability based government is to vote Dem, as any republican will be overcome by the stench or corruption that is allowed to run rampant throughout the GOP by all members of the GOP.

  • Here’s the thing. When even the guy you’re working for (in theory) says knock it off sleaze-balls, you should perhaps do it and not insist “Honest, it’s true! Although I think someone has already suggested in another thread that this is the new, improved, RNC SOP: Run a false attack ad. Let the GOP candidate rebut the ad. People will think “Ah, what a nice guy,” but the stink of the lie will still cling to the opponent.

    I don’t think it works because most people assume that if an ad is run by a political group, that group’s candidate had some input or at least knew about the ad before it went out. I think the rebuttal makes the candidate look more dishonest: Hey, these guys working for me? They’re crazy, I don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know what they’re doing…uh…how ’bout them Mets?

    Yeah whatever buddy. However, bumbling seems to be the other SOP for these loons.

  • This BS should be wrapped around the necks of all Republicans in every race. They already have a credibility problem, this will only make it worse.

    Dems need to craft a national ad that describes how the lie-filled ads were refused at numerous stations, and that the State governments have called the ads false, and that lawsuits are filed. Let the voter figure out which race they’re talking about.

    Come ON, Dems. Time to earn your pay.

  • The MSM operates under capitalism, correct?
    Remove the profit motive, and their work no longer goes to the highest bidder. Instead of serving the dollar, reporters will be free to serve the truth.
    Money or truth, hmmmm…..

  • I agree with Tom Cleaver.

    You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. And if you get punched, your first reaction should be to hit them back hard, not run to file a lawsuit.

    The days of high-minded ideas and civility in politics are gone forever until we get the current crop of the social, mental and moral degenerates that make up the GOP out of Washington, the state capitols, the county courthouses, city halls and school boards. What in our recent history has suggested that Republicans are reasonable, decent, moral, fair-minded people with whom we can negotiate?

    Does this mean Democrats should lie to win elections? No. But it means they certainly shouldn’t pull their punches either. Say things like George Allen is a racist. Tom Reynolds and Denny Hastert will protect sexual predators before they’ll protect your kids. George W. Bush thought a great way to celebrate “National Character Counts Week” was to campaign for a guy who assaulted his mistress. All of these slimy bastards are hiding something. Democrats shouldn’t be afraid to gear up the opposition research machine and expose their many character flaws to the brutal light of day.

  • and Duckworth wants to let illegals over the border and give them amnesty. — Gridlock

    Grid, they used the same “issue” here in Texas against Chet Edwards. Edwards was the only Dem to survive the DeLay gerrymandering scheme. The icing on the cake though is that Edwards represents the district that Crawford is in. Also, the other day, the rncc pulled all it’s money for it’s ads. The polls just weren’t good enough for their guy, I guess.

  • I take things like this, along with the very laudatory segment about Pelosi on 60 Minutes last night, as proof we’re being taken seriously now, and that the MSM has come around to realizing they had better start to “make nice”.

    Sure, a laudatory 60 Minutes segment — once Pelosi takes impeachment off the table. What the heck is she thinking? I wouldn’t mind as much if they investigate things like the WMD lies and decide in the fullness of time that they can’t make charges stick. But I do mind that it’s just dismissed in advance as some kind of patently ridiculous foolishness. Pretty disappointed right now.

  • The right thing to do is to take the Republican ad as a text for a Democratic ad. A Democratic ad that complains flat-out about the lies in a Republican ad is fair, and when well-done, is likely to be effective.

  • There is one thing, however, that’s coming out of all these negative, false attack ads:

    Many of the Republicans I know are getting sick of them, and are going to vote Democrat.

    My father — a LIFELONG Republican who has only voted for one Democrat in his life (KS gov. Sebelius) — told me at the KC Chiefs game yesterday that he’ll be voting straight “D” this election. His reason:

    “The current ones aren’t Republicans. They’re fucking insane.”

    Also, several folks I work with are doing the same thing.

    So, when the RNC keeps putting out ads like this (and the Orwellian one), one can only hope that their turning off more people to their brand of politics.

  • If the Dems did a standard response ad whenever a Repub brought out a dishonest one, the Repubs may think twice.
    Here’s my response ad:
    (Voiceover, stern & angry) “If the Democrats were as dishonest in our advertizing, here’s what we would say:”
    (Insert local Repub politician’s name & unflattering Pic) Is a child molestor and murderer. He has used your tax dollars to feed his evil appetite to prey upon the most innocent in our midst, and then has killed and eaten them. Voting for (Insert local Repub politician’s name & unflattering Pic) will allow his unholy reign to continue.
    But we are honest, so we would not say something so untrue.
    Don’t reward dishonesty, don’t vote Republican”

    Well, maybe not that much over the top, but you get the idea.

  • I tend to agree with Unholy Moses. Here in VT, our own thorn in the side of the GOP, Bernie Sanders, is engaged in a bitter battle with republican Richard Tarrant. I have been comletely inundated with negative ads from the Tarrant camp (not that Bernie’s playing softball either. Both sides are getting muddy). The major turn off to Tarrant, is that I don’t know where he stands on any issue. Any! If he ever had a message besides ‘Sanders bad, Tarrant good’, it’s been buried so deep under all the negative ads no one will ever find it.

    I think that’s the way the this election cycle will go. More and more people I talk with are just sick of attack ads. Democrats can shine by also showing the public why they are good.

  • The major turn off to Tarrant, is that I don’t know where he stands on any issue.

    That, in a nutshell, is the problem with attack ads (no matter whom they are for) — all they do is essentially (or actually) slander an opponent.

    It really does boggle my mind why and how we’ve gotten to this point in politics. It’s not about issues, but about painting your opponent as so despicable that you’re the better option.

    And what’s scary is that, in the past, they’ve worked. Maybe it’s because they appeal to the fear ingrained in each of us (fight vs. flight), maybe it’s because it riles up “the base,” or maybe it’s just because most people don’t give a crap about the issues as long as their cable TV still works and their football team is winning.

    I’d love to see it change, but have no idea of where to start …

  • VT Idealist- whereabouts are you from up there? Just curious- Vermont native from the Montpelier area here 🙂 – haven’t been back in a couple of years now, but it’s always home.

    And Bernie should smoke this race, anyway, so not too much to worry about a flatlander coming in and buying the race.

  • Getting home sick, Castor Troy? I’m a kingdom girl at heart, raised in the booming metropolis that is Wheelock (we have a gas station/general store, but no school or post office). I’ve since relocated to Burlington.

    The senate race isn’t really about Bernie vs someone from ‘out of town’. Bernie himself is from Brooklyn. I think that it’s a shame that candidates have to smear each other as opposed to running on issues, but that’s the idealist in me.

    I do find it disheartening that smear ads do still work. While watching TV with my brother and one of his friends an ad for Tarrant came on. It was all negative, no substance. The friend made the comment that he didn’t like Bernie Sanders and he hoped Tarrant won. I asked why and he could not come up with a legitimate answer (subconsciously, the reason was probably because the TV told me so). The best reason he could come up with was ‘I don’t like his [Bernie’s] hair. It bugs me.’

    Now, my brother and his friends are not the most politically informed people. These are the people who are most susceptible to negative ads, either true or fabricated. Of course, these are also the people most likely to forget to vote on election day.

  • Always homesick- right up until the point where I remember my last trip home in ’04- and we had highs of around minus 20 the entire time 😉 .

    But Bernie is pretty much an institution in his own right (although he doesn’t have the requisite 6 generations to be a true Vermonter). Heck, he’s been around Congress for most of my short memory. I’m with you on the personal attacks, though. Find them distasteful and uninforming. Probably the best argument against Democracy is that people actually change their votes based on things like that.

  • Well, this one REALLY backfired on the Republicans. Meier is actually a very strong candidate that is well liked in the area, and would have had a great shot at winning this even with the Democratic push this year. Now, voters are associating this ad with Meier and he has lost credibility. They squashed their chance at having a solid, honest, and decent candidate.

  • Arcuri is thinking about a libel suit

    thinking about it? is he also thinking about running a counter ad? If not, he ought to be thinking about what he’ll do after he loses in November. We will not win if we don’t actively counter these attack pieces. The Webb campaign (for all its struggles) understands this.

  • If we’re not supposed to whine about how frighteningly dishonest Republicans are, is it preferable to simply lie as shamelessly as they do? Should the DCCC simply start making up bogus attacks, stand by them even after they’re exposed as frauds, and then argue, “We’re just playing by Republican rules”?

    It think Yglesias is bang on the money. I would answer either of those attacks with three words (and some rough copy to go with them):

    ISN’T THAT CONVENIENT?

    The RNC runs a dishonest attack ad against (Dem candidate). (Republican candidatite) “stands on priciple” and calls on the RNC to pull the ad. The mean old RNC refuses. (Republican candidate) gets points for demonstrating independence from his corrupt and discredited party leadership in Washington. BUT, the ad keeps running. You would have to say it works out pretty nicely for (Republican candidatite), wouldn’t you?

    Had enough?

    The point is that as long you allow the local guy to escape the blowback from the national party’s ad it’s a win/win for them and of course they’re going to keep doing it. Make the local guy bleed for it though and watch what happens.

  • I consider the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to be a fraudulent organization. This is a separate organization from the RNC folks. The NRCC lies to small business owners and such claiming they’ve won a recognition award and then tricks them into donating much more than they meant to, by credit card. Now note, I am a proud Republican myself, but I want absolutely no affiliation with these NRCC criminals, implied or otherwise. I hope they all go to jail.

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