As part of its nearly-hysterical push-back against the Democratic National Committee’s “100 years” ad targeting John McCain, the Republican National Committee has decided to focus on where the DNC found its war images for the commercial. It’s not only an odd argument, it’s actually counter-productive for the RNC.
As you’ve no doubt seen by now, the DNC ad features footage of the war in Iraq. Some right-wing activists suggested the DNC may have received the video directly from terrorists, while RNC Chairman Mike Duncan issued a press release accusing the DNC of working with (cue scary music) Michael Moore.
[T]he Republican National Committee has learned that the ad features footage from Michael Moore’s 2004 conspiracy theory, “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
According to ABC News, the ad features “an IED blowing up near US soldiers,” an image ABC confirms that was used in “Fahrenheit 9/11.” It is no coincidence that the same Democrat [sic] advertising firm that produced this ad also was responsible for producing over $6.5 million worth of Democrat [sic] political advertising using themes from “Fahrenheit 9/11” in 2004.
The DNC’s combining its gross mischaracterizations with footage made famous by a movie director who meets with dictators and continually expresses caustic anti-American rhetoric only further reveals the DNC’s utter lack of respect for Senator McCain and his service to our country. Further, “Fahrenheit 9/11’s” director has compared Iraqi terrorists with American Revolutionary heroes. For the DNC to deploy such footage in a political advertisement suggests at best a lack of appreciation, and at worst a disrespect, by the DNC for the sacrifices America’s brave men and women have made and continue to make to protect our freedoms on the front lines in the war against radical Islamic extremism.
Now, as it turns out, the RNC didn’t get its facts straight. As Oliver Willis explained, “Of course, the footage isn’t from terrorists or (even worse in conservative minds) Michael Moore. The footage is from an AP report purchased from Getty Images.”
But if we’re going to explore where the parties get footage for their advertising, maybe the RNC can explain why it has included terrorist training videos in its ads.
Jake Tapper noted yesterday:
I noted this week, out of curiosity more than anything else, that the new Democratic National Committee TV ad against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., uses stock footage from Getty Images that was also used by Michael Moore in “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Curiously, the Republican National Committee is using this nugget as further evidence as to why the DNC TV ad should be pulled.
However you feel about the DNC TV ad — and Factcheck.org is not too keen on the way the DNC depicts McCain’s “100 years” in Iraq comment — I was not saying that the DNC took the footage from Michael Moore. They both appear to have taken it from stock footage.
If one were so inclined, one could point to the RNC ad from 2006 that used footage of Osama bin Laden taken from Al-Jazeera and use it to question whether the RNC is too closed aligned with Al-Jazeera. That would be silly, but one could do so, right?
“Looks like the shoes on the other footage,” e-mailed Mike Gehrke, self-described “DNC Research Director and Joke Plagiarist.” “We won’t be intimidated by a candidate desperately trying to avoid his own record — or his lawyers.”
Long-time readers may recall the 2006 RNC ad that Tapper mentioned. During the midterm election cycle, the Republican National Committee paid a handsome sum to broadcast video highlighting terrorists’ rhetoric and training footage, as part of an effort to scare voters into voting for GOP candidates.
As Marc Lynch noted at the time:
This is not just a video which suggests that Republicans will be better at fighting terror. It actually very closely resembles real al-Qaeda videos…. The images don’t just resemble those used in al-Qaeda videos: many were actually taken from real al-Qaeda videos…. This video would not look out of place on a jihadi forum, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it actually gets posted on them and admired (although the production values are a bit low for an actual al-Sahab product).
Anyone involved in analyzing or combating al-Qaeda’s media strategies has to be astounded that the Republican National Committee has financed, produced, distributed on the internet, and aired on US television what is for all intents and purposes an al-Qaeda recruitment video. The video, if it works as intended, will frighten the American people and influence American politics… just like al-Qaeda’s own videos. Bin Laden couldn’t be prouder, or more grateful, especially since it didn’t cost him a thing.
The RNC is worried about footage from a Michael Moore movie, after the RNC used footage from al Qaeda?
Whose side are they on?