I suspect Tom DeLay is thrilled to have right-wing allies who are prepared to spend generously to defend his tarnished name, but I have to wonder if they’ve thought through the wisdom of their message.
Stephen Moore’s Free Enterprise Fund announced yesterday that it would run TV ads nationwide on DeLay’s behalf. The point of the ads, apparently, is to point out how DeLay’s scandals have caused a feeding frenzy in the press.
An anti-tax group said Tuesday it will run television ads likening the media and their reporting on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to sharks in a feeding frenzy. […]
The group’s president, Mallory Factor, would not disclose how much the group will spend on the ads but said it will be “well over $100,000.” The group does not yet know how long it will run the ads.
Factor said the “liberal media and government” have been attacking free market principles and DeLay, who supports their principles. “It’s a feeding frenzy on DeLay and we want to expose it,” Factor said.
I’m not in the habit of giving DeLay’s friends advice, and if the right wants to spend six figures on dumb ads I don’t want to stop them, but from DeLay’s perspective, isn’t this message counter-productive?
Here we have a nationally televised commercial telling Americans a) that Tom DeLay is facing a series of scandalous charges; and b) the media is taking the charges seriously. Naturally, the ads also help boost DeLay’s name recognition at a time when his scandals have started to fade from the headlines.
Is it me, or do ads like these actually help Dems bring DeLay’s problems to the public attention? I’m happy to get the assistance — we need it — I just didn’t expect it from the Free Enterprise Fund.