2006 Dirtball Politics

Update: The RNC has dropped the ad against Harold Ford with the Playboy bunny. They have replaced it with an ad saying he wants to give abortion pills to children. I've taken the YouTube video off from my previous posting.

Today's WashingtonPost has a sorrowful but insightful account of the negativity of this year's attack ads. The article points out that while the RNC has pulled the ad, it flourishes anyway.

From the article:

At the same time, the growth of "independent expenditures" by national parties
and other groups has allowed candidates to distance themselves from distasteful
attacks on their opponents, while blogs and YouTube have provided free
distribution networks for eye-catching hatchet jobs.

In no particular order, from the article, some of the real losers.

· 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 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." [Should the plural of ho be hos or hoes?]

A host of Democrats have been accused of trying to "cut and run" in Iraq --
including House candidate Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who lost both legs in
Iraq.

Kirsten Gillibrand has an ad online ridiculing Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) for attending a late-night fraternity party. "What's a 50-year-old man doing at a frat party anyway?" one young woman asks, as a faux Sweeney boogies behind her to the Beastie Boys. "Totally creeping me out!" another responds.