Independent groups are vying to get in the last word before the election’s over, so we’ll try too. Here’s a litte potpourri of last-minute efforts…
And it doesn’t get more last-minute than this: Vets for Freedom just busted out with a TV ad today, airing in Pennsylvania and Ohio, channeling some veterans’ anger at Obama. The ad (below) starts out talking about Dwight Eisenhower and some letters he wrote and how Obama only wrote one letter, except that’s a metaphor…but the real message is that Obama only saw failure in the courageous efforts of Iraq War veterans. It ends with a spoof of one of Obama’s slogans, saying, “Can we win our war? Yes we can.”
Meanwhle, RightChange.com picked up a star of Republican Big Money: Bob Perry, the mega-donor who gave millions to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. Perry gave $100,000 to RightChange’s campaign against Obama and in defense of Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). It’s somehow reasuring to know that Perry isn’t slacking off this election season.
Progressive Future, which we already profiled, put up an anti-McCain ad on cable that’s more about mood than message. It shows images of people struggling with the economic downturn set to Paul Simon singing, “I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered…” When Simon gets to the lyrics, “I wonder what’s gone wrong,” the ad ends up on a Bush-McCain hug.
Missouri Right to Life, the state affiliate of National Right to Life Committee, launched an emotionally charged anti-abortion ad against Obama. The ad features Jill Stanek, an Illinois nurse who became an anti-abortion activist when she discovered babies that survived botched abortion being left to die. Stanek leads her own group, Born Alive Truth, which also produced anti-Obama ads.
In this ad, Stanek says Obama was “unmoved” by her story and “thought that infanticide was acceptable.” Because he voted against “born alive infant” legislation in the state senate, Stanek says, “His opposition was responsible for living babies being left out to die.” A similar claim by Stanek’s own ad was criticized by Factcheck.org.
Good thing ads are repeating the same claims these days, because otherwise there wouldn’t be time to fact-check them before polls close.
Born Alive Truth, for its part, just received $75,000 from Norm Miller, a born-again Christian businessman who chairs a Dallas company with this mission: “To glorify God as we supply our customers worldwide with top quality, value-priced batteries, related electrical power-source products, and distribution services.”
Meanwhile, Focus on the Family Action continues to pump money into airing Born Alive Truth’s ad, running it on the radio in Indiana and on TV in Colorado and Florida.
And now for everyone’s favorite “black-belt patriot,” as he calls himself: Chuck Norris.
In a National Rifle Association ad running in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and on cable, Norris says, “If some thug breaks into my home, I could use by roundhouse kick. But I prefer he look down the barrell of my gun.” Norris, who supported Mike Huckabee in the Republican primaries (check out this ad) tells us to protect our rights, and beware of anti-gun politicians who pretend to support those rights.
Norris apparently thinks he’s a candidate — he delivers the “I approve this message” line, while standing in front of a house that has a sign reading, “We don’t dial 911” over a picture of a gun. Norris then delivers one of his famous punches at the camera, as the voiceover says, “Just let ’em try and outlaw those guns.”
This originally appeared on The Secret Money Project Blog, a joint project of CIR and National Public Radio tracking the hidden cash in the 2008 election.
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