The National Rifle Association has launched an aggressive multi-media campaign against Obama, saying he “would be the most anti-gun president in American history.”
The campaign, tuned to reach voters in swing states, includes an arsenal of TV, radio and print ads, all available on this website featuring a not-so-flattering photo of Obama.
One TV ad slips in a subtle not-one-of-us message, as a Virginia hunter says, “Now I learn that Barack Obama supports a huge new tax on my guns and ammo … Where is this guy from? He’s probably never been hunting a day in his life.”
Another features a veteran of the war in Iraq saying, “I served my country on the battlefield to protect our freedoms. There’s no way I’m voting for a president who will take them away.”
By the way, Factcheck.org says the NRA distorts Obama’s positions.
Yet another ad has a Michigan hunter taking aim at Obama’s controversial comments that some working-class voters “cling to guns or religion” because they are “bitter.” Says the hunter, “Because I believe in traditional American values, go to church, exercise my right to own a firearm, Barack Obama says I’m bitter. Well I’m not bitter, I’m blessed.” The message ties in with T-shirts and yard signs emblazoned: “I’m a ‘bitter’ gun owner and I vote.”
Each ad ends with the slogan, “Defend Freedom, Defeat Obama.”
Obama’s running mate earns his own ad from the NRA, which says, “Joe Biden wants you to believe he shares your values because he was born in Scranton. But Pennsylvania gun owners and hunters don’t share his values.”
The NRA is also sending out an anti-Obama fact sheet to its 4 million members. Nothing camouflaged about where the NRA stands in this election.
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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