Dial L for libel
Over in NY-24, which pits Democrat Mike Arcuri against Republican Ray Meier, the National Republican Congressional Committee has put out an ad so over-the-top, so deceitful, so just plain ridiculous that it’s become a political legend in just a few short days. No amount of preparation will lessen the shock of seeing it. The only thing I can compare it to is the first time I heard William Shatner’s version of “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” and, even knowing that it would be terrible, I was still completely unprepared for just how cosmically awful it was. Without further ado, here’s the video of the NRCC attack ad.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/JZUjakQRGq8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
And here’s story behind the story (from the Syracuse Substandard):
Arcuri’s campaign said an associate mistakenly dialed an 800-number sex line two years ago from Arcuri’s New York City hotel room, and released records supporting the claim. The number shares the same last seven digits with the number for the state Department of Criminal Justice Services, which was dialed the minute after the first call was made.
That’s what we’ve come to: Republicans are now basing their political attacks on misdialed numbers. This is the stuff lawsuits are made of:
Arcuri, the district attorney in Oneida County, said the ad was “clearly libelous” and threatened to file a lawsuit.
Well said.
Unfortunately it is about winning not right and wrong. I hope Arcuri takes them down.
[...] Remember that ridiculous ad the Republicans tried to run against Arcuri in NY-24? The one so full of lies that even the largely right-wing t.v. stations of Syracuse and Binghamton refused to run it? Well, now it’s become a mailer, which means that Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman think it will boost Republican turn-tou. It just goes to show that (to paraphrase H. L. Mencken) no one ever lost an election underestimating the intelligence of Republican voters. [...]
[...] Tom Reynolds was on Meet the Press today. He was largely overshadowed by what one can only assume was a heavily caffinated — or otherwise medicated — Libby Dole, but this exchange (via Daily Politics)about the Sleaziest Ad Ever was good: [...]