Republicans use militant threat as political cudgel against Democrats in campaign ads

[hue]

Source: U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The recurring image in the latest Republican campaign ads is a lone militant walking across a barren land with the black banner of the Islamic State group.

Six weeks to Election Day, the once back-burner issue of national security is suddenly at the forefront amid rising American fears and the U.S. military's expanded campaign to destroy extremists in Iraq and Syria. The GOP, more trusted by the public in recent national polls to deal with foreign policy and terrorism, is using the threat as a political cudgel against Democrats in several Senate and House races.

"Radical Islamic terrorists are threatening to cause the collapse of our country," Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator trying to unseat first-term Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, says in a commercial. "President Obama and Sen. Shaheen seem confused about the nature of the threat. Not me."

A national Republican ad against two-term Rep. Dan Maffei, D-N.Y., calls him "dangerously wrong for our security" over black-and-white images of extremists. Another National Republican Congressional Committee ad describes Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., as "dangerously liberal."

National security rarely decides elections, especially congressional races, and jobs and the economy remain the overriding issue for voters this year. The GOP move is part of a broader approach of linking Democrats to an unpopular President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings on handling foreign policy and dealing with terrorism have plummeted since U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Read more: http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2014/09/24/gop-uses-terror-threat-against-dems-in-campaign

[ladjf]

1. The Republicans, the foot soldiers of the wealthy elite are the threats to our Country.

And, let's don't fail to admit there a lot of Dems are also on the "take". nt

[heaven05]

3. yeah they are

called the 'bluedog coalition' and they have been nipping at Obama's heels from day one of this POTUS. They allowed the republican agenda to become the obstructionist tool it has been for the last SIX years. They, like the republicans, are despicable cowards and probably most of them are racist like all goddamn republicans.

[Enrique]

2. pull off the hood of that ISIS executioner

I bet it's Karl Rove.

[still_one]

4. Maybe it is time the Democrats remind people that 9/11 happened under the republicans, and because

they ignored all the warnings, including ones from the Clinton administration before he left office with the Rudman/Hart report, which Dick Cheney just threw into the trash can

[TygrBright]

5. And THIS was a factor in the decision to bomb Syria. n/t

[Galraedia]

6. GOP more trusted by the public in recent national polls to deal with foreign policy and terrorism?

O_o Which national polls proved that? Republicans are absolutely horrible at foreign policy. And they're good for creating and arming terrorists, not so much with fighting terrorism.

The only thing Republicans can be trusted to do is to get angry and act stupid. ISIS's whole point for trying to instigate the United States into war is because they hope we will get angry and do something stupid. Their goal is the same as Osama bin-Laden's, which is to try and collapse the United States like they did with the Soviet Union. How do we know this was Osama bin-Laden's goal? He SAID SO.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Sadly, that is what the polls have said

http://www.gallup.com/poll/175727/republicans-expand-edge-better-party-against-terrorism.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication (Gallup; Republicans better 55%: Democrats better 32%)
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1302290/sept14b-politics-trn.pdf (NYT/CBS; Republicans better 52%; Democrats better 31%)

As Slate says, "Americans Fault Obama for Giving Them Exactly the Anti-ISIS Strategy They Want"

[ieoeja]

9. Why is the Democratic Party so fucking stupid when it comes to this shit?

Bush, Cheney et al repeatedly mocked Gore during the 2000 campaign for claiming Jihadi terrorism was the #1 national security threat facing the United States. Saturate the airwaves with recordings of them doing just that and show everyone just how incredibly dumbass Republicans are about national security.

And while they're at it, why are we not seeing recordings of all the Democrats who stood up in 2003 and predicted this very thing would happen as a result of the Iraqi invasion? And all the Republicans predicting otherwise?

This is so fucking simple. But the Democrats won't do it. What the heck is wrong with this party?

[muntrv]

11. They should play Bush's "I don't care about Bin Laden" video from March of 2002.

[muntrv]

13. These polls need to ask if they support boots on the ground in Iraq.

[DhhD]

8. Counter Ad shows IS look-alike, carrying a second flag that says something like GOP Plan to

get rid of Social Security and Medicare.

[muntrv]

10. Ask Bin Laden if Obama is weak on terrorism.

[Archae]

12. The GOP is going back to their usual...

"Terror! Terror! Terror! Fear! Fear! Fear!"

And they'll botch it completely, like they have before.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. They'll botch the landslide

but all they need is to hang on to the House and get a few more in the Senate. MSM fear-conditioned citizens combined with voter suppression laws, reduced voting hours, and gerrymandering, is all they need.