Club for Growth launches anti-Kerry ads

[Feanorcurufinwe]

The Club for Growth, one of the nation's leading free-market political advocacy organizations, has launched a new television ad campaign that shows the voting similarities of four-term Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and liberal Democrat John Kerry (Mass.), the likely Democrat presidential nominee.

Showing still photos of Sen. Kerry, the narrator says: "He voted for eight (8) huge tax hikes. He supports greedy trial lawyers instead of doctors on legal reform. He's blocked school choice education programs. And he's rated one of the Senate's most wasteful spenders. John Kerry? No. Arlen Specter. Fact is, nearly 70 percent of the time, Specter and Kerry voted the same way. And that makes Arlen Specter 100 percent too liberal."

"The people of Pennsylvania need to see how liberal Arlen Specter truly is," said Club for Growth president Stephen Moore. "John Kerry is the model of modern-day liberalism and Specter appears to be his shadow. It is no surprise that National Review labeled Arlen Specter 'the worst Republican Senator.'"

The television ad will begin running Feb. 12 on select broadcast stations and on cable news channels statewide. The Club for Growth has budgeted over $150,000 for this phase of the ad campaign. The ad was produced by Warfield & Company.

--

The Club for Growth was founded in 1999 to elect pro-economic growth fiscal conservatives. That organization forwards campaign contributions from its members to the most free-market oriented candidates in targeted congressional races. In the 2000 election cycle the Club for Growth spent $ 2.4 million to help elect 10 new Republicans to Congress. The Club for Growth has grown six-fold since the 2000 election cycle and the Club and its members raised or donated over $10 million to help elect seventeen new Members of Congress in the 2002 election cycle.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=118-02122004

The 'big-tent' Republicans go after Specter and Kerry at the same time...

[aquart]

1. After all Arlen did for them?

He gives the Republicans his soul and gets this?

Are there stresses in that party I don't know about?

And don't you love how caring they are of doctors?

[HootieMcBoob]

2. You mean an anti Specter ad.

If anything this would help Kerry with moderates in PA.

Specter is viewed as a moderate Republican who has served PA since the 1960s if I'm not mistaken. Specer is as old as the hills and is being challenged by a neo-conservative nut bag along the lines of Rick Santorum that other right wing nut case who represents PA in the Senate right now.

If anything, I think this helps Kerry in PA by making him look moderate to the many many people who have voted for Specter over the years.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. I love when Repugs shoot themselves in the foot.

[Robb]

3. If these look as stupid as the last ads they did

...then Kerry's going to be fine. :thumbsup:

[On the Road]

5. When Will They Learn?

The ones that work feature an eldery couple saying: "John Kerry should take his latte-drinking, tax-hiking, nose-piercing, intern-penetrating, godless, special interest rich-boy campaign and go back to the People's Republic of Massachusetts with Mike Dukakis."

Maybe that's next week's ad.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

7. I don't think any of the RightWing ads are gonna work this time.

You can fool some of the people some of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

[On the Road]

8. My Post was a Joke, But I Seriously Think Those Ads Work

with a certain percentage of swing voters and conservative Democrats.

It's about stirring about visceral, base emotions. That has a huge impact. A lot of folks share these prejudices even if you and I don't.

And God knows, I don't know how to counter it. It can't be done directly. Just present a consistent image that's so far from the one that's portrayed that the charicature doesn't stick.

[Hoosier Democrat]

6. I don't feel sorry for Specter at all...

I have never understood why a moderate Jewish politician would shackle himself to a party of right-wing nut jobs and religious bigots. He cast his lot with them, now let him (after all these years) reap the effects.

On a purely strategic level, a damaged Specter is good news for us. If he falls in the primary, we could very well pick up that seat this fall. If he limps out of the primary mauled by the far right, we might knock him off if enough conservatives stay home on Election Day.