Posted on 09/04/2004 7:19:29 PM PDT by Libloather
GOP wants Daschle-Bush hug pulled
By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer
Last Updated: Thursday, September 2, 2004 8:14 AM MDT
The Republican National Committee doesn't want to see that warm embrace shared by President Bush and Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
At least they don't want to see it in Daschle's re-election TV ad that went on the air a week ago. An RNC lawyer fired off a "cease and desist" missive to the Daschle campaign Tuesday afternoon.
"You are using the picture in a manner that could create the misleading impression that President Bush supports your campaign," wrote RNC counsel Charles R. Spies. "As you are no doubt aware, President Bush has not indicated any support for your campaign, and in fact has endorsed your opponent, John Thune. The implication from your advertisement that President Bush supports you is false and misleading."
The Daschle campaign's response? Sorry, Charlie.
"We have absolutely no intention to stop running the ad," said Daschle campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer. "No reasonable person who has seen the ad would have the same interpretation as the Republican National Committee."
The footage of the hug takes up no more than 3 seconds in a 60-second ad about Daschle's bipartisan leadership in the wake of the attacks, Pfeiffer said.
"The ad is about a very specific and important time in recent history," Pfeiffer said. "After 9-11, Republicans and Democrats put partisanship aside and came together. Sen. Daschle played a key role in that time as leader of the Democrats. That moment captured in the ad embodies that time."
The ad also features post-attack footage from Capitol Hill, including a Daschle appearance with Republican congressional leaders, and it includes praise for Daschle from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
Pfeiffer said Thune evoked Daschle in two of his campaign ads in his unsuccessful 2002 race against Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. One ad was about work the state's congressional delegation had done to bring a national science lab to Homestake Mine in Lead. In the other ad, Thune promoted the premise that with Daschle the Democratic leader and Thune a well-connected Republican, South Dakota would have a powerhouse bipartisan team in the U.S. Senate.
Thune campaign manager Dick Wadhams said Pfeiffer's comparison is invalid and called use of the hug footage "a new low."
"Daschle has made a career out of attacking Bush. I don't believe that was going on two years ago," Wadhams said.
Thune said Daschle never asked him to take down the 2002 ad.
Thune viewed the ad before he left for this week's National Republican Convention in New York City, and on Tuesday called it "a signal of someone whose political circumstances are deteriorating rapidly."
"In the middle of the Republican convention, when every other leading Democrat in the country is attacking the president, beating him up, Tom Daschle is hugging him. To me, that speaks volumes," Thune said.
He said the Daschle ad is on the lips of Republicans strategizing and socializing in New York and is seen as undermining to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"Everybody's laughing," Thune said. "I'm calling it Hug-gate II."
Thune compared this hug dust-up to the controversy that ensued after filmmaker Michael Moore said he and Daschle shared a hug after the June premiere of his anti-Bush movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." That first hug turned out to be a case of mistaken identity when a Daschle look-alike stepped forward to clear things up.
Whose political circumstances are deteriorating or strengthening also depends on which poll one reads.
On Tuesday, the Daschle campaign released poll results showing Daschle ahead 53 percent to 45 percent, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee released its own results showing Thune up 50 percent to 48 percent. Neither group released the questions asked nor details of the methodology used.
Well, the RNC could spend a lot of money on a lawsuit to no end, or they could simply craft a powerful commercial that blasts Daschle for using the picture.
I like the ideas to use this against him.
It's not as if we don't have the footage available to put the lie to an end that he is supportive of the Prez & WOT.
Bingo, Bonaparte! That ad you wrote would be the perfect way to counter the Daschle deception.
Is this scandal hurting Daschle any? I sure hope so. Any other polls? I saw one a few days ago saying Thune was UP by 2. Any more late news? Thune is one of the few Repubs I have contrbuted to. Did in '02 also.
et tu Brutus...???
A little tit for tat perhaps. The rats keep demanding Pubbies stop this ad or that ad.
Ka-CHING!
Just sent a donation to Thune. ;)
Thankyou, hs. Since Daschle introduced the subject, Republicans have every right to pursue it. Just like Kerry's introduction of his "war hero" status.
That's naive. I'm sure they consider it both clever and completely justified. Indeed, the fact that it borders on unethical would have a special appeal for the DNC.
Mr. President, cut an ad for Thune now that repudiates
this garbage!
Exactly. Excellent suggestion!
That's fine. No problem with me. If he did it, show it. And then show Bush explaining what a despicable runt ancepholoform he is.
They should show a close up of that photo...the one where Daschle has the knife and is getting ready to stab Bush in the back...
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