Posted on 10/30/2008 8:41:13 AM PDT by steve-b
North Carolina knows from sad experience about negative election campaigns and misleading, untruthful advertising. In the 1950 campaign, opponents of the late UNC President Frank Porter Graham used a doctored photo of his wife with a black man to inject race into a Senate campaign and help defeat the revered educator. In 1990, Sen. Jesse Helms used the infamous "white hands" ad, blaming the failure of a white person to get a job on a minority and "a racial quota" to help defeat former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt.
When Helms retired in 2002 and Salisbury native Elizabeth Dole was elected to take his place, voters here breathed a sigh of relief. Surely Dole would not stoop to the racial appeals that marked too many N.C. elections and soured so many people on politics. It just wasn't her way. While she might be every bit as conservative as Helms, her style was not divisive. She did not demonize her opponents.
Until now. In a new TV ad that must have the late Sen. Helms smiling and cheering from the great beyond, the Dole campaign has attacked her opponent, Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro, as "godless." Hagan attended a September fundraiser in Boston sponsored by dozens of people and co-hosted by two persons associated with a group called Godless Americans PAC. Dole's ad says Hagan took "godless" money. Hagan's campaign says she did not receive money from the PAC, though she did get money from one of the co-hosts. She has demanded Dole halt the ad.
Hagan's attendance at any fundraiser and acceptance of a contribution is a fair topic for comment. Yet Dole has resorted to the Big Lie technique, morphing a kernel of truth into a monumental fiction.
How so? The Dole campaign stepped across a broad line, portraying Hagan as not Christian and suggesting she does not believe in God. The Dole ad shows a picture of Hagan while a woman's voice, not Hagan's, intones, "There is no God."
This is indecent. It is the modern-day version of the "white hands" ad, a lie born of Dole's desperation in a race in which she has trailed for weeks. It is also a deliberate attempt by Dole's campaign not just to distort the truth, but to shatter Hagan's admirable record as an elder for more than a decade in Greensboro's First Presbyterian Church, as a Sunday School teacher and a volunteer in her church's fundraising campaigns, worship services and community service programs.
Political campaigns in this state are often hard-fought, with bitter, overwrought accusations that stretch the truth, embellish the facts and attempt to confuse voters. Hagan has hit Dole hard. Dole has hit Hagan hard. That is par for the course.
This ad is something else, an attack on a Christian woman's faith against all evidence to the contrary. It is wrong. It may well backfire on Dole.
It has no place in N.C. politics. Unless she admits this egregious, shameful mistake and acts appropriately, Elizabeth Dole has no place in N.C. politics, either.
Where was the lie? Hagen was pandering to a radical athiest group.
And if Dole had gone to a KKK meeting the Dems would have never touched that, right?
WHAT LIE?
Hagen is has some dirty ads out. She is disgusting.
How typical of the Observer. We don’t even buy it to line the snake’s cage anymore, since the Monroe Enquirer-Journal kindly drops a free issue in the driveway each week.
I seen Hagen's lies on TV , claims Dole is to blame for Freddie and Fannie , when Dole was a sponsor with Mac to have oversight. Democrats have given Hagen 20 Million to win the seat and she is freaking out as Dole is now answering her lies.
She also took money from Code Pink.
It wasn’t a lie but as usual it is never fair game to attack Democrats on what they say or who they associate or take money from. Dole needs to hammer that Hagan ***** into the ground.
How is that when people are outspoken about truth, people are calling it a lie??? Are we ashamed of the truth? What is wrong with exposing lies??
When you are catching flak, it means you are over the target.
If Hagan is so admirable, as a church elder, Sunday school teacher and church volunteer, why is she pandering to a radical atheist group and taking money from them? Is she willing to sell out her faith so cheap?
BTW, 18 Million Democrats voted for Hillary Clinton in the Primaries. Does that mean they are all racists?
Is this what they are claiming is a lie? If Hagan had to travel that far from North Carolina to raise funds, there's a problem. If she didn't pay attention to who hosted or co-hosted the event there's another problem. I guess when Jim Black is in jail and can't send blank checks to all his favorite candidates, people like Kay Hagan have to take desperate measures.
Right next door in Louisiana, we have a democrat running ads against his republican Rep challenger saying the Republican laid off a thousand employees to fund his campaign- completely false (the Republican’s business hasn’t laid anyone off and is actually growing).. but it is on the news every night someone repeating it.
I haven’t lived in NC for many years, but I’ll make sure to phone and ask folks to vote against Hagan the Pagan.
“Hagan’s campaign says she did not receive money from the PAC, though she did get money from one of the co-hosts.”
Since Hagan took the money from an avowed atheist, who represents the Godless Pac...how does she know for certain that the funds did NOT come from that Pac?
So why was this “woman of God” associating with darkness (the “Godless”) to begin with?
Sounds to me like the ad was accurate.
Dole's ad was right on the money - specifically the money her opponent accepted from the Godless Americans organization.
You may be unaware that this paper and the Raleigh News & Observer are so far left they read like a DNC ad. There is a photo of Kay Hagan at the Godless Americans fundraiser. I have heard the ads and it does not say Hagan is speaking on it. NC is still the Bible Belt and Godless Americans are not going to win Hagan votes!
Liddy’s really hit them where it hurts with this ad. She should keep running it until election day!
Well, when you really get down to it, can you be a Democrat and also be a Christian? I don’t see how today.
50 years ago it was different, but today’s Democrat Party is pretty much atheistic.
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