Did GOP Ad Darken Skin-Color Of Indian-American Dem Candidate?

The National Republican Congressional Committee is running an ad in Minnesota that local officials suggest distorts the skin color of the Democratic candidate for the seat, Ashwin Madia. Basic visual evidence seems to back them up.

Madia, a son of East Indian immigrants and a marine veteran, is pictured in the spot with a darker face and long shadows cast upon it. The ad accuses him of wanted to raise taxes, but the superficial aspects are the ones that have jumped out to observers.

"I'm not saying that I know that the people who made the ads knew that this would happen," Clay Steinman, of Macalester College, told a local news station. "But I think they knew that darkening him, and de-saturating the color, making him look a lot less lively, would have negative connotations."

Indeed, a side-by-side shot of the advertisement and a website photo of Madia -- who is running for the third district seat of Erik Paulson -- suggests that the NRCC deliberately made his cheeks and even the lines under his hairline darker shades.

Such a move would, obviously, carry with it deep racial connotations. But it should be noted that similar charges of image-distortion were leveled against Hillary Clinton's campaign for an ad it put out against Barack Obama during the Democratic primary -- charges that were revealed to be false.

In this case, Madia's own campaign is crying foul. "I have seen negative campaigns but nothing as deplorable, or as disgusting as this advertisement or as the national Republicans have done," said campaign manager Stu Rosenber, in that same local report.

And the Minnesota GOP has already been accused and questioned for attempting to cast Madia as a poor fit for the district's population.

"It is a very sharp contrast," Ron Carey, the state's GOP Chairman, said recently in a press conference. "Erik Paulson fits the district very well. People have to draw their own conclusions but Erik Paulson is a very good fit from a philosophical standpoint and a lifestyle standpoint for the third district."

The NRCC did not immediately return a request for comment.

Comments

[poco767c]

Yes he has been darkened, but I think it is more of an artistic decision than a racial decision.

[NotaDrone]

WAKE UP! Nothing the GOP does is by "accident" or for "art".

[OhComeOnNow]

Please tell me that was satire. If not, delusion@l best explains the comment.

[Petey131]

VOTE THE republican BUMS OUT!

[DennyCrane]

I guess this means the GOP won't mind if Democrats do the same thing to Bobby Jindal's image when he runs for reelection.

[tuttlemsm]

At some point the GOP needs to learn that the COUNTRY is getting darker.

Insult ethnic minorities at your own electoral peril.

[1Smartchik]

Why would the dems darken his skin we are the party that is diverse, not the repubs remember?

[TheBlackCat]

What bothers me so much is not the advertising as to how the Republicans responded- that he is not a good fit with the community from a "lifestyle" standpoint. Unless this candidate is gay, what else can they mean by his "lifestyle" but that it is foreign, Indian, and above all non Christian? And whether gay, Indian, or whatever else, I don't understand how "lifestyle" translates into your abilities to govern. In Europe, ethnically foreign and gay politicians are commonplace, even among their conservative parties, and they seem to get along with their communities just fine.

Americans better wake up, because every study suggests that in the near future, whites will be outnumbered by non whites in this country. One would think that with this reality looming, politicians would not seek to alienate the non white community, which will one day outnumber their white constituents.

[Blue in NH]

Guess they are trying to protect him from accusations of not being black enough!!

[LeeCalif]

It's the Repubs. Of course this was done. Absolutely no integrity.

[bjulian]

I cant stress the importance that all of us need to go out and vote!
Obama/Biden 08!

[SeanGardner]

The Republican Party will isolate itself from literally every racial and ethnic group in American after this election. Just because they trot out Gov. Bobby "the exocist" Jindal and a few black Republicans after this election won't erase the bad PR that will follow the Republican Party like a bad habit for years and years to come.

On Nov. 5th, when McCain loses, the Republican Party will be "the party of white men". And in a country that is more diverse every day than the previous day, that just won't cut it.

[AnalyzeIT]

...............and they will soon die out. ~the end~

Nothing stays the same for ever, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

[OhMyGoodness]

I say the following... if dark skin determines who you are as a person then I'm screwed cause I'm pretty dark. But guess what? I love it and wouldn't change it for any of the perks folks in this country receive for not having it.

[Blue in NH]

Well said!

[DaisyDooks]

I'm with you, OMG. I wouldn't change my beautiful dark melanin for any of the privileges afforded to those without it either. Besides, it's over-rated. My dark melanin has not hindered me in the least bit from achieving excellence, sporting a comfortable lifestyle in a downtown Chicago condo and owning a business.

[OhMyGoodness]

Well you go Daisy dooks... I know nothing but hard work and determination. If it's easier for some then so be it. I would still work hard for what I desire.

[KWangnoo]

Amen - my husband is Indian (and horror of horrors, a Muslim) and if you ask me, brown of any shade is beautiful!! :D

[Opt1musPr1me]

I wouldn't put it past those desperadoes. i mean darker skin shouldn't matter but due to the fact that there are a lot of Americans still stuck in a time, they would focus in on things like that.

[nellie]

Kind of a waste of effort. The guy looks good in both photos.

[JackND]

That was my thought as well. He looks just fine in both.

As for fitting the district, the only way Erik Paulson is anything other than right wing is when he's standing next to Michelle Bachmann.

[nellie]

So, making someone's brown skin a darker brown suddenly means the person loses credibility...??

I think a lot of us are past this moronic kind of thinking. The remnants of the past keep trying to hold us back.

[DaisyDooks]

White supremacist ideology still flourishes. It's global. In the global color caste system, the darker skinned folks reside on the lower socio/economic rung of the ladder. That's why there's so much social upheaval in many countries among its ethnic groups. Ethnic cleansing becomes the order of the day. In some parts of Africa, the populations are being arabicized. In other parts of the continent and world, indigenous cultures are europeanized or westernized - to their detriment.

[honestpolitician]

LISTEN ALL: Please Go Vote! There has been confirmed reports of voting fraud with the Republican Party and Obama is need of all the votes necessary to create a landslide. Let's make sure that our state turns blue! Voting is a right and a privilege. Let's all make history together!

LATEST ELECTION 2008 TV ADS : http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[ChicagoSuz]

Looks like that may be the case, although it may be caused by black & white photography & bad lighting.

While we're on the subject... somebody should darken McCain's face. Most of the time, he looks like paste...

Obama-Biden '08!! & Madia!

[veisalgia]

Also,
Take notice to the fact that they darkened his hairline so that you cannot tell that his hair is straight. That changes his look even more than the skin darkening.
It is a shame that this can still play as negative...... but things ARE getting better........

[AmericasMostGangsta]

exactly. They weren't so much trying to darken him, as to change is ethnicity altogether.

shows how low and divisive and disgusting the GOP can be and think.

[DCCommuter]

About the hair--you are right and I didn't even notice that!! My goodness, can't they run on anything besides race? Is that all they have to run on? "This liberal will take your taxes and give it to those that don't work" [meaning inner city].
Now that I am done giving to Obama, I will start giving to politicians that are smeared and "blackened" and Elizabeth Doled by GOP.