House GOP Obama Ad Aims To Terrify (VIDEO)

UPDATE: Richard Clarke, head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, responded to the video along with Republican attacks on Obama for his plans to close Guantanamo Bay.

"This video and the recent Republican attacks on Guantanamo are more desperate attempts from a demoralized party to politicize national security and the safety of the American people. But what is more disturbing is their brazen use of imagery and the memory of 9/11 to score political points. Thousands of Americans tragically died that day, and for the GOP to think it can win elections by denigrating their memory is disgraceful.

Read the whole response here.

* * * * *

House Republicans want to know: Do you feel safer?

In a remarkable video just released by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and ranking intelligence committee member Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), images of Obama "bowing" to Saudi officials and shaking hands with Hugo Chavez are interspersed with footage of the Pentagon exploding and terrorists doing bad things. All of it is back-dropped by frightening music.

"What is the overarching strategy?" Boehner asked when questioned about the video. "I'm trying to push the administration to describe what their overarching strategy is."

WATCH:

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

Comments

[Westof405]

06:36 PM on 05/08/2009

Richard Clarke tried to warn Bush,Cheney and Rice about Bin Laden and was ignored. The G"NO"P spent 8 years investigating Bill Clinton for playing around (not exactly a national security issue) instead of paying attention to the real bad guys. They don't have much room to talk.

[jsgaetano]

05:51 PM on 05/08/2009

Considering the Bush administration couldn't get a prosecution against ONE person in Gitmo... I guess they can't be that scary.

More bed wetting from conservatives. Is there ANYTHING conservatives aren't afraid of?

[pupnyny]

05:20 PM on 05/08/2009

There are very bad people in GITMO... I know cuz the administration told me so...... thats enough for me!

that is what the GOP os banking on... most americans to think that way.

[smchp]

05:22 PM on 05/08/2009

Worse than some of the mass murderers in prisons all over the US?

[blukazoo]

05:39 PM on 05/08/2009

or the mass murderers that we can't seem to prosecute...

[dctuss]

04:49 PM on 05/08/2009

i find it fascinating that guys from places like south carolina think they know best how to protect city populations in other states- and even funnier are these people from the middle of the country talking about "their safety" EARTH TO RURAL AMERICA: They arent coming anywhere near your cow town, your wal-mart is safe"

But of course, if you can scare people in podunk, you have to do it.

[babyboomerorig]

05:04 PM on 05/08/2009

Well, let me just say, as a resident of pudunk, that during the non-podunk time of the year (tourist season of over 3M touirsts in just 3 months), the people coming in to our area are more arrogant, pushy and rude than I've seen in years.

Our crime rate is up due to theft, rape and a couple of murders. That's not much on your scale, but it's something to consider around here in podunk. Actually, I've lived in large cities and felt safer than I do now sometimes. There are people coming into town that just want to cause problems.

[blukazoo]

05:41 PM on 05/08/2009

Please tell me what podunk town is visited by 3 million people in a season?

[smchp]

05:23 PM on 05/08/2009

Most have never owned a passport and think an exotic foreign vacation is going to Disneyworld instead of Disneyland.

[rwext]

04:29 PM on 05/08/2009

have I felt safer since 9/11Hell yes. Do we know 9/11 was fomented long before Jan 20 2000 , Hell Yes... am a terrified , since Nov 4 2008 more than ever and more every day

[tnfit78]

04:33 PM on 05/08/2009

Maybe you should secede.

[seted]

04:36 PM on 05/08/2009

Hell yes!

[NedroidPrime]

04:43 PM on 05/08/2009

Well, an education goes a far way to overcoming feelings of inadequacy.

Let me ask you this: If you recognize that that day was in the works for a while, then why didn't you get mad when it came out that the last administration had warning to be able to stop it, and yet did nothing?

And how are we less safe today than we were 6 months ago? Because we actually follow our professed principles?

Are you afraid of crossing the street, or getting struck by lightning? Your chances of getting hit by a car or a bolt are waaay better than of you getting hit by an attack....

[ThatOne4Me]

04:18 PM on 05/08/2009

Rac1st video.

[regellner]

04:06 PM on 05/08/2009

The GOP should be charged with aiding and abetting terrorism. They may not have commited the physical act, but they are most definitely using such acts to create terror in our country. I see that they are going to continue down the path that they set during the Bush years. It is a shame that they would rather use fear to dictate their agenda than work with their fellow countrymen and countrywomen to fix the multitude of the problems in the country and world today.

If the GOP agenda actually had merit, they would not have to try to scare people into supporting their plans.

[apduncan1]

04:05 PM on 05/08/2009

George W Bush was President of the USA on September 11 2001 and he shamefully and treasonably allowed those attacks to happen just to advance the agenda of the Project for a New American Century.

Every time the GOP brings up 9/11/01 we ought to remember what party was in power. The Republican Party.

And despite all the torture, all the Iraqis blown to smithereens and all the loss of American blood and treasure of the last eight years these traitors still cannot show anything of value to us.

[NedroidPrime]

04:44 PM on 05/08/2009

Yeah, and on top of that we STILL have to deal with the Towlie Ban, and OBL is likely still alive and hiding....

So much for the "tough" Reps.... lol

[seted]

04:02 PM on 05/08/2009

Do I feel safer? H ell yeah! I'll tell you what's scary, Scary is being afraid of your own damn government The last few years of the Bush Occupation had me terrified most of the time, scared we were going to turn into one of those dark, oppressive governments that favors the ruling elite, like your apt to see in a sci-fi movie. Scared of what my kids were going to have to endure because a weak ,ineffectual congress and senate gave the madman anything he wanted. Scared the rest of the world was going to get tired of America's bullsh it and nuke us because might attack them next.
Man, I didn't breathe easy until I saw on live TV that schizo fly out of Dc for Texas in Jan. Part of me was scared he would declare marshal law and say the elections were flawed and he wasn't going any damn where while there was a war on.
Republicans want to know how I and a lot of people feel? We hate the ground you walk on for nearly destroying us in the first part of this century when it should have been America's golden time of social, economic, and scientific discovery and advancement. We should have been leading the world in new energy and inventions instead of being almost thrust into a new dark ages.
You can lie and scheme all you want, but I promise you I nor my children will ever forget you.

[apduncan1]

04:07 PM on 05/08/2009

Awesome!

[AnnieNigma]

04:31 PM on 05/08/2009

Kudos, seted!!!

You have expressed how so many of us have felt for the last eight years.

In 2003 I came home from living in Ireland for three years. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. In less than one week I cried for my country when I saw what had happened with the hypnosis of fear. Every time I tried to point out another way to view Iraq and the lies being told I was called unpatriotic.

What was done to this country was unpatriotic! And we will never forget, for to do so may allow it to happen again.

[greatlardini]

03:55 PM on 05/08/2009

As the years go by, Mr. Clarke will be recognized for the hero he is.

[sviolette]

03:59 PM on 05/08/2009

He was the only one to admit the government failed us on 9/11 and what led up to it.

[Daniboy]

03:54 PM on 05/08/2009

Send them to SF-the city of love!

[blukazoo]

05:47 PM on 05/08/2009

We don't have to love them, we just have to treat them like humans.

[guntotinganglion]

03:53 PM on 05/08/2009

Since the beginning of this idiotic "war" on an abstract noun, the warmongers have (and this is typical of all wars) turned the "enemy" into a vast existential threat. They're so dangerous, all they have to do is think of thinking about hurting you, and you will die! They kill with heat vision! You'd think the "terrorists" were aliens from another planet, who can move things with their minds, if you go by the hyperbolic comments from the extremist right wing fringe.

The United States has the greatest prison population in the world, which only exists because our prison infrastructure is so vast, and dare I say, profitable! America is VERY GOOD at imprisoning people, and like Dick Cheney recently admitted, a lot of right wing extremist politicians involved, I'm sure have investments in privately run prisons! With draconian laws that emphasize punishment for "crimes" like smoking pot, it's clear that they are written to stock the highly profitable prison system.

So...the right wingers think we can't handle the "terrorists" in the largest prison system in the world? This entire tack, like everything else they've been regurgitating lately, is just stupid. They've literally turned "the terrorists" into boogiemen...and in so doing, erased our system of justice, and law, by taking these "boogiemen" to a modern version of Devil's Island, where they think they are free to do as they please with the prisoners, including torturing them at will.

The law needs to be enforced NOW!

[mharg11]

03:51 PM on 05/08/2009

We have a truck load of problems to deal with as citizens and these guys are still thinking and using fear tactics. It is unsafe for americans to not have jobs, homes, medical coverage, food for their family, and the ability to educate their kids. These fears are what the republs. did to americans and they want us to fear bin laden. Look at the party of NO and NO IDEAS, they are the ones we should fear. Ignorance is scary.

[HST]

03:48 PM on 05/08/2009

Desperate and disgraceful seems to sum up the whole 8 years of the Bush administration.

[DoTheMath]

03:48 PM on 05/08/2009

Clark's statement is perfect. An ad with that statement next to Clark's picture in uniform may help to put those "desperate" scoundrels in their place. I won't say what I think their place is.

[DoTheMath]

03:54 PM on 05/08/2009

Oops. Please scratch the uniform since he was never in the military and add an 'e' to his name.

[apduncan1]

04:08 PM on 05/08/2009

And your point is?