Calling the attack ad "racist and gutter politics," the Democratic Party reacted to a North Carolina GOP attack ad that features Reverend Wright and that calls Barack Obama "extreme." The ad is drawing harsh criticism from both sides of the political aisle.
In an exclusive to Huffingtonpost by the leading Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama said, "Well, my understanding is that the Republican National Committee and John McCain have both said the ad is inappropriate. I take them at their word. And I assume that if John McCain thinks that it's an inappropriate ad that he can get them to pull it down since he's their nominee and standard-bearer."
This is the first day of early primary voting in North Carolina and the Tar Heel (Hell) GOP wasted no time unleashing their first attack ad of the season against the near-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee from Illinois and two of his North Carolinian supporters -- Bev Perdue and Richard Moore -- both of whom are vying for their party's gubernatorial nomination.
The state GOP describes the ad on its website as an "Extreme Ad."
The spot opens with the voiceover: "For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew listening to his pastor" then shows the oft-repeated Reverend Wright "God Damn, America" video clip followed by more voiceover: "Now Bev Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He's just too extreme for North Carolina."
A sweet looking older lady, North Carolina GOP Chairwoman Linda Daves, delivers the last swipe of the spot: "The North Carolina Republican Party sponsored this ad opposing Bev Perdue and Richard Moore for North Carolina Governor."
Bev Perdue, the current North Carolina Lt. Governor, told Huffingtonpost, "It's just more gutter politics that voters will see right through. The ad has absolutely nothing to do with North Carolina and is just a distraction from the real issues facing our state."
Richard Moore was traveling today with his press secretary and had not yet responded to our request for a statement.
John McCain released a letter sent to Linda Daves and her state party "imploring her not to run" the ad stating, "This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign...We need to not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people...Once again, it is imperative that you withdraw this offensive advertisement."
"It's the height of hypocrisy that the NC GOP would start running this racist ad even as John McCain tours African-American communities this week, pretending to be a different brand of Republican politics," said Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman in a press release denouncing the "divisive ad."
Meek wants McCain to do more than just send a letter to Daves. In his press release, he said, "While we appreciate Senator McCain's willingness to keep the campaign on higher ground, he should have acted sooner. News of this story has been buzzing for the past 24 hours. If McCain really wanted North Carolina Republicans to be worthy of the principles he believes, he could have picked up the phone and called Ms. Daves."
What are Republicans doing sticking their noses into a Democratic primary race, anyway?
"Yeah, it's weird because they usually don't start sliming us until the general election, but the Republican Party in North Carolina isn't in good shape. They're probably using the ad as a way to raise money. That's what they usually do. This is just a sign of things to come," said one long-time Democratic operative working for a statewide candidate in Raleigh.
The NC GOP has yet to purchase any buys for the attack ad. It's running on YouTube and will doubtless be seen for free on the network news and political shows with talking heads who have time on their hands to fill before the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.
But the mud and the blood are just starting to run in the Tar Heel state where 115 delegates are up for grabs. Senator Obama currently holds a double-digit lead in North Carolina. Indiana's 72 delegates are also in play, where Senator Clinton hopes to capture enough votes to keep her debt-ridden campaign alive.
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Why does the media hate Barack so much? Why does Rev. Wright become so important. I think that he is sounding a little jealous Hillary and McCain fear Obama and they are working together to destroy him. Even his own pastor has turned on him and Obama still keeps his cool. McCain would have hit someone and Hillary would be yelling at someone. We need a President like Barack. he keeps me calm which is hard after seeing Rev. Wright 24 hours a day. Weather he wins or if it is stolen from him,,,,I am so proud of him. I'm sure that the disappointment will really hurt our young but they will realize that this is America.
Just wait till a picture surfaces with Mccain and the lady lobbyist together and you better believe there's a photo somewhere out there. Hillary probably has it, that's why she's fighting Sen Obama so hard because she knows once that photo is made public Sen Mccain is as good as gone. Just wait my friend.....just wait.
Just saw a movie called "The Counterfeiter". It was based on a true story on how the Nazi's
stuck their noses into the economies of the UK and US--Hmm!
And it had more to do with the Nazi's coercing some Jews into flooding the American Ecomony
with too many dollars--double Hmm!
I am mixed like Sen. Obama and more often than not pass as Latino, also born to a white mother yet raised with a black family. My experience has been, Whites don"t like me because I am not white, Blacks don"t like me because I am too light and Hispanics/Latinos don"t like me cause even though I look it I am not one of them. How sad a way to experience life.
whether you want to believe it not this whole thing boils down to RACE. we don"t like to admit it because its wrong, but deep down many can not imagine a black man being president¦
43 presidents have been white males.
think for a moment if at last you finally had someone of your race who had a strong possibility of winning the presidency of a nation that had been run by others (be it Blacks, women etc¦).
in this election we have a chance to end a dynasty of two families and to effect real change.
all of the candidates have/had questionable friends, associations and dealings, but his are only being brought to the forefront because he is BLACK. And for no other reason than that.
As we continue to listen to the MSM and its spin it is my sincere hope that we as a country begin to look into out hearts and minds and find the courage to be like Sen. Obama to stand up for change.
I like you, my human brother/sister. And to an extent you're right. Why is no one going ape over Hagee? Wright's comments, status and race make him a much sexier story to the MSM. And his race makes him grist for the racist American mill. Race-baiting pure and simple in that context. So disgusting. So appealing to the lesser angels of our nature. How truly base and how horribly sad that there still exisits such a racist audience out there for such tripe.
this is all BS. People don't like you because you either boring, have no interesting conversation to offer, or they feel you are fixated to much on race. Go to college, go to the university, take up a sport , join a team, and you will find that no one gets stuck on your color but how you can pitch. Start reading and you learn how to converse . So quit crying and whining and become a real person. Not a black , white , coffee, beige, camel color person , but a real person and you find you get treated like a real person. I am a boring person myself, but I don't care what people think . That's another option.
The Democrats in NC should replay Bill Moyers Journal over and over on the local stations - so people will see how Reverend was slandered for political reasons. If Huckabee and other white pastors defended him - it says a lot about the slime of the right like Hannity, O Reilly, Limbaugh and all the other gutter mouths of the right; they will twist anything even to defame an honorable man to achieve their political goals - Hillary included.
The sound bite followers commenting on this post, on both sides of the Wright issue, need to take the time and research what he's about. Just watched the Moyers Journal interview with Wright and it will be clear to anyone with half a brain that Wright is a complicated person who is much more in the mainstream than the MSM and others portray. I don't like or agree with the now infamous soundbite comments from some of his sermons, but after listening to the interview it's obvious that he's a deep thinker who at times takes his arguments to the extreme. But the sound bite artists, and they're doing it again by taking select excerpts from the interview and doing speculative analyses about what he said, distort the facts.
The real issue behind the Jeremiah Wright story is the latent racisim that exists in this country. Too many on this blog deal with race as if it's only a tactical component of an election strategy. Rather it is a real issue that affects real people. The NC GOP ad is despicable. It's blatantly racist, and if you can't see that you're either too caught up in the politics or you're a bigot. You can confront yourselves about that. Intelligent, fair minded people need to continually call out the NC GOP and others who play on racial fears for political or any other gain. This is far more important than the Wright issue because they are engaging in institutionally sanctioned racism.
It's a mind thing that racist use to marginalize blacks. The people who keep making negative statements about Wright based on those initial sound bites don't really want to see the truth, as this allows them to justify their hatred of someone different than themselves. It is very tactical and it is very insulting that racist don't see that people see right through their hatred. They only fool themselves and use these sound bites to hide their true feelings. And one of the really sad things is that many will profess themselves to be christians.
I could see that once Bill O'reilly and Sean Hannity knew that Wright was going to be interviewed on PBS, they became almost beligerent and tried to convince people that this was bad for Obama. When the real issue was their deception and fear of people really seeing the real Rev. Wright and that once people could see a softer side of Rev. Wright, they would not be able to in good conscience continue to affect the opinions of people with the continuous loop of that original video.
It is sad to know that human beings would destroy other human beings because of their race or differences and do it in the name of Jesus, while professing to be such wonderful christians, who have a direct line to God.
"What are Republicans doing sticking their noses into a Democratic primary race, anyway?" Turn on right-wing radio (any show, take your pick), and you'll find countless GOP noses sniffing through the Obama/Clinton soap opera. John McCain must have a massive Cheshire Cat grin plastered on his face right now.
I think we gave abc news a black eye for this crash and burn debate! maybe it's time the american people flooded the GOP and Mccains web site with our voices that were tired of Gutter politics! suppose that will wake them up? All I know is I was a republican untill this year and I am now trying to go for the good guy who's trying to change the face of america and show a new face to the world! That face is not Mccain or Hillary! Every day that this gets nastier an I hear Bill one more time say this type of fear,terrior and madness is good for the american people, I'll swear I'll just tune this whole election out for this year! One thing certain is Mccain nore Hillary will get my vote or that of my family! we've simply had enough, and if mccain cannot control them, how can he control america under his administration. He'd better think long and hard on how this sounds and looks to the people who will be voteing in November. If he's that big of a wimp, than he needs to get out of the kitchen now, because it gets a lot hotter when we say we are done with this crap once and for all! The american people are starting to speak and it is going to turn into a Roar and we will be heard----------------as abc learned and are still hearing!
Wait, its hard for me to understand... NC GOP runs a ad about Obama and its "racist" however a 527 runs a ad vs McCain and its just A OK. Then you wonder why you see ads from the NC GOP just like you have seen. Oh BTW I'm sending money to the NC GOP. Good day
This GOP ad highlights a major fallacy used by both the GOP and Senator Clinton in attacking Senator Obama's membership in the church where Wright preached. Again and Again, they insinuate, imply, or simply state outright that Senator Obama and his family listened to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright making inflammatory statements for 20 years. It doesn't take much insight or skill to understand that a few cherry-picked clips do not add up to 20 years of sermons. The overwhelming majority of us have never even heard the entire sermon from which any of the clips was extracted, let alone the hundreds of other sermons in which Obama's opponents obviously found no ammunition for their attacks.
For the GOP to exploit this kind of fallacy against a Democrat is not surprising. We're used to it. I have a question for Senator Clinton, though. Do you honestly believe that Senator Obama shares the much-publicized controversial views expressed by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright or that he would govern in a way that would reflect those views?
Well, if lyou won't vote for a nazi, you'd better stop watching fox, because SEan Hannity associates with one. His name is Hal Turner and he and SEan are good friends, but Sean tries to hide it, because if people knew, he would appear to be such a hypocrit for the way he keeps going after Obama about Wright and Ayers.
That's plain Trash talk and the KKK has no place in America and niether does any one alse who stands behind that kind of racial crap! It you want a nazi, go live in germany! None of this trash is for the American people! Were trying to end racism, Nazism, and put a end to bigot hatred such as the KKK represents! It is no wonder We In America ranks so low around the world these days with what Clinton and Mccain is putting forward against ad on their own fellow Senator in this race for the white house. I find it shameful beyond words! It's bringing out the ratical hysterical people hideing in the dark to howl at the moon and spew their hatered. Is it no wonder Rev; Wright feels this way with what is going on in America! And how Dare bill Clinton say this is good for our children to see on T.V an hear when children are killing children over bullying, and hatred in our schools. This is not Ok! Terror Ad's on our T.V. , is not ok! Showing Ben Laden as a fear factor for votes Is unthinkable in our society! What ahappen to " thou shall not lie", "Thou shall not bear false wittness against thy nieghbor", " thou shall not committ adultry".?
in what way is wright a racist? quote us one single anti-white quote and provide us with a link to your source. go on. show us he is a racist by some means other than you saying so because you heard someone else say so.
I think that it is up to the people to say, "No". This is a reaction to something started by Hillary. I think that it is up to the public to tell the media that we don't want to see it and to let the republicans or the democrats that we want a fair race and not a bunch of ridiculous 527s trashing other people. Whenever you have to imploy this type of garbage, this means that your campaign is weak and you are desperate. There should be a law against this type of thing. But another thing that really bothers me is that putting ads out like this is a direct insult to the voters, because those ads say, that the voter is not capable of making a wise choice and they are too ignorant to make an informed decision and that they are petty enough to let those stupid ads determine who they will vote for. I think that people should just refuse to watch them and I think that the media should refuse to play them and if they play them, I think that the public should boycott their station.
Hilary just keeps spreading mean gossip about Obama. He needs to spread some truth about her.
Starting with white water, and involvement with communists.
All we hear is Hilary's sarcasm, hostility, meanness, hatred, racists, and violent towards many people.
Obama may end up being thrown under the bus.
Hilary thinks no one can run the white house like she can. I mean no one.
Hilary has the wrong dilemma.
I think that what Obama is doing now is just ignoring her and the more he ignores her, the more it makes her appear to be a bully and abrasive. The reason that she wants to debate is because she is behind, so she keeps going after him for a debate. She thinks that he is stupid and she thinks that the voters are stupid. She just does not understand that she is not fooling anyone but her supporters.
Wow!! someone actually speaks up to the Bill OReilly hate machine.. and it's a Catholic priest with a LOT of crediblity. Hear the real story on Rev Wright from someone who knows him well, instead of the hate journalists.
Posted April 23, 2008 | 05:29 PM (EST)