NRSC ad: “Unfit for Office”
posted at 10:10 am on October 27, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
With the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s surprise endorsement of Norm Coleman for re-election to the US Senate, one might expect most people to consider this race over. The NRSC does not want to take any chances. Over the weekend, they released a hard-hitting negative ad intended for statewide play for the next week:
Normally, I’d say that this may be gilding the lily. We’ve heard about these issues with Franken repeatedly for the last three or four months, thanks to the deluge of advertising in the state. However, we’re the same people who elected Jesse Ventura as Governor, and obviously cannot be trusted in statewide elections for at least a generation as a result.
The NRSC released this ad on Saturday morning, before the Strib’s endorsement had been seen. Maybe they’ll want to cut one more, relying on that more explicitly to describe Franken’s unfitness for office. After all, when the Star-Tribune fails to endorse a Democrat — and goes as far as endorsing his Republican opponent — that says something about the Democrat in question and his temperament and qualifications for office.
Blowback
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I’ve heard that there is a significant number of Dem bigshots who want to see Frankenstein lose. Is he getting lots of DNC money, or a minimum?
jgapinoy on October 27, 2008 at 10:14 AM
They didn’t go far enough in the ad. Al Franken is unfit for almost anything. If he isn’t even fit for politics then what is he fit for?
Tommy_G on October 27, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Wasn’t Coleman crying about negative ads the other week?
lodge on October 27, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Good point, Tommy_G. Franken is whale dung, and that’s at the bottom of the ocean. What’s below that?
SKYFOX on October 27, 2008 at 10:22 AM
That was then. This is now. Time to bury Stuart Smalley.
ManlyRash on October 27, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Um…this isn’t good.
Coleman said he was stopping the negative ads. That was going to score him some points. Even though it wasn’t a Coleman-approved message, it will come across that way.
Still a fine ad, and right on the mark.
MadisonConservative on October 27, 2008 at 10:23 AM
SKYFOX isn’t there oil below that?
Tommy_G on October 27, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Community organizer in Chicago?
a capella on October 27, 2008 at 10:23 AM
OK, so what I want to know is what Hillary got for endorsing him???? Must have been good.
bloggless on October 27, 2008 at 10:25 AM
That is not a negative ad. It’s a truthful ad.
bloggless on October 27, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Haha – good one, Ed
Vashta.Nerada on October 27, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Another shot at the presidency in 2012
Vashta.Nerada on October 27, 2008 at 10:32 AM
With all the crybabying in this ad, it sounds like an election for Grade Ten class president.
Dave Rywall on October 27, 2008 at 10:35 AM
It only seems that way because you have an 8th grade mindset.
ManlyRash on October 27, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Shameless plug alert:
Frankenlies.com: The truth about the lies of AL FRANKEN
Thank you.
DPierre on October 27, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Hillary ran a big ad for him in Minnesota basically saying “We need 60 votes so Barack Obama can be ruler of the world… Franken could be that 60th vote… So vote for Franken!!!” I have to think the Democrats are walking a tight-rope. On one hand, having Franken as a 60th vote to eliminate any checks & balances on Obama’s authority as American Emperor is very strong. On the other hand, Franken will be a terribly negative influence in the Democrat caucus, as he’ll regularly make an ass of himself and the party and be a lightning rod for criticism. He really is an embarrassment.
Outlander on October 27, 2008 at 10:46 AM
On the third hand, both Franken and Obama are going to lose.
ManlyRash on October 27, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Run a candidate that’s unfit for for so much as “Grade Ten class president” and you will indeed get an denouncing them as such.
If Franken were a more serious candidate with policy positions to discuss that went beyond calling his opponents ‘lying liars’, the ad might be more subtle.
JadeNYU on October 27, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Hillary’s campaign ad for Franken will come back to bite her. In 2012, if Hillary is running, we will see her endorsement of Al Franken over and over again. Just when I sort of had a slight new respect for her, that ad blew it.
bloggless on October 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM
I keep wondering about that endorsement.
If it’s fairly well established that Americans like divided government, how is it a good thing to say, “Vote for this guy so one party can control the whole shebang without any input from the other party.”?
JadeNYU on October 27, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Lol. That’s funny.
BadgerHawk on October 27, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Indeed, that’s the sort of thing that would make a lot of people vote for McCain and Republican Senate candidates, just to make sure it doesn’t happen.
The Monster on October 27, 2008 at 10:58 AM
No matter how much I agree with an ad, no matter how much I believe the ad, no matter how much I hate the target in the ad, I hate these words worst of all.
Political ads are either positive or negative. End of story.
MadisonConservative on October 27, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Did you see the plane circling Madison on Saturday towing the gigantic O banner?
BadgerHawk on October 27, 2008 at 11:12 AM
That may be, but they are also either truthful or untruthful. That is where my story ends.
bloggless on October 27, 2008 at 11:16 AM
I was out of town all day on both Saturday and Sunday.
Doesn’t surprise me one bit, though. I still have yet to see a single McCain sign in this city that didn’t disappear within a week of having seen it. It’s nice to drive to Janesville and see the types of signs completely tip the scale, though.
MadisonConservative on October 27, 2008 at 11:21 AM
I’ve argued for a month that we should back away from McCain and focus attention on the House and Senate races, because it’s easier for us to move the needle on those races than it is to try and make McCain win. The #1 argument I hear in response is that “we can do both,” and then I get accused of being a troll for somehow suggesting we should all vote for Obama for President and for Republicans for Congress. But that’s not the point.
We have very limited resources this election cycle. The question isn’t, “do I vote for McCain or Obama?,” but rather, the question is — how should Republicans use their remaining resources this year?
We have very little earned media. Tom Brokaw was very aggressive in going after McCain on MTP this weekend, and besides that, the media juggernaut has moved on to focus on who Obama is going to appoint in his administration.
We also have precious little advertising budget remaining. Meanwhile, Obama is running 30 minute infomercials and delaying the World Series to do so.
Finally, we have limited GOTV and “ground game” troops and volunteer corps this year. I’m in Ohio, and our Victory Centers are largely empty this year, whereas they were hustling & bustling in 2004.
So how best to deploy our limited resources this cycle? RNC should have been pushing the “divided government” argument into the press from early October and getting our Senate and House candidates into the media as much as possible to stem the losses. (And no, you can’t do both, because the media will only give you a teensy-weensy word in edgewise during their 24/7 Obama love-fest.)
Outlander on October 27, 2008 at 11:26 AM
I’ve been putting McCain/ Palin stickers up downtown at the rate of 1 or 2 a day. Most of them are ripped off within 48 hours. Ah, tolerance.
BadgerHawk on October 27, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Where? On the various wooden and stone pillars?
MadisonConservative on October 27, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. No point being an armchair quarterback. Time to hunker down and get our man elected.
ManlyRash on October 27, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Al Franken is unfit to be on this earth.
sheebe on October 27, 2008 at 11:47 AM
The RNC had better keep after Al Franken until it’s time for the polls to close. And maybe afterwards, too.
Bigfoot on October 27, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Ed, it’s a pet peeve of mine, but that’s a misquotation of Shakespeare that turns the original, “to gilde refined gold” on its head.
“Therefore, to be possess’d with double pompe,
To guard a Title, that was rich before;
To gilde refined Gold, to paint the Lilly;
To throw a perfume on the Violet,
To smooth the yce, or adde another hew
Vnto the Raine-bow; or with Taper-light
To seeke the beauteous eye of heauen to garnish,
Is wastefull, and ridiculous excesse.”
Shakespeare, King John
rokemronnie on October 27, 2008 at 9:44 PM
During the last Presidential campaign, CBS news did a Sunday interview with Al Franken. Part of the interview took place while Al walked his dog in Central Park. The dog stopped to take care of business right near a woman sitting on a park bench. (She was talking on her cellphone.) As Franken waited for the dog to finish, he made a crack about his dog being a Republican because it was taking a dump on/near a woman. The woman then paused her phone call, leaned down towards the dogs droppings and said: “My, that looks just like a John Kerry Presidency!” Franken was momentarily speechless, but came back with: “Leave it to a Republican to make a scatological joke…” He obviously forgot his own scat joke made just a few seconds prior. (And yes, I was surprised that CBS didn’t edit the woman’s comment.)
guitarguy on October 28, 2008 at 10:40 AM