(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
After squandering millions, Rick Scott's GOP senatorial committee places its safest bet yet: Racism [1]
['Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags', 'Showtags Popular_Tags']
Date: 2022-09-13
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is suddenly in a tight race with the state’s lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, and so his backers are reminding voters that Barnes is … uh … a Democrat? Or something like that.
Behold this ad, posted to YouTube on Aug. 19:
Transcript!
NARRATOR: “Meet Mandela Barnes, a different kind of Democrat. So different, his heroes ...” BARNES: “People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar ...” NARRATOR: “They support ending cash bail, putting criminals back on the street. So does Mandela Barnes. He wrote the bill. Said courts could not rely on the ‘nature, number, or gravity of crimes’ to keep someone behind bars. Releasing dangerous criminals into our communities. Mandela Barnes. A different Democrat. A dangerous Democrat.”
This is their real message, of course:
Where’s Rep. Cori Bush?
And if you thought that was bad, consider this one, posted on Monday:
Transcript!
NARRATOR: “What kind of Democrat is Mandela Barnes? He’s a defund-the-police Democrat.” BARNES: “The minute you talk about reducing a police department’s budget … all hell breaks loose. It’s about reallocating funds.” NARRATOR: “Catch that? He’s talking about defunding the police. Now, murder is up in Milwaukee 40%, the fourth-highest increase in the country. Mandela Barnes, a dangerous Democrat.”
“Different.” “Dangerous.” “The Squad.” Oh, and Barnes apparently communicates all his policy proposals in the form of street graffiti—just as you’d expect!
Gee, what ever could Republicans be getting at?
Of course, there’s a reason Republicans use scare tactics like these to advance their anti-democracy agenda: They work! And without the sturdy bedrock of American racism they’ve built their party on, the GOP would sink into the loam of the earth like the dinosaurs they are. So they continually need to ask themselves, “Is this ad racist enough to drive racists to the polls, but not so racist that Clem in Hayward might notice the ugly, overt bigotry during his few lucid moments between Leinenkugel’s hangovers?” The above two ads fall right into that sweet spot, apparently.
RELATED: The Senate GOP is spilling its dirty laundry all over the place, and it couldn’t be more fun
Now, If you feel compelled to parse the “content” of these ads—instead of just focusing on the GOP’s true message of “Pay no attention to RoJo the COVID-coddling insurrectionist, we’ve got a Black man running for Senate in Wisconsin!”—you can get more information on both cash bail and the “defund” the police movement here and here. In short, eliminating cash bail doesn’t make jurisdictions more dangerous, and “defunding” the police is simply about reallocating resources in order to make policing more efficient and a bit less murder-y. Most congressional Republicans know this stuff, but it’s far easier just to shout, “Eek, Black man! Look how different he is!”
RELATED: Ron Johnson keeps saying things, which is really bad for his campaign
Oh, and in case you think they’re directing their fusillade of bullshit only at Barnes, think again:
Transcript!
NARRATOR: “Do you want to live in Sen. Mark Kelly’s America? Kelly’s voted to keep our borders open to illegal criminals, and to let them stay here illegally. Kelly voted to fund teaching our children woke racism and extremism. He even supports extreme last-minute abortions, right before a baby’s birth. This is Mark Kelly’s radical extreme America, but you don’t have to live in it.”
The NRSC knows that Sen. Kelly’s opponent, Blake Masters, spent the dog days of summer scrubbing his website to remove his extremist views on abortion, so they’re trying to paint Kelly as the real extremist.
RELATED: Trump-endorsed Blake Masters steadily working to distance himself from the persona he campaigned on
Of course, opening the borders to more criminals hardworking migrant families would go a long way toward ameliorating our inflation problem, but Republicans don’t actually want to improve our economy; they just want to blame President Joe Biden for not pulling us out of Donald Trump’s economic tailspin fast enough. And, as most of us already know, banning “extreme last-minute abortions, right before a baby’s birth” would be just as effective as prohibiting leprechaun abortions. No one carries a child to term just to decide at the last minute, “Uh, you know, I’m just not feeling this. I need a late-term abortion on demand!”
Of course, if you really want to see what kind of senator Mandela Barnes would be, you need only check out his campaign website. He’s a sober, serious, progressive candidate—unlike Ron Johnson, who’s so “different” he thinks lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines might actually cause AIDS.
So if you’re tired of the GOP lies, you know what to do.
Get out the vote in Wisconsin and help eject Ron Johnson!
GOTV in Arizona and help re-elect Mark Kelly!
And, if you can spare a ha’penny or more, donate to strengthen our Democratic Senate majority.
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/13/2122606/-After-squandering-millions-Rick-Scott-s-GOP-senatorial-committee-places-its-safest-bet-yet-Racism
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
