In 2008 when Obama proved to be a tougher nut to crack than Hillary Clinton’s campaign had expected, they resorted to the famous “kitchen sink” attacks. Part of that unfortunate strategy were what most of the noncomatose adult population read as obvious if not overt efforts to stoke the anti-black resentment of the white working class that formed the backbone of Clinton’s support.
History, it seems, really does repeat itself. Now that Romney’s been backed into several corners all at the same time, it’s not surprising that a special “independent” Super PAC is getting ready to run with a piece of excrement that stands in relation to the the tentative Clinton efforts as hardcore porn compared to a romance novel:
Nothing like fomenting white resentment by telling outright lies – although to date, this type of thing has been restricted to fringe web-sites and chain emails – but if this or similar ads actually make it to television, that may change and we’ll have a mainstream, racist GOP campaign.
According to Think Progress, a shorter version of this video is actually being prepped for TV. It’s the work of a brand new pro-Romney Super PAC with the Orwellian name, FightBigotry.com, which was founded by one Steven Marks, a GOP opposition researcher who, by his own admission, specializes in “the dark side of politics.”
Needless to say, the PAC’s first product, the ad above, is riddled with distortions and outright lies designed to stoke racial fear and hatred. It resurrects the discredited right wing Black Panther brouhaha in a particularly dishonest way. Think Progress details a couple of the more egregious distortions:
Beyond the obvious race-baiting, the ad is riddled with factual errors. Holder’s March 2011 statement was criticizing a Congressman for equating an a 2008 New Black Panther Party incident with the much more violent assaults against voting rights advocates in the 1960s – not about “pursuing the New Black Panthers.”
And what this group terms a “racist altercation with police” involved a Harvard University professor being stopped by police for trying to enter his own home. Even conservative Fox News legal analyst and former New Jersey state Judge Andrew Napolitano called it an “improper arrest.”
Of course the real issue will be whether or not Mitt Romney will disavow the claims of this PAC if and when television ads are aired. Based on his record so far, I would guess that it’s not likely that he will show that kind of integrity. If he can’t even condemn Michele Bachman’s muslim-baiting, McCarthyist attack on Clinton’s aide, Houma Abedin, it’s not likely he’ll want to upset the racists flocking to vote for him – the guy just wants to be president sooooo very, very bad.