Attack Of The Attack Ads

We thought some of the attack ads in September and October set new standards for tearing down a candidate.

We were naive.

RightChange.com just put out one of the most heavy-handed ads we've seen. It starts with sirens wailing and shaky video of the World Trade Towers billowing smoke -- footage that would have been unthinkable in a political ad a few years ago. The voiceover ties 9/11 to the current economic crisis and says,"'Joe Biden predicts another attack." The ad runs audio of Biden's prediction of a "generated crisis"; there are quick, staged images of "terrorists" preparing an attack, with a photo of Barack Obama also appearing. The ad ends with a bomb blast.

This from a group that, until now, has focused on taxes.

The other recent ad attacking Obama in the context of 9/11 came from the National Republican Trust PAC, which is spending enormous amounts on its anti-Obama ads in the final stretch. It reported ad buys of $800,000 Wednesday, $1.2 million Thursday and $2.53 million Friday.

GOP Trust PAC is truly in the major leagues. In just one month of activity, it surpased MoveOn.org in independent expenditures for the whole campaign season, according the Center for Responsive Politics.

Yet another attack-PAC, Freedom's Defense Fund, just came out the ad below, which accuses Obama of having "campaigned" for a "communist" Kenyan leader who "spread fundamental Islamic law" while "the Christian majority is under attack." Both Politifact and Factcheck.org have already debunked these claims, popular among anti-Obama conspiracy theorists. They derive from the widely discredited book of Jerome Corsi, who has been a paid consultant to Freedom's Defense Fund.

And finally, there's a simple but brutal ad from the Republican Majority Campaign, after the jump...

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6:21 PM ET | 11- 1-2008 | permalink

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GOP Trust PAC Gets On The Air

The National Republican Trust PAC is finally putting some advertising muscle behind all its claims about being able to beat Obama. The group yesterday laid down $880,000 on an ad buy, pretty big for an insta-PAC created last month. We earlier blogged that the PAC was spending more on fundraising emails than actual airtime, but this completely changes the calculation.

You know you're bigtime when Factcheck.org dedicates a full article to debunking your ad. National Republican Trust got that distinction this week, with the added bonus of being accused of producing "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign."

The PAC even pumped out another ad, again accusing Obama of wanting to give government benefits to illegal immigrants, with a cherry on top: Obama "wants to redistribute your money." It's the Republican attack point of the moment, with only moments to spare.

-- Will Evans

10:22 PM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Obama Ads, Amid An Onslaught Of Emails

Every election season, some independent groups sizzle with controversy and impact, and others fizzle. We couldn't tell at first, but the National Republican Trust PAC appears to be of the sizzling variety.

The political action committee -- founded by a trio who have tried to prove a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks -- has new anti-Obama ads on the air and a fundraising machine in overdrive. One ad dredges up inflamatory comments by Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the other says Obama wants to give driver's licenses and government benefits to "illegals."

A fundraising email today said the group has raised $1 million for its "emergency effort to stop Barack Obama" and seeks $1 million more for the campaign's final week. The email promises, "Almost all of our net dollars raised -- after marketing costs -- are going directly into our ad war against Obama."

That phrase "after marketing costs" is significant. Of $903,000 in expenditures against Obama reported this month, about 56 percent, or $507,000, went to paying for fundraising emails like the one we just mentioned. Media buys and production accounted for 39 percent, or $356,000. The rest, $40,000, went to advertising, direct mail and phone calls.

Peter Leitner, the group's treasurer, told us, "There's a lag in reporting. We're spending a large amount of money on the media buys...The biggest ticket item is the airtime."

Here's the Rev. Wright ad, which says, "For 20 years, Barack Obama followed a preacher of hate."

Continue on for the "Illegals" ad...

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6:16 PM ET | 10-27-2008 | permalink

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PAC Puts Obama And 9/11 Together

(Udate 10/18/08: National Republican Trust PAC just sent out another fundraising email with the subject line "Obama Lies Smashed by Neutron Bomb in Ohio." The "neutron bomb" refers to the PAC's TV ad.)

Tying Obama's policies to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a new political action committee is airing a TV ad in Ohio that calls the Democrat "too radical" and "too risky."

The language of the National Republican Trust's ad echoes attacks used by the McCain campaign. The ad focuses on Obama's support for allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses, an issue that came up in the Democratic primaries. "The 9/11 plot depended on easy-to-get licenses. Obama's plan gives a license to any illegal who wants one," says the voiceover, behind images of 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta's drivers license, the smoking twin towers, and then Obama's face where Atta's used to be. The PAC's treasurer, Peter Leitner, says the ad is running in Ohio.

The PAC was formed last month by a former Defense Department strategist, a freelance journalist and a lawyer who have tried to prove a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The National Republican Trust's executive director is Scott Wheeler, who has written for the conservative Cybercast News Service and Insight magazine, published by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. His articles include "Iraq-al-Qaida link revealed," "'Dirty-bomb' plot underway in U.S.?" and "Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties."

In his 2003 "Iraq-al-Qaida" piece, Wheeler wrote, "Senior investigators and analysts in the U.S. government have concluded that Iraq acted as a state sponsor of terrorism against Americans and logistically supported the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States."

President Bush and numerous government reports now say there was no link between Iraq and the 2001 strikes.

One of Wheeler's sources for the story was Leitner, who recently retired as a senior strategic trade advisor to the Secretary of Defense.

Leitner and the PAC's assistant treasurer, attorney Joshua Ambush, spearheaded efforts to sue Iraq and Saddam Hussein on behalf of the family of top FBI official John O'Neill, who was killed on Sept. 11.

More from Leitner after the jump...

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5:22 PM ET | 10-17-2008 | permalink

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