Election 2010’s Sleaziest Ad?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Politics doesn’t get much nastier than this. Amidst the flurry of eleventh-hour attack ads and final pleas, there’s one ad (actually, at 25 minutes in length, you might call it more of a dis-infomercial) that claims the mantle of “Worst Smear of Election 2010.” Called “Breaking Point,” it’s the handiwork of the National Republican Trust PAC, which is headed by far right-winger Scott Wheeler. It has run on TV network affiliates in a smattering of states, including Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Florida, Alaska, and North Carolina.

Below are parts 1, 2, and 3 of the ad:

1)

2)

3)

 

As others like ThinkProgress have noted, the 25-minute film is a mash-up of anti-Obama conspiracy theories and outright distortions. The ad name-checks Hamas, the New Black Panthers, and Mao Tse-tung, and draws on video clips from conservative outlets such as Townhall.com, WorldNetDaily, and—of course—Fox News. As ThinkProgress noted:

In addition to the false attacks on Obama advisers Van Jones and John Holdren, the propaganda film also repeats smears against Obama staff Anita Dunn, Kevin Jennings, Carol Browner, and Cass Sunstein. It makes the flat-out false claims that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “caused the entire home mortgage industry crisis,” that health care reform would allow the “government to take over one-fifth of the U.S. economy,” and that there is a “growing number of scientific scandals” that are “further discrediting manmade global warming claims.” When not playing inflammatory clips of angry black people, the ad also comes to defense of the billionaire Koch brothers who fund the Americans for Prosperity, claiming “Obama has repeatedly attacked a group of private citizens simply because they wanted their voices heard.”

The video explicitly encourages citizens to vote against the Democratic Party. “As if to validate the very need for a citizens revolt, the establishment responded by alienating, undermining, and attacking their own voters,” the paid program electioneers, also mentioning the “midterm elections” and people “going to vote on November 2nd” in the context of defeating Democrats.

The National Republican Trust PAC’s last-ditch sleaze attack is hardly a new tactic. In the final days before the 2008 presidential election, the group cut an ad, backdropped by an image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta, claiming Obama wanted to “give illegals Social Security” and had a “plan” to give illegal immigrants driver’s license. Factcheck.org called the ad “a pile of false claims” and “one of the sleaziest false ads of the campaign.” 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate