A campaign ad against Ed Gillespie in Virginia, run by the Latino Victory Fund, has made a controversial splash this week. It’s about as ugly as campaign ads get.
What does it show? Erick Erickson describes it here:
…. [the] liberal Democrats in Virgina decided to run an ad showing a Trump voter, or in the particular case a voter with an Ed Gillespie sticker (the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia) on the back of his Ford pick up truck, trying to run over Muslim kids, Hispanic kids, and others. Make no mistake about it, this is how Democrats see Trump voters — pick up truck drivers with a Confederate battle flag flying from the rear and a “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag license plate. They portrayed this Gillespie/Trump voter who was their proxy for all Gillespie/Trump voters — white supremacists who would run over Muslim kids.
If that sounds particularly outrageous in light of the terror attack in New York City, and gives you to wonder if they may feel compelled to apologize or pull the ad, think again.
On his radio show earlier this week, Ben Shapiro destroyed the ad. From CNS:
“This is, I think, the worst political ad I have ever seen in my life,” stated Ben Shapiro. “I mean, I think this makes the daisy ad — the famous daisy ad from 1964, where LBJ essentially accused Barry Goldwater of wanting to get the United States nuked — it makes that ad look like nothing. This is really an egregious ad.”
Here’s the video:
That was Tuesday. That was before the sin of the ad was compounded by the circumstances of the week.
As Erickson said at Regurgent:
While the ad was airing in Virginia, a Muslim in a pickup truck drove it through a crowd in New York, killing eight people. Few Americans were actually killed. It was the international, ethnic melting pot of tourists in New York — Argentinians, a Belgian, and some Americans. The Democrats took down their ad in Virginia, but they stood by it and defended it. It is how they see Republicans. Overnight last night in Virginia, an elected Democrat attacked Republicans as evil. One gets the sense Democrats really do feel that way about Republicans, which is why they are perfectly fine shutting down Christian small businesses and driving conservative from college campuses.
At RedState, Brad Slager wants to know where the outrage is, considering the fire Palin took for crosshairs after the Gabby Gifford shooting.
I am not about to suggest that this commercial inspired the ISIS-besotted attacker in New York, but based on the rules set in motion by prior outrage shouldn’t there be some media blowback? You won’t find many outlets even addressing the connection, as blatant as it is. You don’t hear calls for Alex to step down. No cameras are being thrust in the face of actress and Latino Victory founder Eva Longoria.
By the way? It wasn’t just the Victory Fund. Turns out Gillespie’s dem opponent Ralph Northam coordinated on the ad.
They don’t retract it. They have no apology for it. They’re proud of it. They are proud of depicting Republicans as racist murderers. They stand by it.
They’re Democrats.