Day: April 26, 2008

Tell Sen. Liddy Dole to Stop Despicable N.C. GOP Ad Featuring Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Jon Ponder

The North Carolina Republican Party appears to have jumped its track. They have ignored demands from John McCain and the Republican National Committee that they stop running the now-famous Swiftboat-style ad linking Barack Obama and two Democratic candidates for governor, Bev Perdue and Richard Moore, to controversial statements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor.

At some point soon, Sen. Dole’s silence about the ad will morph into an endorsement.

Here is a transcript of the ad copy:

“Narrator: For twenty years, Barack Obama sat in his pew listening to his pastor.

Jeremiah Wright: And then wants us to sing God Bless America. No, no, no. Not God Bless America, God (censored) America.

Narrator: Now Bev Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He’s just too extreme for North Carolina

Chairman Linda Daves: The North Carolina Republican Party sponsored this ad opposing Bev Perdue and Richard Moore for North Carolina Governor.”

Besides falsely insinuating that Obama endorsed Wright’s statements and making a specious connection between the Wright controversy and Perdue and Moore, close observers of Tar Heel politics suggest the imagery in the ad may also present a subtle racist message — an advertising tactic routinely employed by former Sen. Jesse Helms.

The most senior Republican in the state is Sen. Liddy Dole, who occupies the seat once held by Helms, and who has been silent on the ad. At some point soon, her silence will morph into an endorsement.

Go HERE to sign the petition demanding the Sen. Dole tell the NC GOP to stop running the ad.

Update: Two of the biggest stations in the state — WSOC in Charlotte and WRAL in Raleigh — have refused to run the ad, according to the Charlotte Observer:

“I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be on our air,” said Joe Pomilla, general manager for WSOC-TV. “I think it’s offensive, and I’m not real comfortable with the implications around race.”

…Pomilla said the issue isn’t about limiting debate.

“There are other values that come into play. Ethics come into play,” he said, “and you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.”

Jim Hefner, WRAL’s vice president and general manager, called the ad “inflammatory” and said his station has turned down ads from conservative and liberal groups, including MoveOn.org.

“We’re not just an ATM machine,” Hefner said. “We’re going to make decisions, and it’s not going to be a popular decision with all folks.”

McCain Spiritual Adviser Recants Earlier Statement That God Damned New Orleans with Katrina

Jon Ponder

John McCain’s spiritual adviser, John Hagee, has apparently gotten the word from on high and has now recanted his assertions that Katrina was God’s curse on New Orleans because it hosted an annual gay event:
“Ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise.”
— Hagee

“As a believing Christian, I see the hand of God in everything that happens here on earth, both the blessings and the curses. But ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise. No matter what the cause of the storm, my heart goes out to all who suffered in this terrible tragedy. There but for the grace of God go any one of us.”

Hagee first declared that God damned New Orleans in September 2006:

“I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades.” He later added, “I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”

Just last week Hagee reaffirmed this assertion:

HAGEE: The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. Moses taught in the book of Deuteronomy that everything in life is either a blessing or a curse. There are days that things happen that at the time look like a curse. In the passing of time, they may become what appears to be a blessing. An illustration is Joseph, when he was sold into slavery it looked like a curse, it looked like the worse day of his life. When his brothers came into Egypt looking for food, what looked like a bad day 13 years before turned out to be a blessed day. What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it’s called a curse.

The timing of Hagee’s statement on April 22 was embarrassing for McCain because it pulled focus from his campaign stop in New Orleans two days later.

Hagee is best known for espousing the belief that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon referred to in the Book of Revelation.