Friday, April 5, 2013

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GOP launches ad attacks on 2014 Dem. candidates

Kathy Kiely , Sunlight Foundation

Posted: Thursday, April 4, 2013, 11:28 AM

The National Republican Congressional Committee is making its first ad buy of the 2014 season with a blitz against seven vulnerable House Democrats.

Sunlight's Ad Hawk, which allows mobile phone users to identify the sources of political advertising, picked up new spots aimed at the incumbents overnight. The early ads underscore the already-intensifying battle for the House, which President Obama has vowed to put back in Democratic control. The president is travelled to the West Coast Wednesday for a series of fundraisers benefiting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Read the details on Political Party Time.

Accused by the NRCC ads of out of touch and fiscally irresponsible:

Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, a perennial GOP target who nonetheless has managed seven terms in a strongly Republican state. The Cook Political Report says his district leans Democrat.
Rep. Bill Owens of New York, who shocked the political world by winning a 2009 special election in an upstate district that the GOP had owned for more than a century. He has since won two more elections, albeit narrowly last year. Cook rating: Likely Democrat.
Rep. Patrick Murphy of Florida, who defeated tea party favorite Allen West in the nation's most expensive House race last year. Cook rating: Toss Up.
Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, a 12-term veteran who serves as his party's top-ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee. Cook ranking: Likely Democrat.
Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, who narrowly eked out in a win in the last House race to be called in 2012, despite a Republican redistricting plan designed to gut his Democratic support. Cook rating: Lean Democrat.
Rep. John Barrow of Georgia another veteran who has survived multiple GOP attempts to oust him.. Cook rating: Lean Democrat.
Rep. Ron Barber of Arizona, who succeeded his former boss (and fellow shooting victim), Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., after she resigned to focus her energy on recovering from an assassination attempt. Barber's last election was so close that it also took days to call. Cook rating: Toss Up.

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The NRCC ads follow two templates: One attacks the target for "voting against balancing the budget" and backing first class air fare for members of Congress; the other script cites the lawmakers' support for President Obama's health care plan.

Daniel Scarpinato of the NRCC said the charge of backing luxury travel for members of Congress is based on the lawmakers' votes against Rep. Paul Ryan's budget, which included a provision requiring members of Congress to fly coach. Scarpinato said committee is spending $40,000 on the ads, which began airing today and are scheduled to run through next week. The ads against Matheson, Owens and Murphy are running online only; the others will be seen on local TV.

Kathy Kiely Sunlight Foundation

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Comments (14)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:37 AM, 04/04/2013

GOP doesn't really need attack ads, just point to the economy:

1) Debt to GDP is now approaching 102%
2) National Debt is approaching $17 trillion and counting
3) Unemployment increasing (both U3 and U6)
4) Health care insurance premium costs rising
5) Taxes on poor and middle class rising
6) Sequestration debacle (didn't add up to much now did it?).
7) Another stock market bubble (thanks to "fed" propping up Obama)
8) Gas prices rising
9) Wages stagnant or decreasing due to decreased sales and/or productivity
10) Nearly 20% of all adults in US on currently on food stamps

Take you pick. These facts are unassailable.

I dont care who's in office, but since Clinton's economic bubble popped its been all down hill and getting worse with each President.

— Professor1982

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:27 PM, 04/04/2013

Sigh. Too easy:

1) GNP is the more accurate number to use and no its not.
2) $6.5 Trillion are from social security of which you cannot ever pay off because its the government investing intself. $6 Trillion are from the wars the Republicans launched. SO we are at a what? $5 Trillion.
3) No they aren't.
4) U3 and 6 both dropped a tenth of a point in March and have been dropping since 2010.
5) Yes because the SS tax went back up.
6) It hasn't but it will. It's a building debacle.
7) Bond Bubble but you are close.
8) It always does this time of year as refiners start to change from winter to summer mixes.
9) Yes but for different reasons than you say. Sales are higher and productivity are higher but so are offshoring and wage comeptition.
10) It is 15.2 which nearly matches the U6 numbers which it is nearly pegged to.

Thanks for playing. Next time use facts not rhetoric.

— jonline

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:38 PM, 04/04/2013

Poor jonline. I knew one of you hippy liberals would take the bait! If you want rhetoric, as a Democrat.

BTW, nice to see that Australia abandoned the dollar as a reserve currency, joining fellow BRICS members, lol. One more nail in the coffin.

http://www.ibtimes.com/sorry-mates-strictly-business-australia-wants-cut-out-us-dollar-trade-china-1161287

Enjoy...

1) http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-to-gdp
2)http://www.usdebtclock.org/
3) http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/economics_in_a_nutshell/Jobs-numbers-disturbing-but-not-unexpected.html
4) http://www.humanevents.com/2013/03/27/hhs-secretary-finally-admits-obamacare-is-raising-insurance-costs/
5) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/31/obamas-wrong-this-cliff-deal-still-raises-taxes-on-the-middle-class/
6) http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2013/03/11/abc-hyped-sequestration-vaporizing-us-now-admits-scare-plan-isnt-wor
7) http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39287.html
8) http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2013/03/11/abc-hyped-sequestration-vaporizing-us-now-admits-scare-plan-isnt-wor
9) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-american-wages/
10) http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/20-of-u-s-households-are-on-food-stamps/

Care to site your sources?

Right.

— Professor1982

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:00 PM, 04/04/2013

@prof1982, Dude you must enjoy putting your foot in your mouth or have you moved onto other body parts? I won't waste time dissecting the 10 points you raised, I will just conclude that everyone else knows better. It's a shame most of your sources are extreme right wing bloggers who always slant the truth to push their agenda. Look, face the facts, Romney lost. It's over for you. SHEESH!

— TopCat#1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:11 PM, 04/04/2013

Wow, topcat. Didn't know Washington Post, Trading Economics, the US Debt Clock, Human Events, Market Oracle etc were "extreme right wing blog sites", lol!!!

Just goes to show you the radical left will not accept facts that discredit their agenda no matter where those facts come from.

Liberals would argue the sky isn't blue and grass isn't green if it served their "purpose".

— Professor1982

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:19 PM, 04/04/2013

Finally, it's about time the GOP does something they're really, really good at.

ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK

TORA, TORA, TORA

It's good to see the GOP is back. They need to get really nasty. This always works so good for them.

— GOPee_er

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:10 PM, 04/04/2013

so voting against the entirety of Ryan's disastrous budget is now being cited as support for petty cut provisions hidden within it? i'm sure Ron Barber et al. railed at great length about flying first class rather than the fact that the Ryan budget would have been a cruel fiasco combining cuts to the social net with massive giveaways to the already super-wealthy.

— VivaChomsky

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:30 PM, 04/04/2013

The GOP are a bunch racist, inbred, God Fearing, Hypocritical, Fear & Warmongering, Radical Right Wing Gun Nuts!

— APhillyDump

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:38 PM, 04/04/2013

Congressmen and Senators should be given a reasonable budget that they have to stay within. They can then decide to fly first class or not.

Maybe the voters of States and districts should pay the expense of the person they put into office. Cities pay for the spending of their mayors and states for their governors. If voters in a congressional district got a bill each year for what their congressman spent they would start demanding (and voting for) reduced spending.

A sitting President should not be campaigning for others. Nor should Governors, Senators etc. They should be doing the job they were hired for not spending our money to keep their party in power. When Obama campaigns for others the cost of security and travel is footed by all taxpayers. It's probably more than what the fundraiser brings in.

— towman

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:20 PM, 04/04/2013

Dump, nearly all of those also apply to Democrats. I say this not as a defense of republicans, but as an attack on democrats. The sooner people realize both sides are ----ed beyond belief the sooner we can actually do something about it.

— cloudkitt

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:21 PM, 04/04/2013

The GOP is targeting the Democrats for not passing a bill to require the Congress to fly coach. Question: if the GOP says it is so terrible then book your flights as coach. Who need a law to do that. Is there a reason that makes it mandatory that Congress flies first class? I don't hear of anyone GOP or Dem voluntarily flying coach. Do member's of Congress also wait in the long checkpoint lines or do they get special treatment? Maybe if members of Congress saw how horrible flying has become for the average American, things might change especially with the TSA (Thousands Standing Around),

— RandiRN

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:58 PM, 04/04/2013

I'm sick of attack ads. If you want my vote, convince me on how you will make things better. Not by how the other guys stinks more.

— aNutter1inDgutter

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:16 PM, 04/04/2013

•Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, who narrowly eked out in a win in the last House race to be called in 2012, despite a Republican redistricting plan designed to gut his Democratic support.

•Rep. Bill Owens of New York, who shocked the political world by winning a 2009 special election in an upstate district that the GOP had owned for more than a century. He has since won two more elections, albeit narrowly last year. Cook rating: Likely Democrat.

Tea leaves.

— carl and sons

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:07 PM, 04/04/2013

The GOP has degenerated into nothing but slanderous obstructionists. They are on the path to irrelevancy.

— Boru