Current Events > Attack Ads Against Some Democrats Try to Portray Them as Terrorists

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/us/politics/terrorism-midterms-advertising.html

In this congressional district just east of San Diego, a Christian Democrat, Ammar Campa-Najjar, has been portrayed by his Republican opponent as an Islamic terrorist sympathizer.

The same allegation has been tossed at Democratic candidates in Ohio and New Jersey, and a challenger to an embattled Republican incumbent in the suburbs of Richmond, Va., has been attacked for her part-time teaching gig at a Muslim high school.

It has been 17 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But in an era when President Trump has made fear of immigrants central to his political reign, Republican ad makers have seized on terrorism as a new weapon to wield against Democrats in the midterm races.

The ads largely produced by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC associated with Speaker Paul D. Ryan have frequently been criticized by fact checkers and national security groups as truth-stretching digital irruptions designed to rattle residents in districts where normally safe Republicans feel the hooves of disenchanted voters stomping toward them.
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But this year, Republican campaign officials said, the Congressional Leadership Fund used focus groups to determine what kinds of specific attacks on opposing candidates would resonate with voters, or show up on negative local news reports.

The anti-Islamic ones strike some of their targets as particularly insidious.

In Ohio, Representative Steve Chabot is tying his challenger, Aftab Pureval, to terrorism because Mr. Pureval once worked at a law firm that settled terrorism-related lawsuits against Libya; he was not directly involved in the settlements, which were approved by Congress.

In California, Representative Duncan Hunter, who is under federal indictment for misuse of campaign funds, has used the specter of terrorism to target Mr. Campa-Najjar, whose paternal grandfather, Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, was involved with the plan to murder Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Germany. Mr. Campa-Najjar is a Christian who grew up in a Mexican-American community, and he has repeatedly distanced himself from that wing of his family.

Its a whisper campaign, Mr. Campa-Najjar said in an interview in a taco restaurant here. One guy was cleared by the F.B.I. to work in the White House, he said, referring to his time in the executive office under President Barack Obama. The other was indicted by the F.B.I.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger is being attacked for ties to a Muslim high school where she briefly taught English as a substitute teacher. The school earned the nickname Terror High after a 2005 graduate was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to kill President George W. Bush.

She has also been accused of being in favor of giving $100 billion to the leading sponsor of terrorism, a vague reference to supporting an antinuclear congressional deal with Iran.

Ms. Spanberger appeared to be gaining momentum on her opponent, Representative Dave Brat, when the ads were released this fall, after the Congressional Leadership Fund obtained her unredacted personnel file from the United States Postal Service. The postal service accidentally released the records after a Freedom of Information Act request by America Rising, a Republican-aligned research group.

Ms. Spanberger taught at the school as she waited for final approval for a job at the C.I.A., where she eventually served as a covert officer who pursued terrorists, among other tasks, with a very high level security clearance.

The friend-of-terrorist portrayal has also surfaced in New Jersey, where the Republican PAC has taken aim at Tom Malinowski, who argued that Guantnamo detainees should receive due process when he served as the Washington director of Human Rights Watch. During that time, he also worked with Senator John McCain to ban torture.

lol
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Are they wrong?
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attack ads should be illegal theyre all fucking stupid
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Kazi1212 posted...

Are they wrong?

Yes, extremely so
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Republicans can only win in part by inciting fear in their base. Its not surprising
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edededdy posted...

attack ads should be illegal theyre all fucking stupid

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I've seen that Spanberger ad on TV. What a disgusting, disingenuous pile of shit.

"She briefly taught at a school who had a graduate get arrested for a terror plot! Terrorist support much?"
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I moved out of Paul Ryan's district. Voting against him always made me feel good.
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Lordgold666 posted...

edededdy posted...

attack ads should be illegal theyre all fucking stupid

I'm no expert but they seem similar to Elon calling that diver a pedophile.
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Well when you encourage antifa...
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Sounds like slander.
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X-Pac_Heat posted...

Well when you encourage antifa...

What are the prices of tea in China?
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Its because they know Republican voters are stupid enough to believe it
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X-Pac_Heat posted...

Well when you encourage antifa...

That's not the point being made
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Worked against Max Cleland, and winning is all they care about.

Alpha218 posted...

Republicans can only win in part by inciting fear in their base. Its not surprising

spudger posted...

Its because they know Republican voters are stupid enough to believe it

these.
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You'd think these people would get a new playbook. I remember being called a terrorist supporter back when I was a teenager because I opposed the Iraq war.

Then again, if it works with their idiotic base, why bother changing up the tactics? Just lie and smear
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Attack ads should get you huge fines and potential prison time if fake enough.
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Alpha218 posted...

Republicans can only win in part by inciting fear in their base. Its not surprising

Because democrats never use fear.
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Republicans are basically afraid of everything.

Its not a suprise.

RiderofHogs posted...

Alpha218 posted...

Republicans can only win in part by inciting fear in their base. Its not surprising

Because democrats never use fear.

How many current Democrat campaigns are outright calling Republican candidates Nazis or supporters of Nazis?

Seriously, I don't know.
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