New GOP Ad

Jeff Alworth

I just got an email from Kevin Mannix alerting me that the Oregon GOP has a new ad out (nice of him, eh?). I'll quote a pithy passage, with a couple of phrases bolded. Have a look (or watch it here):

The Democrats have spent thousands of dollars airing attacks on Republicans. We can’t let those attacks go unanswered, especially when we have the truth on our side. We must raise $25,000 in the next few days, or our television spot will go off the air, and the good people of Oregon deserve to know the truth about who’s really representing their best interests, before sending any more leaders back to Salem.

What follows is the text of the ad. You be the judge if "truth is on [their] side."

Blond woman sitting at her kitchen table with a newspaper (where, presumably, she's just learned about a heap o' scandal)
"A lot of us are worried about the growing scandals in Salem: Ted Kulongoski's more than cozy ties with Neil Goldschmidt; treasurer Randall Edwards' and Diana Goldschmidt's questionable votes to spend millions to buy PGE; and the Goldschmidts' willingness to profit financially on those votes. And all of this on their watch. Edwards, Bradbury, Kulongoski, and Myers--[exhalation of disgust]these Democrats."

Voice-over, image of the Oregon Capitol with three faces superimposed
"Oregon needs fresh, untainted leaders to clean up the mess. Jeff Caton, Paul Connolly, and Betsy Close."

Notice the faulty line of causality in the rhetoric: Cozy ties, questionable votes, their watch. They didn't have anything on squeeky clean Hardy Myers, but hey, throwing his name in on a hit piece can't hurt, right? Funny though, the ad doesn't mention Kevin Mannix's money laundering, which you'd think the good people of Oregon might like to know about--after all, it's his ad. (Too much truth in that advertising, I suppose.)

By Jeff Alworth Oct. 11, 2004