I cannot believe how shameful the Republicans have been this cycle. Watch the report yourself:
UPDATE: A release from the Minnesota DFL:
Minnesota and national Republicans desperate to hold onto the state’s Third Congressional District seat have stooped to new lows.
A report on Twin Cities-based KARE-11 news this evening cites two independent sources who say that a new television ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) darkens the skin tone of DFL congressional candidate Ashwin Madia (MN-03), who is of Asian Indian American background.
KARE-11’s John Croman filed the report. The video is available here.
Professor Clay Steinman of Macalester College, who teaches about mass-media messaging and consumer responses, is featured in the story. Steinman said:
“Even if we think that we are not racist, people of all races, when confronted with images that are darker and different, have a kind of visceral, negative response.”
Croman also quoted Dean Alger, a political-advertising expert and media consultant, as saying:
“Distortions and exaggerations are a part of the game. But in his words, the darkening of the Democrat’s photos are beyond distortion and are what he calls a subtle effort to convey the message that Ashwin Madia is different.”
The NRCC’s response to Croman? “We stand by the ad.” (You may view the ad here. The three images that the NRCC doctored in their TV ad are available on the Madia campaign’s websitehere, here and here.)
KARE-11’s report tonight follows a press conference earlier this month at which Minnesota GOP officials declared that Madia did not fit the district from a “lifestyle” or “demographic standpoint” — or, in the words of Minnesota GOP Chairman Ron Carey, Madia is “not one of them.” The Star Tribune reported:
“Meanwhile, a Paulsen surrogate, state Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Minn., took the podium at a news conference last week to question Madia’s ties to the district because, among other things, he has not raised a family there or paid a mortgage or gone to a PTA meeting. State GOP chairman Ron Carey also recently urged voters to examine ‘the demographic standpoint’ of the candidates to determine which one to vote for.” [Star Tribune, 10/5/08]
You may view video of the GOP’s comments here.
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The classic race card once again?
Even NBC is fighting these unfounded Democrat accusations of racism. Yup, you got that right. Even NBC!
They discuss “Dan the Neighbor”:
And the list goes on:
Redistribution of wealth.
Gun Control.
Health care.
Supreme court nominations.
You can argue whether Dan’s views on any of the above points are actually correct. But there’s no getting around the fact he shares those views with many others.
“Dan the Neighbor” is not going to vote for Barack Obama. And race has nothing to do with it. http://bit.ly/45uD7B
Nice. This is what Paulsen is getting for his Michael “Lee Atwater” Brodkorb consulting fees? Way to go Mike. You’ll be long remembered for this campaign. Unfortunately, I’m sure there are plenty more dickweeds who will hire the likes of you. I mean, even thuggish dictatorships need p.r. men.
I could be Dan the Neighbor!! Perhaps I should change my nickname here!
So are we supposed to use flattering photos of opposing candidates now? I trust that MDE and MNPublius will be the first to lead by example.
I haven’t seen even an average picture of Norm Coleman come from a Democratic outlet yet.
Uhhh, what does “Dan the Neighbor” have to do with Ashwin Madia and Republicans distorting his image?
As long as Republicans get to play a game of exaggerating a candidate’s skin color, maybe Democrats could show McCain with an old wrinkley prune face or maybe better yet with a big melanoma lesion on the left side of his head. “I won’t vote for McCain because of his stand on the war, his support for Bush’s economic program and his picking a totally unqualified person for his VP. It has nothing to do with his age or health history.” Sheesh.
Nice site name/logo. Serious question: Was MNpublius once a non-partisan site?
This ad is not surprising…remember just a few short weeks ago when Ron Carey and Geoff Michel held a press conference for Erik Paulsen and referred to Madia as a “carpetbagger” and used the phrases “not one of us” and “doesn’t fit the demographic. Those were more than coded racist remarks. Then the next week Jim Ramstad almost has a stroke in front of the camera because of the “scurrilous” ads and lit pieces against his mentee…unfortunately Rammer showed his true colors by lieing about who was responsible for the ads. This has all been planned by the “Rove” playbook….anything goes as long as they win. We need to send a clear message that this not the way things should be and send Ashwin Madia to Congress. Lucky for Paulsen and Michel, Madia will represent them, too!
Regardless of who wins, the re-election campaign beings November 5. I wish I could say we only have to put up with this crap (both sides) once every couple decades, but the district has changed. Get used to CD3 being hotly contested with plenty of outside money coming in. This has become a district which will be up-for-grabs for quite some time, based on the mood of the country in any given year.
I long for the days of Rammer and a sleepy campaign. This gets pretty tiring.
Everyone knows making opponents look unattractive and /or sinister is an often used campaign tactic, which in this case results in using subtle or low level racism for advantage. If republican leaning publius commenters have examples of photo modifications of opponents done by dems I’d like to see them, as I lack motivation to search out examples for myself. Maybe as awareness of political ad techniques grows, these tactics will be ineffective or even backfire. Analyzing the techniques used in the ads at least makes suffering through the barrage interesting at times.
I saw the NRCC ad last night and said to my 15-year-old, geez when did Ashwin go all, like, Nigerian on us? I mean, the skin darkening was so obvious and so over the top. The ad also showed pics of Ashwin scowling and running, with ominous music in the background It was so classic Scary Black Man On the Loose/Hide The White Women — — it actually bordered on camp. Sort of like a 2008 trailer of Birth of a Nation. Which pretty much sums up the mind-set of today’s GOP.
Go Ashwin go! I wish I lived in the 3rd and could vote for him. Instead, I’ll send some cash.
Best part of the report - when the KARE 11 guys agree that “sometimes politics is dirty”.
Maybe next time CD 3 DFLers wont send such a sensitive child into the adult world of politics.
“sensitive child”??!?
Paulsen’s been takin’ orders from the GOP for a long time; I doubt he’s still sensitive.
Patrick: Nope. We’ve always been shamelessly partisan.
I see Mr Benson is once again dismissing the obvious. I wonder how could someone seriously be so callous to this shameless play to the worst in us as a country. Then I clicked on his name and went to his website:
“Dear Fellow Business Owners:
As a Business owner who employs 30 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama, will be our next President, and that my Taxes and Fees will go up in a BIG way.
To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Customer will have to see an increase in my prices to them of about 8%. I will also have to lay off 6 of my employees. This really bothered me as; I believe we are family here and didn’t know how to choose who will have to go. So, this is what I did.
I strolled thru the parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on my employees cars. I have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can’t think of another fair way to approach this problem.
If you have a better idea, let me know. I am sending this letter to all Business owners that I know.
Nice. I’m sure if your company grows, you’ll give those eight people a raise.
More disturbing was a story half way down that page there’s a picture of Obama smiling and in the background a bunch of young black people running from him. The caption reads “I’ll make sure that everyone who can work will have a job”. Get it? No? Well the picture is titled How Obama lost the Black vote. http://tiny.cc/xfu4N
My suggestion would be to toss Mr Benson back over to anti-strib and MDE where that viewpoint is welcome.
Very interesting, DJZ! What a warped view of the world jbenson2 yas. Sad, too. The unreasonable fear of anyone not white male is just beyond belief to me. I guess he’d rather fear than bother to read. Obama’s website makes quite clear his plan for small businesses. As a small business owner, it’s not scary to me. But, I actually read it and didn’t get my interpretation through the spin department of the GOP.
How to get yourself sued in a discrimination suit in one easy lesson by jbenson2.
You do realize that if he follows though on this threat to fire Obama supporters he will be in court so fast his head will spin. Unlike Fascist countries that Mr. Benson seems to want to emulate, free Americans are allowed to have political views without fear of retaliation… it is in the Constitution. You can fire somebody for almost any reason but how they vote is not one of them.
Not only will he be sued if he fires only those with Obama stickers, but under an Obama administration there will be no statute of limitations on bringing the suit forward, and excessive monetary awards will most likely be pursued and won, causing Jbenson to go out of business altogether!
Actually, everything he writes up to the “bumper sticker” point makes sense. If we are raising our costs of doing business while China, India, Chile, Brazil, and Hong Kong are not, we will lose. We can’t tax and tariff our way out of the global economy. It is here to stay whether we like it or not.
Not even the best Union can force an employer to give someone a job if there is no value proposition for that business to exist.
Gosh, you are right DTM! If Benson were to engage in such blatantly illegal actions (which he was stupid enough to post on the internet) it would be unfortunate if he was punished for it.
Based on his attitudes and posts, I suspect he is either clueless or lying about the effects an Obama presidency would have on his business.
I’m saying he should be punished. I’m just saying that the suit should come forward now, not in 17 years from now, and that if the damages to people as a result of his actions are $500,000, he should pay $500,000 or maybe a tad more to cover legal fees, and not $10 million.
Based on his attitudes and posts, I think we can deduce the following:
1) He is in a highly competitive business which probably competes with other countries’ firms who have a lower cost of doing business, OR
2) He is in a business that is heavy on human capital, which will be saddled much more with extra costs under Obama and a D congress, AND
3) He is not a government contractor. They will be rewarded handsomely as they are hired in the next four years to help implement and support the new layers of bureacracy.
If The Graduate were filmed today, “Government Contracting” would take the place of “Plastics” as the place to be under Obama.
Is it really illegal to discriminate in employment based on political views?
I’d be pretty surprised if that were true.
I understood the only exceptions were certain non-partisan government jobs.
But, apparently, there is no punishment when that law is broken.
“Is it really illegal to discriminate in employment based on political views?”
No, in most of the country it is not, except (interestingly enough) in Washington DC.
That doesn’t mean that an employer who does it, or who threatens to do it, isn’t a royal jerk. In fact, jbenson would actually be doing his employees a favor by firing them: they would be out from under his thumb, collecting unemployment, while he sits and fumes (paying a higher rate for unemployment taxes).
DtM, stop twisting the facts. The case you’re referencing involves wage discrimination, not an unlawful firing, and changing the law so the statute of limitations doesn’t start running until after they find out about it and discover it’s illegal isn’t a bad thing. or are you really advocating letting employers off the hook for illegal behavior that they manage to cover up for years?
And, shocker, you managed to get a dig at big judgements handed down in law suits. You know what happens when you take punitive damages off the table, as you would advocate? Companies would roll along with their bad behavior and fold it in as the cost of doing business and the incentive to change would vanish until something catastophic happened. Nice to see you advocate waiting until mass casualty happens before a company gets really punished for illegal actions, DtM.
This on top of the ringing endorsement Paulsen received from James Dobson (Focus on the Family) just proves how truly MODERATE he is. I keep waiting for anyone to show me how the GOP worked in a bi-partisan way in the state legislature, and I keep waiting for Paulsen to explain how his fundamentalist views allow him to reach across the aisle to get things done. He can’t run away from his record or ideology anymore.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mn-3-letter.pdf
http://minnesotaindependent.com/15318/religious-right-leader-james-dobson-embraces-erik-paulsen-for-congress
Even Jim Ramstad has a whispered endorsement for Madia. http://minnesotaindependent.com/14767/election-gop-disaster-ramstad-tsunami
I would be more concerned with his racist display of blacks. As a business owner, you have to know that if you’re a person of color- or black male for sure, you won’t get a fair shake through him.
This is going to go down as one of the worst ads of the season, the lowest blow. Shame. I’m shocked that the GOP couldn’t come up with a better response than “we stand by the ad.” Sheesh.
So how do you all feel about the DCCC “Career Politician” ad against Erik Paulsen. Virtually the same resolution on the image of Erik as the one you guys don’t like about Madia — partially black and white, more pronounced shadows, fades into the background…
http://minnesotaindependent.com/12957/3rd-cd-video-roundup-madia-dccc-have-new-tv-ads-paulsen-has-fox-9-and-youtube
Should we ban that PhotoShop setting? Perhaps there should be a law.
DtM, don’t you think the shading issue is a little different when teh cadidate whose picture has been shaded is not a piece of white bread? How about if it has already been pointed out that he is not like the people in the district? Sauce for the goose is not always sauce for the gander.
Randy -
You’re splitting hairs. You’re making the measure subjective and arbitrary, dangerous for one candidate but not for the other. Definitions of what are “taboo” are too often made on the fly.
The fact is, the exact same picture formatting was used on each candidate.
I don’t like nor do I want double standards. The completely inconistent treatment of Palin vs. Obama’s relatively similar level of inexperience is bad enough.
It is subjective, although I don’t think it’s arbitrary. Race, gender, ethnicity, and (to a lesser extent) class are going to play a big part in judging the fairness of a particular comment or portrayal. Do you remember the pictures of President Nixon (I’m not telling my age, either) with the exaggerated hook nose? It was no big deal at the time, but now suppose it were done to a Jewish candidate — suppose Norm Coleman’s nose was drawn that. It’s a different matter, isn’t it?
DtM, you accuse Randy of splitting hair, and yet you compare apples to oranges. The experience issue between Obama & Palin is not the same question, because Obama was vetted thoroughly through the primaries and nominated by millions of people. Palin was selected by essentially one person. It’s not a double standard if the question isn’t the same.
Moreover, while Randy may be making a subjective judgment, it’s hardly an arbitrary one, based on the history of this country and the tone & tenor of this campaign. You may not like it, and you may want to believe that your favored candidate would never stoop to something as slimy and low as race-bating, but that doesn’t make it so. I don’t think you’re racist, and I think it’s great that you want to elevate things away from base discussions of race (that’s my impression, anyways), but it seems like the party you are supporting disagrees with you.
All I’m saying is that if the exact same photoshop technique is used on two candidates, and in one case it is an outrage and the other case a non-issue, then it is highly subjective.
dtm…get real, this ad was Racist! End of story, and no, there is no defense! Find a topic where someone may actually take you seriously, this is not that topic!
Guess it is kind of like Madia having to win a grueling primary and Paulsen being annointed, wouldn’t you say?
What choice did the republicans of the 3rd Cd really have?
I’ll take Obama and Madia anyday over Palin and Paulsen. Madia and Obama have had to prove themselves over a long period of time, where as Palin and Paulsen were given their candidacy by party bosses behind closed doors.
And that ad is indeed racist. Between that ad and Palin inciting her audiences into a frenzy over racist and terrorist comments, the GOP has really proven themselves to be a desperate.
DTM — you seem like a stand up guy — you have a lot of work to do to help straighten it out. You can start with that group of white supremacists that was just arrested…