Dueling Ads Over Government Spending
Both liberals and conservatives took to the airwaves today with a series of new advertisements about government spending.
Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org released a TV ad about health insurance in Iowa, Montana and Washington D.C., where the hottest battles over health are expected to be fought. The 30-second spot features two undertakers fretting that public health care will drive them out of business.
"A public health care plan means affordable health care for everyone. And you know what that means," says one undertaker, fretfully.
"More healthy people living longer," responds his unhappy coworker. That prompts the first man to say, in reference to President Obama, "this guy's killing us."
"Senators [Max] Baucus (D-MT) and [Chuck] Grassley (R-IA) are at the center of the fight for real health care reform," said Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn, in a statement. "They have a responsibility to stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who want the choice of a public health insurance plan – but instead, Senator Grassley and Congressional Republicans have been standing with the insurance companies and special interests."
Not to be outdone, the National Republican Congressional Committee is running five radio ads targeting the fiscally conservative "blue dog" Democrats for supporting the $787 billion stimulus bill. The ad, run in the districts of Marion Berry (AR-01), Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Zack Space (OH-18) and John Tanner (TN-08), charges the legislators with being House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "lap dogs."