Who Made The Sleaziest Ad?
Longtime Washington producer Ward Sloane has been spending some time watching political ads -- and finding out where they come from. What he found might surprise you. -- Ed.
The ad produced by the Republican National Committee against Harold Ford in Tennessee may be the sleaziest of the season. That’s hard to say definitively, because we’ve got more than a week to go and desperate candidates will do desperate things to get elected.
But here’s the thing. Negative, attack ads like that used to be produced by “shadowy outside groups” and took days to track down who actually made the ad and who paid for it.
Well, it ain’t so hard anymore. We know who did that ad…they told us right at the end of it – The Republican National Committee. That’s right. Despite all the brouhaha over campaign reform—and getting rid of those independent groups that finance so many sleazy ads—the sleazy ads are now financed by a new source: THE POLITICAL PARTIES THEMSELVES.
It's an easy way to put on negative ads and give the national parties and the candidates deniability. Here’s how it works...
The ad produced by the Republican National Committee against Harold Ford in Tennessee may be the sleaziest of the season. That’s hard to say definitively, because we’ve got more than a week to go and desperate candidates will do desperate things to get elected.
But here’s the thing. Negative, attack ads like that used to be produced by “shadowy outside groups” and took days to track down who actually made the ad and who paid for it.
Well, it ain’t so hard anymore. We know who did that ad…they told us right at the end of it – The Republican National Committee. That’s right. Despite all the brouhaha over campaign reform—and getting rid of those independent groups that finance so many sleazy ads—the sleazy ads are now financed by a new source: THE POLITICAL PARTIES THEMSELVES.
It's an easy way to put on negative ads and give the national parties and the candidates deniability. Here’s how it works...
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
