Kay Hagan thinks an ad aired by the Dole campaign, pointing out her association with the Godless Americans PAC, is out of line, and has demanded it stop airing.
The folks at the News and Record seem ready to jump to her defense.
We need to remain mindful that Hagan was the beneficiary of a virtual ton of incessantly negative advertising directed against Elizabeth Dole, some of which was patently unfair. We are now to believe that Hagan is the aggrieved victim.
The facts seem to be that she, with intentionality, chose to associate herself with these folks. In politics, you are accountable for those causes with which you affiliate yourself.
It is entirely fair game for Elizabeth Dole to point this out to voters. It provides useful clues regarding Hagan's own world view-- not that she is atheist, but that her political stance is amenable to taking up the political cause of this particular group.
The voters deserve to know that.
In any event, we have now learned much about Kay Hagan.
She has been the willing beneficiary of negative political advertising. She can dish it out, but she can't take it.
Update:
Sam Hieb at Piedmont Publius has more:
This is politics, man, and I don’t know how, as a proclaimed Christian, Hagan can accept money raised by an out-of-state atheist group and expect not to get called on it. The way I see it, Hagan’s compromising her values for the sake of money. She’s allowing herself to be a pawn in the master plan to get Obama a filibuster-proof majority, and it’s not unreasonable to believe that she’d compromise her values in the Senate under pressure from other liberal interest groups.
Not that Hagan has been called on this issue, at least by the media. Coverage has been tepid, at best.
And he excerpts from a news article about Elizabeth Dole:
The senator said she is going to win this election, despite $11 million worth of “negative, ugly, nasty, mean-spirited, unfair, untrue advertising” by a committee headed by Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. “You add (hedge fund manager) George Soros and moveon.org to that and you’re up to $18 million,” Dole said. “And folks, I am still standing and we’re not going to let them buy this state.”
You GO Joe!
Posted by: Dr. Mary Johnson | October 29, 2008 at 04:20 PM
C'mon, Joe. You know that atheists vote, too. They are people just like you and me.
Posted by: Stormy | October 29, 2008 at 04:32 PM
Several years ago Gil Gross (National Radio Host) sent donations to various candidates from organizations he created in an attempt to elicit a response. Groups included abortion, child abuse, animal abuse and other blatant perversions.
He followed up by calling these candidates. Many simply cashed the checks. A small number returned the checks after being told about the group.
It's one thing to accept the check, it's another to make an appearance. There have been occasions where politicians got suckered into an appearance. At least they apologized later.
I haven't heard about any apologies.
Posted by: Don Moore | October 29, 2008 at 05:09 PM
That's a great point, Don. And she has not offered any explanation to North Carolina voters as to why she felt it was appropriate to affiliate herself with this group. There must have been a reason. What was it, and why isn't she telling?
Instead, she whips herself up into a frenzy, and brandishes her Christian credentials.
It will be interesting to see how the general population in North Carolina reacts to this whole episode, but I am glad Dole is not backing down.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | October 29, 2008 at 05:17 PM
Well, watching the ad once again, it never says that Hagan is an atheist, merely that she attended an atheist fundraiser and took money from them...which is true. Hagan may very well be a good church-going Christian, but it does not change the fact that she took money from people who deny her God.
So, either Hagan is lying about her faith, or she is such a politician that she will take money from anyone who will deny her God. Either way, she has a problem.
And, for Doug Clark to take her side on this matter is not honest. As I recall, they were running this ad on the N-R website, so they took money for it as well. Humorously, Clark adds to his post: "Dole would be wise to back out and ditch that ad immediately." The News-Record would be wise to dump it and refund the money as well. Hagan would have been smart to refund the money, rather than bluster about the ad.
Posted by: Stormy | October 29, 2008 at 05:43 PM
Stormy, Kay Hagan is supposed to be a grown-up. She should be taking responsibility for her actions. Instead, she blames Elizabeth Dole for pointing out the truth.
I saw the ad also, and I did not think Dole was calling Hagan "Godless", either.
What really happened is that Hagan affiliated herself with this group because her political philosophy is consistent with what the Godless Americans PAC is trying to achieve politically. She should explain that to the people of North Carolina.
It will be interesting to see how North Carolina's population is going to respond to this controversy. Of course, the media is going to tilt it, in all likelihood, against Dole; but in past years the common sense of the people would prevail, in spite of the media.
The question is whether the state has changed so much-- that North Carolina is so far gone-- that this entire episode could help Hagan's chances, instead of adversely affecting her chances.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | October 29, 2008 at 06:32 PM
Joe, you know that who Democrats associate with is not relevant as it tells us nothing about them, right?
I don't think Hagan is an atheist, but why are they giving money to her instead of Dole? To me that is the bigger question- why do these whack fringe groups love the Democrats so much?
It's not just Hagan, but a lot of Democrats including Obama who just seem to attract all of the fringe groups. These groups must see something of benefit in Democrats.
That is why these associations are relevant.
Posted by: Spag | October 29, 2008 at 10:10 PM
The worst part for me is that Doug Clark and the News-Record are so in the bag for Hagan, specifically, and Democrats, in general, that they are now criticizing Dole about an ad, which they themselves took more to run.
I expect Hagan to do whatever she has to do and be political, but the News-Record is just showing once again that they have zero integrity. They are sell-outs. I'll be glad when they are bought, and we might get a community newspaper worth buying and reading. Of course, whoever buys it will have to totally clean house for that to happen. Even my wife who has insisted in the past that we subscribe to the newspaper said to drop it as there is nothing in it worth reading.
Posted by: Stormy | October 29, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Sam, I agree. Hagan and her accomplices in the local media attempted to create the perception that Dole is accusing her of being atheist. That was a clever diversion. But in fact, that is not the issue. Your analogy to the discussions regarding Obama's associations is precisely accurate.
And Stormy, the News and Record is placing itself at risk of being accused of stifling intellectual inquiry, and discouraging legitimate evaluation of political candidates. When they try to put a chill on appropriate political discussion, and render that impermissible, they are doing the public a huge disservice. It will be very interesting to read tomorrow morning's paper, and to see further how this topic is handled.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | October 29, 2008 at 10:57 PM