Republicans MOCK their base!

[Joanne98]

Oh, this is rich. As the Politico reports, the National Republican Senatorial Committee's advertising people sought out just the right kind of actors for a recent ad in the West Virginia Senate race -- the "hicky" kind.

(Late Update: The NRSC reportedly plans to pull the ad -- and are vigorously disavowing the casting call. "No one at the NRSC, or associated with the NRSC, had anything to do with the language used in this casting call," said NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh. "We do not support it, and suffice to say, we would encourage our contractors to never work with this outside agency again.")

The ad featured three blue-collar guys at a diner, talking about how the only way to stop President Obama was to vote against Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin in the race for Senate. It appears that the ad was shot in Philadelphia, not in West Virginia, and sought out that key "hicky" actor type, in the GOP's efforts to show West Virginia voters that the party is on their side.

"We are going for a 'Hicky' Blue Collar look," a casting call for the ad said. "These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/gop-ad-men-sought-hicky-actors-for-west-virginia-senate-race-spo-video.php?ref=fpb

[DJ13]

1. The GOP has removed the video, but it sounds like they will still use it on radio

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Sounds like the ad agency's language, not the GOP.

True, agencies act on input they receive from their client. But how much of the "hicky" language in their meetings came from the GOP, we'll never know.

[WCGreen]

4. I'd run with it...

Whose the elite now...

[gratuitous]

3. This is tough

Does this fit under the Republican Rule of Stove-Piping, that anything anyone connected to you does or solicits is automatically grafted on to you? When Move On solicited ad entries, and one of the entries equated Bush to Hitler, the Republicans successfully argued (as determined by how often the talking chuckleheads of the popular media repeated it) that the ad entry thoroughly discredited Move On, and that therefore anything Move On endorsed, approved of, or worked with was equally tainted by the scandal of a contest entry that equated Bush with Hitler.

Or does this fall under the It's Okay If You're a Republican Exception to everything the Republicans ever do?

It's a close call, but I'm guessing that this will get IOKIYARed, and the NRSC will be cleared and absolved of any wrongdoing, and anyone who brings it up is really the person prejudiced against West Virginians. Whew!

[Jamastiene]

5. They are doing the same kind of thing against Elaine Marshall down here in NC too.

The ad shows a bunch of people sitting around on a front porch talking about how horrible they think government is and how great they think Richard Burr is, blah, blah, blah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCJdtgluBY

I don't think it gets any "hicky"-er than that.

That doesn't do a damn thing to sway me. I hope they do not truly think that is going to work on any Democrats, but to be fair, Democrats often have ads just like that down here too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLkazmjpcIs

It is just insulting in both cases.

They can claim that is not what they are going for, but the Burr ad clearly shows that is EXACTLY what they are going for.

[txaslftist]

6. Well...

The Dems ignore THEIR base, so I'd call it about even.