GOP Candidate Launches New Round Of Attack Ads
Check out the new attack ads from Jim Tedisco, the Republican candidate in next Tuesday's special election for Kirsten Gillibrand's old House seat. The first one belongs to that very novel category of attack, practiced by all sides in politics -- the kind that blasts his Democratic opponent Scott Murphy for running attack ads:
Some things should be noted about the citations here, such as the Albany Times Union saying a Murphy ad was "unfair." To be exact, the ad was from the DCCC, though the Murphy campaign itself did stand by it. On the other hand, the same newspaper recently eviscerated an ad from Tedisco, as its staff has gone about policing the claims on both sides.
Specifically, that previous fact-check from the Times-Union went after Tedisco for claiming that Murphy supports the AIG bonuses. Which brings us to the next Tedisco ad -- which has the AIG claim as the centerpiece, as Tedisco has been using it for the past week:
The announcer declares that among Murphy's offenses, he "supports the law allowing outrageous bonuses to AIG millionaires."
Late Update: Murphy spokesman Ryan Rudominer gave this response to TPM:
"Down in the polls and desperate, career Albany politician Jim Tedisco is merely resorting to more false attacks that have been discredited by the press because he wants to change the subject from his saying 'No' to saving or creating 76,000 jobs in Upstate New York and 'No' to the largest tax cut in history."
Rudominer is referring here to Tedisco's opposition to the stimulus bill -- the same piece of legislation that Tedisco has used to allege that Murphy supported the AIG bonuses. So the attack does cut both ways.
















You can tell Tedesco is trustworthy because he is standing in a hardware store.
March 24, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tedesco was actually a popular Assemblyman. He has gotten muddied just as much as he is trying to muddy up his Dem opponent.
Remember that this was always a solid Republican district, just broken two years ago with the '06 Dem tide. It will be surprising if Tedesco loses, and, if so, it would strictly be on the basis of not backing Obama's stimulus plan. It would be Obama's win more than Scott Murphy, a complete unknown before this campaign.
March 24, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republicans are putting lots of money into this race because they want this seat. Word has it that if he loses, Steele will be OUT.
March 24, 2009 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink