In a new web video just out from the Kentucky Democratic Party, the stomping of a MoveOn.org activist by a county coordinator for Republican Rand Paul’s Senate campaign is turned into a metaphor (in no particular order) for ending federal breast cancer research, the elimination of mine safety laws, an end to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a $2,000 boost in the Medicare deductible, among other things.
“Rand Paul: Stomping on you,” the video reads. “Stomping on Kentucky.”
It seems Democrats have decided to politicize the allegedly criminal assault of activist Lauren Valle.
Paul has, of course, made it fairly easy for Democrats to turn the jarring video of Valle’s head getting stomped by Tim Profitt outside a Lexington debate Monday into their closing argument in the Senate race. Paul was slow to condemn the attack — though he “dissociated” himself from Profitt soon after the event — and has decided to keep the nearly $2,000 Profitt donated to his campaign.
Still, it is pretty strange to watch a brutal physical assault turned into a message about the Fair Tax. Nevertheless, Democrats in Kentucky have made their choice, and that choice is to try and win with the Kentucky Stomp.
Watch:
The TPM Poll Average shows Paul leading Democratic nominee Jack Conway 48.9-42.7.
Update: Greg Sargent reports that the video will be run on TV as an ad by the Kentucky Democrats.
“The spot will only air after 10 p.m. in order to avoid scaring kids,” Sargent writes.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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