The National Republican Congressional Committee has a new attack ad against Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), the fiery liberal who is being challenged by top-tier GOP recruit Dan Webster. And while this ad seeks to obviously turn voters against Grayson, it might especially alarm a particular sub-group of the electorate: People with clown-phobias.
The ad goes after Grayson’s rabble-rousing image by having a person dressed up in clown makeup and a business suit, possibly meant to be a stand-in for Grayson. (From a distance, you can’t tell if the clown actor is a man or a woman — but the whole scene sure is creepy.) The ad also goes after the recent news over Grayson’s “Taliban Dan” ad, which led to attacks that Grayson was selectively quoting Webster out of context.
“You’ve seen the headlines. Freshman Congressman Alan Grayson is a national embarrassment,” the announcer says, as the clown comes into view. “But it’s not just Grayson’s behavior that’s out of line — it’s his votes. Grayson backed a government takeover of health care. Grayson wanted a more radical takeover than the plan Congress passed. Grayson pushed a national energy tax that would cripple Florida’s economy. We can’t let Alan Grayson embarrass Florida anymore.”
An interesting part of the ad, of course, is that the news quote about Grayson’s anti-Webster spot being “one of the worst ads I’ve ever seen, one of the most dishonest,” was cited to Sean Hannity — who as we all know, is a paragon of honesty and virtue when it comes to using quotes from those he opposes.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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