The conservative campaign spending group linked to Karl Rove is going up with a tough ad aimed at America’s labor unions and the president they supported in 2008.
The short version: Unions and their political activity are “a threat to democracy.”
Crossroads GPS, the non-profit political spending outfit who Rove and former RNC chair Ed Gillespie helped launch last year, is going on national cable news channels Wednesday with the 60-second spot, aimed squarely at the union leaders and Democratic politicians who have been taking on governors across the Midwest in the past few weeks.
Crossroads GPS is not required to release the names of its donors, and has been a common target of Democratic and progressive criticism since its founding.
The ad will be broadcast nationally on CNBC, CNN and Fox News Channel, part of a $750,000 buy that will keep it on the air for one week.
Using clips of Democratic gaffes and political speeches, the ad “exposes how government unions protect their pay and benefits by backing politicians who give them everything they want - at the expense of taxpayers,” according to GPS.
The ad kicks off with footage of Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) who apologized last month for this remark made at a Boston union protest aimed at expressing solidarity with protesters in Wisconsin:
“I’m proud to be with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an e-mail that gets you going. Every once in a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”
The remark seemed tailor-made for a conservative TV ad, and now thanks to GPS, it has made its debut. Other moments included in the ad: a post-election SEIU rally starring President Obama and a speech at teacher’s union convention from 2009. That speech has been a conservative rallying cry for quite a while now.
“Why are Democrats shutting down state capitals?” a narrator says in the spot. “To protect a system that pays unionized government workers 42% more than non-union workers, a system that collects hundreds of millions in dues to back liberals who support government unions.”
Watch the ad, coming to a 24-hour news channel near you:
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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