Rick Santorum has been running a campaign ad in which he (unsurprisingly) insinuates that his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey, is on the side of the terrorists.
Ok, so it was an easy mistake to make, right? You’d think Santorum’s posse would have done its research before hurling irresponsible allegations, but now that they know they fucked up and linked their opponent with the wrong organazation (not that Al-Jazeera is a terrorist organazation anyway but, whatever), they’ll admit their mistake and apologize, right?
Wrong.
Share WHAT fucking sentiments? That your opponent thinks we should promote cross-cultural understanding? What the fuck?
What’s really going on of course, is that Santorum’s camp is counting on the fact that all most of their audience will hear is that Casey has been endorsed by a group with an Arabic name that sounds kind of familiar. Very few will understand any distinction between Jazeera and Jazeerah and that’s just the way Santorum wants it, Hell, it would surprise me if more than 25% of Santorum’s voters knew (or cared about) the difference between al-Jazeera and al Qaeda. If it starts with an al, it must be terrorists. An impression which I’m sure is fine with (if not shared by) Santorum as well.
Pennsylvania Dopers, please get rid of this scumbag in November. We’ll let you win another Superbowl if you do.
“I’ll have you know that my opponent has engaged in public MASTICATION!! In front of children, no less! Furthermore, he has involved in a nepotistic relationship with his own SISTER!! I ask you, do you want this kind of man representing you?”
Al-Jazeerah, al-Jazeera, hopefully the rubes won’t know the difference and won’t care enough to go find out, and dear Mr. Santorum gets to be the guiding moral light of this country for another term.
And even though it says its goal is to “promote cross-cultural understanding between people all over the world”, it’s really an anti-US, anti-Israel, pro-Iraqi insurgent, pro-Hamas/PLO/Hezbollah site, with headlines like:
“NATO Officially Takes Over in Southern Afghanistan, Claiming its New Role as the Western Imperialist Occupation Force”
and
“Israeli Leaders Continue their War, Not Yet Satisfied with the Number of Lebanese Children Murdered So Far”
So, if they did actually endorse Casey, that’s kind of yucky for him.
What’s pro-Hezbollah or pro-Hamas about it? It’s critical of US and Israeli military policies, but so what? Why is it bad for Casey if they endorse him?
Yeah, [url=http://www.aljazeerah.info/1%20o/When%20Israel’s%20Absolute%20Power%20Empowers%20Hezbollah%20Absolutely%20By%20Ali%20Al-Hail.htm]here’s how this website “promotes peace in the world, between Palestinians and Israelis”:
On the one hand, it’s idiotic to claim that Casey ought to care about what such lunatics say about him: giving pro-terrorist forces a voice in US politics says a lot more about Santorum than it does about Casey. On the other hand, the Philly article was at least as lax in their research as Santorum was, inasmuch as they uncritically called aljazeerah.info as website with the goal of “promot[ing] cross-cultural understanding between people all over the world.”
Is there any evidence it’s a real organization at all? Or is it just a “group” formed to endorse Democratic candidates? I mean, the name couldn’t have been picked by accident.
I don’t know that they’re a real group, but whoever runs that website appears to spend a fair amount of time putting together news-stories (unless it’s based on an automated service). I couldn’t find a search function on it, so I couldn’t find the story that endorses casey; that’d be the interesting bit to see, inasmuch as the opinions of a pro-Hezbollah asshole can possibly be interesting.
For some reason, Santorum persists in calling Bob Casey “Bobby Casey” in all of his ads. I’m just perplexed by this? Is this supposed to be damning somehow? Does Santorum have some sort of gravitas that allows him to suggest others are immature relative to him?
Santorum is fucked, and it will be my wholehearted pleasure to pull the handle on that turd.
In fact, I’ll probably yell “This one’s for Diogenes the Cynic!” as I do so.
And so on. The guy’s an anti-Semitic nutjob. It’s a bad thing for Casey because it tends to be a bad thing when you’re endorsed by anti-Semitic nutjobs. It gives your opponents the chance to say, “Look at who supports him”. That’s not Casey’s fault, obviously, but it’s still bad for him.
What is meant by the word “endorse”? Did they even promote him or what? Not that I think Santorum is being anything but sleazy with this tactic, but I’m just curious what al-Jazerrah actually did.
In other Santorum news, apparently 20 wealthy Republicans donated $66K to Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli to ensure that he got on the ballot. Nothing overtly sleazy, but a rather transparent (and now very public) attempt to siphon votes away from Casey.
And yet another tack would be; why the bloody hell would Al Jazeerah care enough about the Pennsylvania senatorial race to endorse either of the candidates? Is Pennsylvania some hotbed of militant Islamic movement I wasn’t previously aware of?
The whole thing reminds me of those ads Ronnie Ray Guns ran when he was running against Dukakis, with the rotating prison doors. “THIS is what will happen if you elect Dukakis!” The only thing stupider than the ads were the people that fell for them.
Santorum needs all the help he can get. I don’t think he can come back even if videotape footage comes out showing Casey giving Fast Eddie a rimjob on top of the Speaker’s lectern.