GOP leaders conceal party ID in ads

[Rose Siding]

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who is in charge of keeping Congress in GOP hands this fall, surprised the political establishment yesterday by airing an early television advertisement that made no mention of his party affiliation.
...
In addition, Reynolds, a 30-year veteran of upstate New York politics and a former GOP minority leader in the state Assembly, is one of several House GOP leaders who do not mention their party affiliation on their campaign websites. In ads posted on their sites, Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) also do not state their Republican credentials.

Republican leaders have said they face a “headwind” in the sixth year of President Bush’s term because voters are frustrated by the war in Iraq and ever-rising gasoline prices. Because voters cannot direct their anger at Bush, many GOP congressional incumbents fear that voters might direct their frustration at them.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/072706/news4.html

http://static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/38/102643893_ace6d0a2f9_m.jpg
Honey, do these pants make me look too Republican?

[babylonsister]

1. Aw, where's their pride in leadership now? nt

Edit-spelling.

[The Deacon]

27. Yeah, right

If the Establishment Dems had THAT kind of cojones then right now President Al Gore would be sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Lebanon to observe U.N. troops under the leadership of General Wes Clark disarming Hezbollah.
We can't even fight when we win elections - we just slink away so no one will think we're "sore losers."

[ray of light]

29. DeVos is running as a "change"--

But he's a pug through and through.

check out the site he sponsors:

http://www.michiganliberal.com

fake name too.

[lpackard]

59. Not true!

Yup he is a Republican, and his ads hide it..

BUT:

MichiganLiberal is run by a bunch of proud Dems (me being one of them), including a former candidate for the 8th congressional in '04. DeVos has got absolutely nothing to do with it, except for being featured negatively all the time.

[smtpgirl]

64. basically in the toilet,

that is where their "leadership" has been for the last 20 years!!!!

[MichiganVote]

2. They are all doing this in Michigan, .....cowards

[zbdent]

3. I thought that they were proud to be Republicans

ha ha ha ha ha ... come November, we may just see the near-death experience of the Republican Party in the US ... if they're running away from Bush now, just think when investigations and real accountability open up an oil barrel full of worms ...

[XelKarin]

57. After the Republican party dies...

I'd like to see the Greens rise to take their place. Then we'd have the Democrats on the right and the Greens on the left. :P

[erknm]

78. Not much hope of that

although I too would very much love to see environmentalists take a larger role in national politics. It would certainly benefit members of all parties.

As for the distancing issue, what is new about this? A bit of introspection and honesty will cause readers to accept that both parties have done this quite a bit. I can certainly understand why the republicans are doing it now. W is weak and they do not want to be taken down by him. When their party and leader are popular, they jump aboard and when not, they try to hide their affiliation. I live in one of the most right-wing regions of the country, southern California. From Orange County down to San Diego, we have OC business republicans and San Diego military republicans. The only way a democrat can get support around here is to sound like a republican and hide his party affiliation.

There are just alot of party line republicans around here and once they realize a candidate is a democrat, they they stop listening and ask the person to leave.

To me, party is meaningless. I want to know how a person stands on issues that are important to me. We should dump our party affections and pay more attention to issues. Just as an example, I would vote for an NRA member if he were also a strong environmentalist. We kill more people with NOX and SOX each year than we do with bullets.

[Cobalt-60]

81. I'd like

to be there when the last one goes against the wall.

[AndyA]

4. To frickin' bad, now they want to take their toys and go home...

Republican leaders have said they face a “headwind” in the sixth year of President Bush’s term because voters are frustrated by the war in Iraq and ever-rising gasoline prices. Because voters cannot direct their anger at Bush, many GOP congressional incumbents fear that voters might direct their frustration at them.

These people are not proud of their records? Are they ashamed of being Republicans? It would sure seem so. The fact is, they have stood by and supported this joke of a President, the idiot in office. And now they hope people will conveniently forget their party affiliation, now that they've FUBAR'd the country.

I hope the Dems run ads showing the Repuke ads, noting their lack of pride for their voting records. Everyone knows the GOP has made this mess, the Dems just need to keep reminding everybody of that between now and November, and make sure the Republicans are labeled as such going into the election. If they aren't proud of what they've done, they shouldn't be running again...

[4bucksagallon]

5. This trend started some time ago.

I had a candidate stop in at the house he was asking my opinion on issues and handing out leaflets. I stopped him and asked him what party he was with because nothing on any of his papers identified him. He said he was "along the lines of a Reagan democrat". When I asked him again he said he was a republican. I told him he should be ashamed and gave him 3 minutes to vacate my property. He won by the way. This was quite some time ago so this is nothing new.

[babylonsister]

6. He LIED? The horror! I like

your name; you're prescient!

[Rose Siding]

7. Oh, it's quite a change for bushbots. CBS reports-

With Elections Approaching, Many Republicans Are Distancing Themselves From Unpopular President
...
When Bush's popularity was high in the polls, then-Rep. Jim Talent, who was running for the Senate in Missouri in 2002, cemented himself to the president.

"Jim Talent is the man for Senate," Bush told Missourians at a rally the day before the 2002 election.

For his re-election campaign, however, Talent has introduced a TV ad that doesn't mention the president, but cites his work with five Democratic senators.
...
GOP consultant Jack Burkman, an adviser to Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum who is facing a grueling re-election contest, said he recommended telling candidates, "You have to find creative ways to bring the president and his people in here to raise the money. I would say yes do that, but by all means, let's do it under the cover of darkness."

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/print?id=2242262

[Hawkeye-X]

14. You should give him 3 seconds, not 3 minutes

And release the hounds, firing guns upwards after 2.75 seconds. :P

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

77. "Reagan Democrat" is an oxymoron of the highest order.

Ptooie.

[Felix Mala]

8. Too bad they're not too ashamed to run...

[European Socialist]

9. They voted the way the Decider wanted them to--Dems need to point it out.

[yellowcanine]

10. Michael Steele (MD Senate Candidate) is talking about the "scarlet R"

one day and the next day he is calling George Bush one of his "homeboys". Pass the popcorn, please.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Steele's really a very bad campaigner

Yesterday he ducked and dodged, bobbed and weaved when local teevee reporters questioned him about the Scarlet R. Then, in a much more controlled and sympathetic radio interview he an 'aw shucks' toe drag.

This story may turn out to be one of those throw away lines (which is how I think it started, really) that just comes on like gangbusters and bites a candidate REAL hard right smack on the ass. The guy's proving to be one giant malapropism with feet.

Too bad, Mikey ..... add this faux pas to your earlier comments about how bad stem cell research is, how its okay for a country to exclude Blacks (Steele is black), and how Jews are like Nazis and you'll do just fine ..... for your opponents!

[yellowcanine]

16. It would be a "throwaway line" except it went on for 90 minutes, is my

understanding. And it was all over the place. There were complaints not just about Bish but about the Republican congress is my understanding. And to top it off, I heard this morning on Washington Post radio that after Steele made the usual complaint about "out of context" quotes, Milbank produced an email from a Steele aide that approved the language that Milbank used in his story.

[NJCher]

71. Milbank admitted to that?

Wow. They don't even see anything wrong with that.

Sad.




Cher

[smtpgirl]

65. Under the facade of "slick" play on words,

Republicans are just SHMUCKS!!

[bugbones]

11. Mark Kennedy MN Senate Race Is Running Away From Bush/Party

Kennedy is the weasel who ran on "security" and other slimy issues in all of his negative ads against Patty Wetterling in '04. Now he has a fun, feel-good, family-oriented commercial where he says something about how he's "not a party guy." But he cast the tie-breaking vote for the reverse-Robin Hood spending bill...and he has a better than 90% pro-BushCo voting record otherwise. This weasel needs to be boiled in a vat of his Bush slime.

[krispos42]

20. Air America Minnesota has been calling attention to that :-)

On Minnesota Matters on 950AM they have been taking regular note of this. How after 6 years in the House, Kennedy now wants to be an 'agent of change'.

I guess in his current TV ad Kennedy also fails to mentions that he is a current US Rep. Oops

[acmejack]

12. Like we'll let them run away from it? RepubliCONs! Republiclowns!

Greedy Oil Party! Greedy Old Politicans! This is going to be fun!

[msongs]

13. Dems : nail those repub cowards with their own scarlett letter -

"look, he/she is hiding from his/her own party, so why do you expect him/her to stand up for you?"

"My opponent is ASHAMED of his party's corrupt policies."

and of course run the scarlett letter quote as often as possible.

but are the dems are toooo nice? some of them would rather lose than tell it like it really is.

let's hope they will move in for the kill, so to speak.

Msongs
www.msongs.comhowarddean2008.htm

[LuckyLib]

56. Yes. "The candidate can't even identify himself as a Republican."

What are you afraid of? The people, perhaps?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

17. kick it up vote it up... show how they now hide political afilliations...

see how they hang their heads in shame?

[wordpix2]

18. me, a Repuke-lican? Oh, no, not this candidate. ROFLMAO

:rolf:

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. Republicans are shit & even they know they are shit.

[Q3JR4]

21. Do I smell a new set of campaign adds from the Dems.?

I.E., "Current Republican blah blah blah has voted numerous times for yadda yadda yadda."

If they don't want to be classified as republicans, then by the Gods (whichever you believe in including the non-existent ones) we need to make sure that the voters in EVERY state knows what party the people they elect belong to.

[silverweb]

50. Exactly!

Dems must use this to the fullest! Identify stealth Republicans by their party affiliation continually and hammer away at their voting records.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. When I am in charge,

it will be a law that all campaign ads and signs HAVE TO include the candidate's party affiliation. I have bitched about this for years.

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. Most state laws already require that information

to appear somewhere on the sign or in the ad. They also require financial disclosure, ie who is actually paying for the ad.

[Nay]

41. VA finally made a law that forced the state govt to put R or D behind

each name on the ballot -- up until then, you didn't know which was which unless you followed the elections closely, which most people don't do. Since the Republicans are the major force here, it really pissed them off that the voter could, if desired, pick a candidate on party affiliation. This year, that will really pay off for Dems, I think.

[Beetwasher]

23. DEMS NEED TO POUNCE: "Why Is Candidate "X" ASHAMED and AFRAID You'll Know

He's a Republican? Why does he hide this fact from voters?"

[Pacifist Patriot]

63. I completely agree.

Shall we place bets on how many actually will? Damn, I hate being so cynical.

[yorkiemommie1]

67. Yes they need to do this in every campaign

the party leadership should get behind this. Dems need to play HARD; take no prisoners.

A lot of letters to the editors in all the states might help, too.

[Singular73]

24. Heather Wilson is calling herself an "independent" here in New Mexico

Makes me laugh every time I see an ad.

[Pawel K]

38. She does this shit everytime its time to get reelected

I started a thread about this campaign here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1745235&mesg_id=1745235

How is it looking in your neighborhood?

[China_cat]

25. All the ads leading up to the primary

had no 'branding' on them. Except one that proclaimed 'proud to be a republican'. (He lost...big)

The only way you could tell was that some of them mentioned Bush and supporting him. But I saw absolutely NONE that could have been for Democratic candidates.

[RangerSmith]

28. Thats the way it was here

and more or less has been for 20 or 30 yrs. Both parties.

[IronLionZion]

26. I expect this to be the year of "maverick" Republicans

who are so "independent" that they don't even wear red. A few may even openly denounce Bush and the national party. Too bad their records say otherwise.

Red state Democrats have been doing this all along btw.

[Rose Siding]

30. So independent "that they don't even wear red"

:rofl:

[Lost-in-FL]

31. IN FLORIDA TOO!!!!

My Congressman who happens to be a Repig does that (Rick Keller, Rep-R), his mail propaganda does not have ANY GOP labels and I even made the comment on DU since I found that very odd. Last May he made the mistake of sending a self paid envelope asking for feedback about Immigration. I sent it back asking for the Impeachment of Mr Pretzeldent. I am still waiting for a reply.

[Pacifist Patriot]

61. I thought I had it bad with Weldon. I wouldn't want Keller either.

Both of them need to go!

ETA: I'll be damned. Weldon's campaign website does not have the word "Republican" anywhere on the home page or biography page. Shocking for a man who has made a habit out of licking Bush's balls for the last six years.

[Orion The Hunter]

32. So proud to be Republicans...

...except for when it's politically expedient!

[The Wizard]

33. What was that

Tony Snow (white) said about not wanting to hug the tar baby? Republican has become a dirty word for good cause. They hate Americans. They are the party of the Klan, and the self proclaimed "party of God" which by the way is English for Hezbullah. They are in league with the Tali bush and democracy's enemies. Who wants to admit being a totalitarian asshole?

[mitts]

34. hmmm..

I so no real difference between the two parties so why does claiming to be on some "team" matter. Republicans, Democrats.....unless you let abortion decide who to choose, they all vote the same way on every issue.

[Alcibiades]

68. Golly, there's a big difference!

Don't believe the lies of the mainstream media! There's a big difference between Democrats and Republicans! Democrats are the party of civil rights, social and economic justice. Republicans are the party of corrupt CEOS seeking no-bid contracts. Hang around a while, and you'll learn the difference. You may not remember it, but when you were a kid, we had a President who was a Democrat, named President Bill Clinton. Clinton actually worked with the Republicans in Congress to eliminate the deficit, worked with leaders around the world to secure a peace, and cut military spending while making sure the nation was secure.

He was a two-term president. Sadly, in our system, presidents cannot be elected to more than 2 terms (FDR was, but we amended the Constitution after that to fix it so that it could not happen again).

Then Bush came into office, and wham! Bin Laden attacks the World Trade Center, knowing that Bush cannot/will not hunt him down. Bush gets real scared, wets himself, and decides to invade Iraq because of the shame of wetting himself. He then works with Republicans in Congress to create a debt so large your grandchildren's grandchildren will have to pay for it.

So Democrats = peace and prosperity, Republicans = war and bad economic policy. That's the difference!

[beltanefauve]

74. Really???

Name me one, just ONE Republican administration in which the advancement of civil rights of any sort took place. (And that's just for starters). Notice too, that any proposed amendments to the Constitution under Republicans seem to be about LIMITING our rights (flag-burning, gay marriage, abortion, etc) rather than affirming our INALIABLE rights.

There are lots of differences, but that's just off the top off my head. All that "there's no difference between the two parties" meme does is increase voter apathy.

[chastitybeaverhausen]

35. Talent and Blunt

are both from Missouri and neither are revealing their party affiliation. Not to worry, they both have that uptight, closeted pervert, I smell shit, I have something shoved up my ass, Republican look that you can recognize a mile away. I think you all know the look I'm talking about.

[Alcibiades]

69. If people in Missouri don't realize that the Blunts

are all corrupt Republicans, then they haven't been actually reading their ballots, or the newspapers, for a long, long time.

[Burried News]

36. Well shoot. If the litrature has a flag on it

that means it is from the Repullican Party ... don't it?
Do you rekon it's OK to just through it out after you read it ... or do you have to say a prayer and burn it or sumpin?

[Pawel K]

37. Thank You archive.org - Look At This

Blunt's campaign web site in 2004:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041011050027/www.roybluntforcongress.com/biography.asp

---------------------------
As Majority Whip, Congressman Blunt is responsible for corralling the votes
necessary to complete the Republican agenda. He heads a team of Deputy and
Assistant Whips charged with securing the votes to pass key legislative initiatives.
Columnist Robert Novak has described Blunt’s whip team as “ the
most efficient party whip operation in congressional history.
---------------------------

This entire paragraph is missing from his current biography, everything else is identical.

http://www.roybluntforcongress.com/biography.asp

[katamaran]

39. Thelma Drake (R-VA 2nd) makes NO mention in her ads...

Thelma Drake (R-VA 2nd) makes NO mention in her ads. The ads call her an independent thinker, independent spirit, independent person, yadda yadda.

Her opponent Phil Kellam's ads all mention that she votes with Bush 98% of the time. However, he never mentions he's a Democrat...he keeps with with theme of "independent" again. So it seems that as scarlet as the R is, the D has a little bit of a purple cast too.

[karlrschneider]

42. The Repugs have been doing that here in Okla for years.

But they sure do beat the "family values" & "christian values" bit to fucking death.
:grr:
:puke:

[Gman]

43. Now that's a switch!

Last many years it's been the Dems doing this.

[texastoast]

47. You bet it is

There is one statewide Texas candidate who has Democrat on all his campaign materials--David Van Os for Texas Attorney General, and David is a REAL Democrat and I'm proud to support him. All other Democratic candidates should follow his lead.

We should all be proud that we have stood against the fascism of the current necon Republican regime.

[Gman]

48. But that's David

We're all proud of David.

[Hulk]

44. They were tearing off their SS arm bands in 1945 as well

These scum bags not only don't want dubya to come have his shit-eating grin snapped with them; they want to distance themselves from all the support and encouragement that they tossed his way. A bunch of political cowards!! They should all burn in hell one day for their crimes against humanity and their crimes against the United States.

[ComerPerro]

45. I would too, if I was a Republican

[theHandpuppet]

46. I noticed this just yesterday quite by accident

Check out the official website for Kit Bond of Missouri.

[HockeyMom]

49. Oh, Yeah! A New York Republican would want to hide under a Rock

:rofl:

[arcane1]

51. ah, now that's the kind of news that makes me smile :)

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[DRoseDARs]

52. All together now: CUT AND RUN!!! CUT AND RUN!!!

eom

[whistle]

53. They can run but they can't hide

[aquart]

54. Wow, guys. Something to be ashamed of?

[longship]

55. Here's how to frame this.

My opponent is so ashamed that (s)he rubberstamps the President's failed agenda in Congress that (s)He is hiding the GOP logo in his/her advertisements. I'll tell you right now that when I get to Washington, I'll do things that will make you proud that you voted for a Democrat.

[don954]

58. i mentioned this 2 weeks ago, on of the republican candidates for

gov is doing that here, never mentioning he is a republican and only showing "republican for governor" in very small print at the bottom of the screen at the end, and i was told im just reading things into it! SEE! Im not imagining things!!!

[pa28]

60. I'd love to see a reprise of the 1994 Republican ads.

But this time you would have (insert R candidate here) morphing into Delay, then Cheney, then Bush.

:evilgrin:

Oh yeah, and don't forget the horror movie soundtrack.

Nobody should be allowed to forget that GOP incumbents have been nothing more than yes-men for the extremist agenda and incompetent blundering of the Bush administration

[Pacifist Patriot]

62. Oh that's just rich!

Because voters cannot direct their anger at Bush, many GOP congressional incumbents fear that voters might direct their frustration at them.

Wake up nimrods. We're not just angry with Bush, we're pretty pissed off at you too! Not to mention oppressed, embarrassed and disgusted. Although I detest Weldon's tendency to shove his head so far up Bush's ass he can see out of the Commander in Thief's eyeballs, I also happen to detest him for the way he has represented his district for the past 12 years. Um, let me count. I think that predates Bush's first inauguration. Wait, wait a minute. Why yes. Yes it does.

And with this much swearing in a post, that is clearly a sign its time for me to go to bed. Good night my dear Democrats. Sweet dreams of a Democratic majority sworn in next January.

[yorkiemommie1]

66. What??? No more struttin' around?

But you must remain loyal to the 'Leader of the Pack'!!!!

Damned cowards!

[bliss_eternal]

73. ..If this is true, I'll be glad to see them back in their closets

(so to speak).

I've noticed in the years since Faux has been on the air, that they seem more comfortable with being out as Repukes. Prior to that, it wasn't something you would hear anyone talk about openly, at least that was my experience.

I've noticed that more will openly admit it now--stating it as part of their "biographical info." I find this weird, because is that really telling people what is relevant about you? To me, it says "I'm hateful, selfish and lack the ability to think for myself." What could they be thinking it says about them, that they are the one's on top? :shrug:

[struggle4progress]

70. R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W = R = W!

[PATRICK]

72. It seems common in our region at least

for both parties not to mention their affiliation on advertising. the goal is to blur into that bi-partisan image because upstate NY is not rabid GOP nor ultra liberal but full of old fashioned loyalties and mild independents. I was handing out pamphlets for our Dem House candidate in 2004 and she got the usual criticism for not mentioning party etc. It is very common among judgeship candidates. In fact, when affiliation is highlighted it is that hyphenated "-Conservative" which seems the most useful tag to present to voters.

But for incumbent Reynolds to now go stealth is rather low, and criticism equally is more effective in bringing it up.

The problem that affects the challenger is indicated in this strategy, that is the necessity of waking a public that thinks local politics bears as much reality as the national and that "our" local guy doesn't turn into Mr. Hyde in DC. Campaign managers just can't seem to get a grip on this inertia but play to it
and either sink or go up in flames. I am not so impressed when the campaign begins touting and defending the credentials of the manager instead of the candidate and then the manager becomes THE problem. Something is very wrong there. I would suggest some part of the campaign needs some new, non native perspective to break through this seemingly eternal miasma. This why non New Yorkers sometimes by sheer "foreign" mystique sparked support upstate.

[Gogi]

75. Add Jim Talentless (R-MO) to the list.

Buncha cowards!

[Demeter]

76. They Can Run, They Can Try To Hide, But They Can't Win

History will label the GOP as the losers of the millenium. The ugliness of the Civil War politicians will be surpassed forever. Hoover and Harding and Nixon and Reagan will forever more be mere footnotes, reduced to also-ran status in the Ugly American Presidential contest.

And the Greatest Generation will be left in the dust, as the Survivors come out of their shellshock and rebuild that City on a Hill.

[izzybeans]

79. Mitch Daniels (R) governer of Indiana ran with little green signs that

said nothing but My Man Mitch! I was living out of state at the time but ask my family if the Green party had somehow gotten stronger while I was gone.

Nobody really knew a whole lot about him other than he was another failed businessman turned politician. In fact the only people who knew anything about him were heavily involved dems and the republicans who already supported him because of brand loyalty.

[Cobalt-60]

80. Rustoleum

Any printed signs can be quickly amended to reveal their true status.
Take a can of insignia red spray paint (any brand, I just like Rustoleum) and scrawl a capital "R" next to their face!