Giuliani hires controversial GOP ad firm that created racially-charged "Harold, Call Me" '06 ad

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN/AP: August 23, 2007
Giuliani hires controversial image firm


Giuliani's new media consultants created a controversial ad, above, targeting former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has a new team of media consultants with a strong record of electing GOP candidates, sometimes using controversial ads.

The team is led by Heath Thompson and his Dallas-based firm, Scott Howell & Company. Thompson, as director of President Bush's 2000 campaign in South Carolina, helped Bush to an 11-point victory in that state.

Last year, a commercial made by Thompson's firm for Tennessee's U.S. Senate race was criticized for what the NAACP and others said were racial overtones.

Run by the Republican National Committee against Democrat Harold Ford, who is black, the ad showed a white woman saying she had met Ford at a Playboy-sponsored party. As the ad ended, the woman, her shoulders bared, whispered into the camera, "Harold, call me."

The NAACP said the commercial played to prejudices about black men and white women, and Republican Bob Corker, who won the Senate seat, called the ad tacky. The RNC denied any racial subtext but asked TV stations to stop running the commercial.

The firm's client roster has included Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. Clients who lost 2006 Senate races include former Rep. Mark Kennedy of Minnesota, former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard in Michigan....

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/23/giuliani-hires-controversial-image-firm/

[Mojambo]

1. Man, 2008 is going to be so fucking ugly.

The Republicans are going to be all about scorched earth.

[AlCzervik]

2. correct and we damn well better damn all the torpedoes on them.

no more "We're above that" bullshit.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. And one of our Presidential frontrunners, is, of course, a black man.

They used racism with this ad in '06; they used it in South Carolina against McCain. They used it as far back as "Willie Horton." Despicable.

[Colobo]

4. Giuliani is getting ready. We must get ready as well.

Let's nail that inmoral bastard like he deserves.

[AlCzervik]

5. yeah the cable network that showed it the most was Faux and who went to work there?

Harold Ford. That really disappointed me.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Yup.

The repukes are gonna be Black Flag, No quarter given, no prisoners, all the way. The sooner the bright lights of the party realize that, the better their chances.

No reason to delude ourselves about what's coming.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. a.m. kick

[Augdog20]

8. Don't put anything past Rudy or these ruthless Repugs / Add Time mag article to your reading list

The Repugs are absolutely ruthless. Remember that these are the people that brought you the racist Willie Horton ads in the 1988 presidential campaign.
Giuliani is absolutely ruthless. I am not at all surprised that he has retained this advertising firm.

Bookmark and forward these sites to your friends,
magazine and major newspaper articles on vindictive, flip-flopping, dictatorial Rudy Giuliani:
Andrea Ripley, "Behind Giulani's Tough Talk":
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1655262,00.html
and some articles earlier this month:
Wayne Barrett, "Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11: On the stump, Rudy can't help spreading smoke and ashes about his lousy record"
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0732,barrett,77463,6.html
and the mysteriously brief New Yorker profile, which Huffington Post notes mentions firefighters only once:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_boyer