Rank anti-mosque bigotry flops as campaign tactic

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/09/rank_anti-muslim_bigotry_flops.html


Rank anti-mosque bigotry flops as campaign tactic
Greg Sargent


The other day, GOP candidate Renee Ellmers, who's mounting a tough challenge to Dem Rep Bob Etheridge in North Carolina, ran a rather unsightly new ad attacking her opponent over the "ground zero mosque." The ad used the terms "Muslims" and "they" interchangeably for the people who have built "victory mosques" throughout history, including the planned Islamic Center in lower Manhattan.

Alas, the anti-mosque tactic doesn't appear to be taking hold with voters, if the Dem firm Public Policy Polling is to be believed:

North Carolina isn't exactly a bastion of liberalism but even there a majority of voters think it's off base for candidates to exploit the proposed 'Ground Zero mosque' as a campaign issue. 51% label doing so as 'inappropriate' to just 37% who consider it to be an acceptable tactic.

This is particularly pertinent in the Triangle where Renee Ellmers, challenging long time Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge, has run television ads about the mosque. Voters in that part of the state are particularly strong in their views that it's inappropriate with 56% expressing that sentiment.

As it happens, the ad could, however, help Ms. Ellmers with the GOP base, 60 percent of whom say it's okay by them.

What's amusing is that North Carolina voters are not known for being overly sensitive about bigoted campaign appeals. It's there, of course, that Senator Jesse Helms ran his notorious "hands" ad, which featured white hands crumpling up a resume while a voiceover intoned that the man's job had gone to "a minority."

But anti-mosque rhetoric? Not acceptable as a campaign tactic, North Carolinians say.

Ad at link~

[Scurrilous]

1. Good news.

K & R :thumbsup: