As many of you are aware, Kay Hagan is currently fighting a tough battle against incumbent North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole. It’s still a close race, but Hagan has opened up a healthy lead against her Republican opponent, some polls suggesting a 49/42 split.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, Dole’s campaign has its back up against the wall so tightly that it’s lashing out in the most vitriolic way possible, a method which seems to have become increasingly popular among GOP candidates this cycle: attacking the Democratic candidate’s faith. Dole recently released an ad (now being referred to as “Godless”) attempting to portray Hagan as a heathen liberal by claiming that a leader of the Godless Americans PAC held a fundraiser in her honor. The ad asserts that Hagan “took godless money” and asks, “What did [she] promise in return?”
This is the sort of slanderous filth of which the esteemed Governor Palin would be proud (if she weren’t already too busy practicing witchcraft).
Not that it should make any difference, but Hagan is a Sunday school teacher and has been a regular churchgoer for years. Calling her faith into question is disgusting, but the ad gets viler still. It closes with a picture of Hagan’s face and a voiceover of a woman saying, “There is no god.” Only problem? It isn’t even Hagan’s voice. The following clip from CNN shows the ad and Hagan’s response.
Even Republican consultant Alex Castellanos admits,
“When you’re making ads that say there is no god, it usually means your campaign doesn’t have much of a prayer. It’s not the best thing to be doing here.”
You know what they say about broken clocks.
Those of us who have been following and supporting Hagan’s campaign are outraged, but tactics of this nature are enough to horrify any decent American, regardless of party affiliation. I received the following email from Hagan’s campaign this morning:
Elizabeth Dole should be absolutely ashamed of herself. I can’t begin to tell you how outraged I am that she has attacked my Christian faith.
Her latest ad is fabricated and pathetic.
Our nation is in a crisis and the only solution Elizabeth Dole has to offer is mud and slime and more of the same. Wall Street was just bailed out and our economy is in shambles and Dole is doing whatever she can to talk about anything BUT the issues.
Enough. This kind of politics will not be tolerated.
Help me respond by paying for an ad directly addressing these claims attacking my Christian faith.
We already have two response ads — watch them — and please donate $100, $50 or $25 to help me directly respond to Dole’s desperate, divisive and deplorable ads in a third ad.
I don’t know what things were like when she grew up in North Carolina, but the North Carolina I raised my children in would never condone this kind of personal slander.
I was raised going to Sunday school and church every week and I raised my children that way. The Hagan family has attended the First Presbyterian Church for over 100 years — that’s where I’ve taught Sunday school.
If Senator Dole wants to pass judgment on my faith, that’s her right — but that’s not the kind of response MY faith teaches.
Join me in taking a stand against the same old tired rhetoric that divides people by contributing today.
Your support at this critical time is imperative to our success.
But even more so — your support right now is imperative to change the politics of our country.
We need a new direction — leadership that will bring people together, not tear people apart. Leadership that offers new solutions, not the same old, tired rhetoric.
The people of North Carolina have had enough. No more. It’s about time for a change.
Hagan has released the following ads in response:
Brief and effective, but Hagan needs our help to keep them on the air and respond with a third. It’s time to fight back against old politics, and you can do more than just support our nominee for president. We can take this country back state by state and seat by seat. Hagan needs our help to fight this vicious smear, and we don’t have much time left. She needs our help now. Let’s show the Republican party that tactics like these aren’t going to work anymore. Let’s send Elizabeth Dole packing. Please CONTRIBUTE to Hagan’s campaign – in this late hour, even the smallest amount will make a huge difference. Let’s take a stand against slander and divisiveness and show Senator Dole that her kind of politics is outdated and ineffective. Let’s put her out on the street and put a good Democrat who knows the meaning of integrity in her place.
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