Tennessee’s Republican Senators Rebuke TNGOP’s Tactics [UPDATED]
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 2:56 pmThe office of Senator Bob Corker has today echoed the statements of Barack Obama regarding the Tennessee GOP’s attack on Michelle Obama.
When asked how the Senator viewed the Tennessee Republican Party’s dredging up of an old comment regarding Michelle Obama’s pride in our country and Barack Obama’s subsequent response that the TNGOP was “low class” and should “lay off his wife”, Senator Corker’s Chief of Todd Womack responded with the following statement:
“After what the Republican National Committee did to our campaign with their infamous ‘Call Me’ ad - which we immediately denounced - we have strongly encouraged the national party and state parties to absolutely refrain from getting involved in negative personal campaigning, and we have asked the state party to remove their You Tube ad from their Web site. Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.”
These words are similar to comments made by Senator Corker in the Washington Post laying blame on the RNC’s infamous ad for putting at risk his close 2006 election campaign with Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.
The request by Corker for the state party to refrain from getting involved in this type of negative campaigning also brings to mind, of course, an earlier episode in TNGOP history.
Back in February of this year, Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator John McCain, the RNC and other prominent Republican politicians called into question another TNGOP press release on the Obama family.
The release titled “Anti-Semites for Obama” which, in addition to calling attention to Obama’s alleged “anti-semitic ties”, used Obama’s middle name in an inflammatory manner and displayed a picture of the Senator in Somali tribal wear misidentified as Muslim garb.
“Anti-Semites for Obama” was removed from the TNGOP website only after repeated calls to do so by the state’s senior Senator, Lamar Alexander.
UPDATE: A statement from Senator Lamar Alexander’s spokesman, Lee Pitts:
“There are probably better ways to communicate our pride in America, and we need to focus on those.”
UPDATE II: The Corker statement has been updated with a request for the removal of the YouTube.
Comments
20 Responses to “Tennessee’s Republican Senators Rebuke TNGOP’s Tactics [UPDATED]”
The fact that the Hobbsichord (did I spell that right?) is still churning out tunes for the TNGOP speaks volumes about his employer.
Is it too much to expect that top GOP elected officials could have some influence over their own state party?
[...] the last few minutes, I received a stronger version of a statement released by Senator Bob Corker’s office in reaction to the Tennessee [...]
And I thought living in Grand Rapids, Michigan was bad. My sister out in California who is a republican thinks where I live is Fascist (republican) and California is socialist (democrat). I can’t help but wonder what she would think Tennessee is. Remind me never to go through the state again. You are beginning to remind me of Macon Georgia and white supremists. Really sad.
Yes Debra, because Detroit has never had racial problems.
[...] Sen. Bob Corker wimped out and called called the video “negative personal campaigning.” Tennessee’s other [...]
“I’m wild and a little crazy, too / Some girls don’t like boys like me / Aw, but some girls do …”
– Sawyer Brown, “Some Girls do”
Michele Obama is campaigning for her husband and what she says is fair game. The problem with the ad is that it’s dumb: it seems to be saying that she’s indecisive because in one speech she said this was the first time she was proud of her country and later in the day she said she was “really proud.” This contrast is irrelevant. This issue is that she’s bitter, whiney, & narcissistic. She is a racist who localizes all of the problems in the world in “white America” and she has unrepentant home-grown terrorists for friends. Her husband is very thin skinned and takes offense at everything. Too bad. He doesn’t have a right not to be offended and his wife–who as inserted herself into this campaign–doesn’t have the right to call foul when she’s challenged. Having said that, this ad was a stupid waste of money.
[...] Sher, at the end of an obligatory article on the controversy and Senatorial rebukes set off by the Tennessee Republican Party’s YouTube missive welcoming Michelle Obama to [...]
Hey Colin, do you mean like the old Screamin’Dean has control over the Socialist-Democrat party?
Yeah, that’s what I thought…
The issues in this race are the War, the Economy, healthcare, etc. - not whether a candidate’s wife is “bitter, whiney, & narcissistic”. That is, unless you want the election to be about misogynist ad-hominem attacks.
[...] Tennessee Democratic Party, learning at the foot of the master, releases a YouTube video welcoming John McCain to [...]
[...] LA Times reports that Michelle Obama’s “Proud” statement, highlighted by the Tennessee Republican Party upon her visit to Nashville last month, is still resonant in [...]
[...] “Proud Video” as a harbinger of things to come as their spokesman needles the local press for not covering it: In what could be seen as a test run for future attacks, the Tennessee [...]
[...] “I would probably agree with both our senators, I’m not sure that was advisable,” Haslam said when speaking of the TNGOP’s February press release touting alleged antisemitic ties of Barack Obama. Haslam said he had not actually seen the subsequent Michelle Obama “Proud” video which also had the TNGOP being roundly criticized for their tactics but seemed to deferred to Senators Alexander and Corker on the issue. [...]
[...] to settle on a line of attack against Obama. Tennessee’s two Republican Senators expressed reservations, with a staffer for Bob Corker demanding that the Michelle Obama spot be taken down, and a [...]
[...] to settle on a line of attack against Obama. Tennessee’s two Republican Senators expressed reservations, with a staffer for Bob Corker demanding that the Michelle Obama spot be taken down, and a [...]
[...] to settle on a line of attack against Obama. Tennessee’s two Republican Senators expressed reservations, with a staffer for Bob Corker demanding that the Michelle Obama spot be taken down, and a [...]
[...] previous Republican administration, on June 2, following yet another controversy, this one over the TNGOP’s video welcoming Barack Obama to Tennessee, Robin Smith wrote a letter to Governor Phil Bredesen defending [...]
I just moved to tn to be close to my family, and I’m ashamed of the republican party here..changing to Democrat party!!!!