In Compliance: TNGOP YouTube Not On Their Site — Never Was
Posted on May 21, 2008 at 8:51 amSharon Cobb wants to know why the TNGOP’s “Proud” video is still “up” after Senator Corker asked that it be removed. Post Politics contacted Senator Corker’s office this morning and was told that they would be saying “nothing new” on the subject. TNGOP’s spokesman Bill Hobbs also had no comment on the situation.
One reason the video might still be up, however, is due to semantics. The Corker statement reads as follows:
“After the Republican National Committee damaged 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.”
Key words here are “their website” meaning, one would assume, the TNGOP website. And sure enough, the video is not there, never was.
Linked from there? Sure. Embedded there? No. The video is on YouTube’s website, the TNGOP’s channel, yes, but YouTube’s website.
So, if you wanted to parse words, which certain folks on both sides might be inclined to do, one could say that the TNGOP is technically in compliance with Senator Corker’s directive.
UPDATE: To be clear, neither the Office of Senator Bob Corker nor the TNGOP offered up the semantic argument. That argument is merely a hypothetical conjured up by your humble blogger.
TNGOP’s Controversial Obama Video Features Former Strip Club Owner Expressing His Pride In America
Posted on May 20, 2008 at 7:58 amAndy 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 Nashville, reveals some surprising information regarding one of the “regular Americans” discussing the reasons for their pride in America in the now infamous video.
Along with other common folk, such as former state house candidate Juan Borges and a legislative staffer of state Senator Mae Beavers, one of the Americans featured in the video is a Mr. Bob Pope. Mostly known for being the namesake of many Nashville gun shows, Pope, in the early to mid 90s had a financial interest in yet another controversial business taking advantage of the constitutional liberties America provides:
One person featured in the video is Bob Pope, a Nashville-area businessman. Mr. Hobbs described Mr. Pope as a “big Second Amendment guy, runs a big gun show.”
On the GOP video, Mr. Pope, who runs Bob Pope’s Gun Shows, says, “I’m Bob Pope, and I’m proud to be an American, because mainly of the First Amendment, the right to worship God anywhere I choose to, and the Second Amendment, I get the right to keep and bear arms.”
In 1994, Mr. Pope came under criticism from state Democrats after running a full-page Nashville newspaper ad attacking statewide Democratic candidates’ stances on gun rights.
Democrats at the time contended that Mr. Pope had an ownership interest in a Nashville topless dance bar, Bob’s Gold Club. In an October 1994 interview with the then-Chattanooga Times, Mr. Pope acknowledged having a financial interest in the club.
“I am not in the direct management of it,” Mr. Pope said at the time, noting he put up money for the club four years previously as an investor.
Efforts to reach Mr. Pope on Monday through a cell phone listed on his gun show Web site were unsuccessful. Bob’s Gold Club, meanwhile, is no longer listed in telephone directories.
Asked if he had known of Mr. Pope’s 1990s’ ties to a nude dance bar, Mr. Hobbs said no.
“I’d have to know more details about the story,” Mr. Hobbs said of whether he would have used Mr. Pope in the video had he known of the connection.
While the “leave me alone” coalition has a strong history inside the Republican Party, the TNGOP has not really been known for its laissez faire attitude on moral issues.
Moderate Senators Corker and Alexander have already rebuked the state party for this video. Will this new revelation about Bob Pope lead those on the theocratic right to express their misgivings as well?
SEE ALSO:
Munday’s Mouth
Enclave
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.
You Know How We Do: The TNGOP Makes National News Again With Its Reverse Crush On Obama
Posted on May 15, 2008 at 7:40 pmIf the goal of a communications shop is to get publicity for its organization, then the TNGOP has no equal. They did it once. Now they’ve gone and done it again.
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The TNGOP Welcomes Michelle Obama To Nashville
Blogger Gets The High Hat From Obama Folks
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