That looks like a Sopranos trademark violation! Someone should alert HBO.

I think we can chalk this up as another entry in the "Republicans can't distinguish TV from reality" category, along with their torture-loving references to Jack Bauer of 24.

It actually makes sense, as Stephen Moore, whose group made this ad, tried to trot out the "Americans love Jack Bauer because Americans love torture" line to some serious BOOING on Bill Maher's HBO show last week. If you haven't seen it, you should watch. Moore's comment is so outlandish and despicable, it'll make your skin curl and restore your faith in why you are a Democrat at the same time.

He should be join many of his right-wing brethren on the permanent "Not Credible" list. The left needs an answer to what the right has done to demonize Michael Moore, George Soros, etc.

The Club for Growth is so offensive and so stupid (goodbye Chafee,for example) that I have even contemplated donating to them since they have the potential to decimate the Republican Party. I don't because they also in the most extreme circumstances have the potential to bring authoritarian rule to the USA by turning the Republican Party into an anti-democratic, war-oriented monolith.

global citizen

Kean Jr. has run a campaign based on distortions, false accusations, and gutter politics -- even hiring someone to do a swift boat style film on Menendez --, so this doesn't surprise me in the least. Menendez has been crisscrossing the state at a quick pace and is gaining momentum in this race, as he has a 9-point lead in the latest polls.

Speaking of media, one of the ways the Menendez campaign and progressive affiliates has been effective has been in using new media, particularly YouTube, to show Kean Jr. running away from reporters who were asking about his stance on Iraq and running away from a military veteran's mother, who was pushing him to answer questions on Iraq that he refused to answer.

I'm optimistic about Menendez keeping his seat, anti-Italian ads and all.

This actor doesn't pronounce Lautenberg like he's from New Jersey.

GOP ad's: WI-8 commentary

Joel McNally: How low will GOP go? Try Gard's serial killer ad
By Joel McNally, Oct. 21, 2006

Believe it or not, the worst Republican campaign commercial this season isn't an XXX-rated ad about transgendered Eskimos and Vietnamese prostitutes that has been banned by La Crosse area TV stations....(please read at the bottom for the details on this "key" issue)....

.....So how could Kagen, a respected Appleton physician running ahead of Assembly Republican leader John Gard for the congressional seat vacated by Mark Green, possibly be connected with David Spanbauer, a child rapist and murderer?

Only very tortuously and dishonestly.

First, the Republican Party of Wisconsin ran commercials attacking Kagen, who runs four allergy clinics, for the common practice among doctors and dentists of filing lawsuits against patients who don't pay their bills. It was difficult to understand why Republicans would be opposed to business owners collecting debts from deadbeat customers. At first, it appeared the message was that Kagen, a wealthy physician funding his own campaign, had built his fortune through strong-arm tactics.

But a follow-up mailing from Republicans revealed something far more unsavory. The mailing noted that many of the small claims cases on behalf of Kagen's clinics were filed by a "bloodthirsty" lawyer who had once represented Spanbauer, who was convicted of raping and murdering children in the '90s.

It's rare that repugnant campaign advertising manages to smear both doctors and lawyers simultaneously.

There is nothing "bloodthirsty" about a lawyer representing a client who is accused of a heinous crime. That is the very basis of our criminal justice system.

No matter how despicable the crime, a defendant is entitled to the best possible defense by a competent attorney. That's what requires the prosecution to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The process is intended to protect innocent people from being railroaded into prison or to the gallows as a result of inflamed public opinion. Since hundreds of innocent people have been freed after spending decades in prison or on death row, it clearly doesn't always work.

An attorney who does his or her job by representing someone accused of murdering children isn't advocating that children be murdered. When the same attorney files small claims to collect a doctor's unpaid bills, that mundane legal action is not dripping in blood.

To intentionally twist such facts to try to tie an opposing political candidate to the raping and murdering of children is unconscionable. It's led a former Outagamie County Republican Party chairman to reject Gard and endorse Kagen in protest...snip

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=104078&ntpid=0

Referencing Josh's front page link to this story: I thought this was a Goomba.

They blew the accents.

So, I hear this ad and all I can think of is every time I've met somebody who says, "oh, you're from Jersey, what exit?"

You're gonna make an ad like this, you gotta get the accent right. This sounds like what people think we sound like.

I see this and my first thought is "yeah, that Tom Kean, he's really one of us." Lends a whole lot more credibility to the "he's in bed with Bush" ads. Only a guy who isn't one of ours would ever make an ad like this.

Nice job, suckers.