A new political ad running only in Missouri is using powerful images from September 11th to rally support for the war on terror.
The ad is being run by a group called Progress for America, a conservative group that gained prominence during the 2004 presidential election. This latest ad links images of past terrorist attacks on the United States to the ongoing war in Iraq. It's also meant to influence Missouri's U.S. Senate race.
A spokeswoman with Progress for America said this advertisement part of the group's issue advocacy campaign. "Progress for America chose Missouri because a lot of the politics surrounding the war on terror are being debated here," said spokeswoman Nicole Philbin.
Philbin didn't say the ad was meant to impact the U.S. Senate race, but she didn't have to.
"In order to do this legally, it is important for them to stay away from supporting a candidate, which is why no candidate appears in the ad, but they can set up issues the candidates can later run with," said Missouri State University communications professor Eric Morris.
Morris, who is doing polling for local Democrats this fall, said the ad is definitely meant to influence voters this November.
"The voice is very dark, the message is very dark, you've got people with machine guns, it's definitely an ad that's predominately about the appeals to fear," Morris said.
Morris said the ad links the struggle with terrorists with the ongoing war in Iraq, without explicitly saying it.
"This ad does not say that Iraq had anything to do with 9-11 but it speaks about it in a way that allows people to connect them if they are inclined to. Talking about 2 issues to suggest a connection creates an idea of a connection in people's mind, whether it is true or false," Morris said.
How to fight the war on terror and what tactics the U.S. should use has become a key point of difference in the race between Senator Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill.
"Obviously the point is to assign a fairly simplistic motive to people who might disagree with the (Bush) administration's policies," Morris said.
Sen. Talent has attacked Claire McCaskill for opposing the President's warrantless wiretapping program used to track terrorists. McCaskill has refuted that, saying she supports the tactics of eavesdropping, but believes the law needs to be changed in order to do it legally.
The 60-second terror ad focuses on the terrorist surveillance issue, saying . . . "Many seem to have forgotten the evil that happened only five years ago . . . They would cut and run in the Middle East, leaving Al-Qaeda to attack us again."
"I think this is actually intended to be where not they are not just trying to do this just for the base, but also at the swing voter," Morris said.
Talent campaign spokesman, Rich Chrismer, said the ad shows "the importance of taking the offensive in the war on terror."
When I asked if Sen. Talent believed the message of the ad is to link the current war in Iraq with the overall struggle on terror, Chrismer said the Senator believes the U.S. needs to be able to fight on "multiple fronts."
He also said Sen. Talent believes Iraq is "the central front" in the war on terror.
"We must counter the terrorists efforts, and to be effective we must fight on three "fronts" at once, as it were: we must rebuild our intelligence and covert operations capability (we largely gave this up after Vietnam), we must deprive the terrorists of national bases of support, and we must work with mainstream Islam around the world to show Arab Muslims in particular that there is a future for them in the principles of liberal democracy," Chrismer said.
"The operation in Iraq is a central part of all three of these "fronts." Our goal there was, first, to remove Saddam Hussein. His regime was an organic threat to world peace; he had twice invaded his neighbors and was systematically violating the commitments he made after Desert Storm. He had harbored and trained terrorists; more fundamentally, he was a tyrant who wanted weapons of mass destruction and was obstructing the war against the terrorists," Chrismer said.
"Second, the United States, in cooperation with mainstream Iraqi leaders from all parts and ethnic groups in the country, is building a multi-ethnic democracy in Iraq that, if successful, will be a strong ally in the War on Terror and will confront and confound the vision of the terrorists for the Muslim world," he added.
"The terrorists know how important the struggle in Iraq is to the overall war. That is why they are trying so hard to disrupt the new government. Yet they are not succeeding. The sacrifice and hardships endured by all the soldiers and families whose loved ones are serving in Iraq have resulted in major achievements for the Iraqi people."
A call to McCaskill campaign spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh about the ad was not returned.
Philbin, with Progress for America, called the ad buy in Missouri "significant," and said the ad will run for one-week statewide.
Both Talent and McCaskill took down their campaign ads today in remembrance of the Sept. 11th attacks.
We want your opinion. What do you think of the ad? Over-the-top and inappropriate -OR- a fair reminder of what's at stake? What about its influence here in Missouri?
Watch it here, and join the debate.
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