Friday, October 27, 2006

The Fox Ad Fallout Impact on Talent

Will the national controversy over Michael J. Fox's ad for Claire McCaskill and the comments made by Rush Limbaugh hurt Sen. Jim Talent's chances at retaining his seat?

Conservative Joe Scarborough on MSNBC took up the issue on his show tonight.

"Tonight, Michael J. Fox, which we showed you, went on Katie Couric, "The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric." This has been on our show. It`s been on every show. It was on the "Today" show, reaching seven, eight, nine million people. All of a sudden, you have a single ad and a controversy which Rush Limbaugh -- he`s defending himself every day, but every day he does, he gins up the controversy more and more, and that`s bad news. That means Republican candidate Jim Talent is having to answer this on the campaign trail. Quite likely, he`s going to lose Missouri because of it, and many political analysts have long said Missouri could be the tipping point to make Harry Reid the next leader of the U.S. Senate. What do Republicans do, if anything, to turn this terrible controversy around?," Joe Scarborough asked on his MSNBC program.

PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I`m not sure. I think Michael J. Fox is now making a mistake cussing out Rush and getting into a battle with them because then it descends to a case of politics, left wing and right wing. Secondly, I do not know, Joe, how Talent has handled this, but what he ought to do is cut himself loose from the Michael J. Fox-Rush battle, the way the fellow in Tennessee, Corker, has effectively said, I wish they`d pull down the ad, it`s got nothing to do with me...

SCARBOROUGH: So are you saying Talent needs to attack Rush Limbaugh?
BUCHANAN: That who needs to?
SCARBOROUGH: Does Rush Limbaugh -- does Jim Talent...
BUCHANAN: No, no, no!
SCARBOROUGH: ... the Missouri candidate, need to attack Rush Limbaugh?
BUCHANAN: No. He just says, Look, I don`t think he should have said that about Michael J. Fox. Let`s move on. Get out of the argument and let Rush and Fox get in the argument. This is what Corker is doing in Tennessee.

1 comment:

Dionne said...

This is ridiculous!! First of all the fact that Rush is being crucified over his statements is beyond absurd. And Talent was on Sean Hannity's show yesterday saying he's not bothered by the Fox ad because he's used to attacks that aren't true. Which I think was a great way to handle it.

And all the controversy over the ad has brought attention to all the deceptions in Amendment 2. I think this ad backfires on McCaskill and it helps the opponents of Amendment 2. The fact that Rush's comments would win it for McCaskill is wishful thinking on the Democrats' part. And as a conservative I've never been a big fan of Scarborough.