If you thought that the Clinton campaign's planted questions were bad, wait til you read the latest news item concerning the deceptive nature of Clinton's campaign ads.s
Le Claire, IA - A new storm is brewing on the Iowa campaign trail today. Rivals, who have accused Senator Hillary Clinton of coaching or planting questioners at her campaign appearances now say that her campaign ads are unfairly biased. Clinton's ads, rivals say, show the Senator only in a favorable light, while her many well-known negatives are completely ignored in the thirty second spots.
"This is exactly how George Bush ran his campaign against us in 2004," said former Senator John Edwards, speaking at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Claire, IA. "I think Hillary needs to come clean in her ads - I won't be satisfied until I see a "How I Did It" ad about Vince Foster."
An Edwards spokesperson emphasized that total fairness would be the standard for all of the former Senator's campaign's ads: "Staffers and online supporters have already arranged a photo-op featuring the Senator riding in an Army tank with appropriate head-gear and are working on an ad emphasizing our new position of raising taxes for all Americans". He expressed disappointment that the former Senator had never been in a position that allowed him to furlough a convicted rapist and had no combat citations that could be unfairly challenged, but supporters were busy scouring the former attorney's files for unpopular or unattractive cases he may have litigated.
Meanwhile, rival Senator Barack Obama asserted that Clinton's self-promoting ads were more evidence of the "failed politics of divisiveness and partisan rancor that have characterized Washington for far too long". The Illinois Senator pledged that his ads would not only emphasize his lack of experience and middle name, but would give equal time to GOP candidates Rudolf Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain. The campaign was said to be still negotiating with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee over the availability of gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.
An unnamed staffer at Democratic headquarters in Washington, DC expressed frustration as well: "We have worked hard for thirty years to develop the Democratic brand of a party of incompetents and losers who can't win an election even when they get the most votes or push legislation through Congress when they have a majority and the support of 70% of the American public. While Congressional leaders continue to develop and support the Democratic strategy, Senator Clinton's self-serving ads threaten years of hard work."
A spokesman for the campaign of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel expressed pleasure that other Democratic candidates were "adopting our strategy of showing our candidate in the most unattractive and unfavorable light possible".
While the campaign of Congressman Dennis Kucinich was unavailable for comment, a Kucinich supporter, asked about the ad and plant controversies opined, "Plant? I don't care - as long as they still have Jimmy Page, it's cool."
Senator Clinton, reviewing a selection of American flag lapel pins in a department store at Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf, IA, responded, "I think it's important that we focus on the important issues the American people care about, and not the irrelevancies many of our opponents are promoting." The Senator's agenda for the afternoon also included a discount haircut at the nearby Palmer College of Cosmetology.
Update: Insiders now report that not only will Clinton's ads continue to emphasize only the candidate's positives, but it appears that the Clinton ads have been carefully scripted, with voice-over dialog printed on paper and collated in a binder. Even the order of the images displayed was carefully pre-planned in advance.