UPDATE: Please help us keep ads like this one on the air!
Not long ago, the DLCC released our first television ad in Wisconsin, urging residents to demand that Republican state Senator Luther Olsen stop his support of Gov. Scott Walker’s radical, anti-worker agenda.
Today, our ad is catching fire all over the country.
The ad itself – and Sen. Olsen’s betrayal of working families – has been showcased on MSNBC’s Last Word, with Lawrence O’Donnell:
Join us below the fold for more:
The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent and Chris Cillizza both featured the new DLCC ad, as well.
Sargent, who’s been all over the Wisconsin budget story from the beginning, wanted to know why the ad uses Luther Olsen in District 14 (rather than, say, Dan Kapanke or Randy Hopper) to make our point:
The DLCC specifically chose Olsen because he had previously criticized Walker's proposal before voting for it.
And since blogs are often like getting the newspaper a week ahead of time, both Talking Points Memo’s Eric Kleefeld and Huffington Post’s Sam Stein sought to read the tea leaves of what our ad could mean for the future.
All this attention sure feels great, but that’s not why we’re running ads like this.
We’re doing it because Wisconsin residents need to be reminded of the important issues at stake. And while progressives may have the energy advantage, and the public opinion advantage, and the advantage of just being right – Republicans are pouring everything they have into opposing us.
Politico reports that GOP attack ads are going to start targeting members of the Wisconsin 14 – starting with Sen. Jim Holperin (D).
And Karl Rove’s shady American Crossroads GPS – which raised and spent more than $70 million in secret donations in 2010 – is launching a national ad campaign attacking teachers and President Obama. And the centerpiece of Rove’s ad? He’s peddling the outrageous lie that teachers don’t care at all about their students.
That’s the classic Karl Rove playbook. People liked and respected John Kerry’s military service in 2004 – so out came the swift-boat smears. Right now, people like and respect teachers – so Rove is doing everything he can to tear them down.
That’s the sort of dishonesty our ad is up against – and we haven’t even mentioned a certain billionaire you might remember from a recent prank call.
But we’re not backing down.
So please click here to donate $14 to help keep our ad and others like it on the air for as long as possible.
And once again, here’s the new DLCC ad that’s kicking up such a storm: