TN-Sen: RNC Pulls Racist Ad, Offers Up (Another) Outrageous Substitute

MSNBC:

The Republican National Committee said Wednesday it was taking off the air an attack ad that critics said was a racial slur against Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., one day after the party's chairman said he saw nothing wrong with it.

I wouldn't necessarily view the fact the ad is no longer airing as a victory; after all, the RNC got exactly what it wanted.  As it did with the Daisy-double "vote republican or die" ad, it shelled out a limited amount of money for a limited ad buy while relying on an all-too-willing press to provide hours and hours of free exposure for its  lies.  And so, the RNC got its racist message out to the voters of Tennessee, and unfortunately, that message will resonate with some voters.

Dirty tricks.  Cheap tricks.  Nothing new from a cornered GOP.

Indeed, all that's happened is that the RNC has swapped one ugly lie for another:

In its place is a new spot called "Shaky," which started airing Sunday in Knoxville but has expanded statewide. It alleges that Ford "took cash from Hollywood's top X-rated porn moguls" and that he "wants to give the abortion pill to our schoolchildren."

Yet, via Greg Sarget at TPM Cafe, we learn that Tennessee stations are refusing to air the RNC's latest lies:

At least two Tennessee stations are refusing to run a new Republican National Committee ad attacking Dem Harold Ford, Jr., saying that they want more factual documentation of the ads from the RNC before running them, a Ford senior adviser, Tom Lee, has told Election Central. The new ad, called "Shaky," is the ad the RNC has designated to replace its controversial  "bimbo" ad, which came off the air today. The stations' rejection of the RNC's new ad comes after the bimbo spot generated days of controversy amid charges that it was trying to play on fears of interracial sex. More after the jump.

Lee confirmed to Election Central that both WTVF, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, and WRCB, the NBC affiliate in Chattanooga, have told Ford campaign lawyers that they won't air the ad without further verification from the RNC of the claims in the ad. The Ford campaign is expected to send out a press release announcing the stations' refusal to run the ad in the next hour or so.

It remains to be seen whether local stations will cave and ultimately aid the ad, or whether the big media networks will lavish continuous free exposure to this ad as well.

One thing is certain:  in the final two weeks of campaign, there is clearly no limit to the negativity of their attacks, no lie too outrageous to be told, no falsity too crass to be uttered.  

The party that has masqueraded itself as the party of moral values has no moral compass whatsoever. And with every ad that sinks to previously unfathomable depths of deceit and sleaziness, the American people see the real GOP: a party that so rejects common decency and the notion of truth that it puts its moral depravity on full display, on television screens throughout the nation...and it does so gladly, continuously, with increasing fervor and pride.

Update: See also zknower's diary here.

Update #2: tidalwave1 links us to an article which states that the RNC ad will still air in Chattanooga because the station is not satisfied with the replacement.

Race tracker wiki: TN-Sen