The Ghost of Willie Horton

Republican operatives invented Willie Horton style attack advertising. George Bush, the Elder, destroyed the Dukakis campiagn with it in the 1988 Presidential Election. Now, in the spirit of "what goes around, comes around", it bites them in the ass.

(or get the video here ... )

A new attack ad accusing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee of freeing a rapist who then committed murder resembles any of the professionally produced negative TV spots shot by political ad agencies for decades.

But the emotional 58-second video doesn't advocate for any particular candidate, and it hasn't aired as a paid advertisement on any television network. Instead, it made its debut on YouTube on Thursday, where it's chalked up more than 20,000 views, and risen to become the seventh most watched clip in YouTube's news and politics section.

"It's pretty brutal, and it's a very stark reminder to those of us involved in politics of the power that YouTube has to spread a story quickly and virally," says Republican strategist Matthew Klink at Los Angeles-based Cerrell Associates.

More after the click ...

My comment: It's most interesting when you find that they're using the Willie Horton style on each other. The article continues ... "The work of 29-year-old Republican operative Keith Emis, the video is a prominent example of the fruits of a March 2006 decision by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that exempts non-paid political advertising on the internet from rules requiring disclosure of who produced the ads."

In a typical case of "unintended consequences" and total lack of foresight (that originates with the conservative philosophy of driving the car while focusing on the rear view mirror), the Republican dominated FEC ASSUMED that all the "swift boating" would be aimed at the other side of the aisle.

There's an old joke that seems to apply. It goes something like, "they're so confused over there that they're stabbing each other in the chest".