GOP ad lies

I am a conservative Democrat who occasionally agrees with the Republicans (primarily on economic issues), but the GOP has two nasty habits that will always and forever keep me voting Democratic. Both of these tendencies can be seen in this ad from a GOP-associated organization, Defense of Democracies.

Gripe Number One is that Republicans lie. They think they are lying for good reason and that that end justifies the means, but in my book that doesn't excuse lying. You know what I'm talking about--Saddam has WMDs, we don't torture, Saddam was in bed with Al Qaeda, I can't recall why we disbanded the Iraqi army, the office of the Vice President is not within the Executive branch, etc.

Gripe Number Two is the constant use of fear to sway American voters: Immigrants are stealing your jobs and raising crime, terrorists hate us for our freedoms, Iran will acquire nuclear weapons tomorrow, taking steps to combat global warming will endanger our economy, the Democrats will take away Social Security, the Democrat's health program will mean you'll die waiting for medical attention, etc.

And here is an advertisement that manages to exploit both of my gripes in just 30 short seconds. As reported on FactCheck.org, most of this ad is simply false. The House didn't refuse to vote; in fact, it passed its own version of the legislation months ago and the bill is now in conference to resolve the differences with the Senate version, which is the normal legislative process. Worse, the implication that our intelligence gathering has been compromised is incorrect--most of the security bill remains in affect, and under existing laws the government can still get an immediate and speedy court order to eavesdrop on a person it suspects of being involved with terrorist activities.

But my favorite lie is that this YouTube video declares Defense of Democracies, the group that is running this ad, as a "non-partisan, non-profit" organization. The group is, in fact, closely associated with the GOP. The board of directors contains three people: Former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, famous neo-conservative Jeane Kirkpatrick (who remains on the board despite her death two years ago), and former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

Here is the ad that the GOP hopes will hoodwink and scare Americans: