Dirtiest Republican Ad Of The Year?

I admit that it can be a bit of a fool's errand to try to pick the scummiest Republican television ad of the election cycle out of what is always a field chock full of slime, but I think it's possible that Senator Elizabeth Dole may have produced this year's winner. Watching her Senate seat slipping away to Democratic challenger Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Dole began running an ad this week that attacked Hagan's religious faith with a TV spot falsely accusing her of being "godless."

The ad ends with a grainy photo of Hagan and an actress's voice that sounds like Hagan saying "there is no God."

Have a look:



Hagan, who belongs to the First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro were she is a church elder and has been a Sunday School teacher, blasted the Dole attack on Wednesday.

"I was raised going to Sunday school and church every week and I raised my children that way," said Hagan. "The Hagan family has attended the First Presbyterian Church for over 100 years — that’s where I’ve taught Sunday school."

And the Hagan campaign issued a rapid and sharp rebuke in an ad released Thursday:



CNN's Campbell Brown did an outstanding commentary on this Wednesday night, pointing out that the fundraiser in question (in Dole's ad) was not given by the Godless Americans Political Action Committee, but a much larger group in which they were a tiny part. "Just cut it out, reclaim your dignity," Brown says.



Rhetorical question of the day: When do you suppose the majority of Americans will realize that whenever racist, disgusting or otherwise over-the-line ads are run, they are always from a Republican?