Louisiana Senate Candidate Literally Torches a Confederate Flag in New Campaign Ad

[In It to Win It]

Rolling Stone via Yahoo

Gary Chambers Jr.’s first campaign ad was short and simple: The Louisiana Senate Candidate alone, in a park in New Orleans, sitting in a leather armchair, smoking a massive blunt. The ad landed him a wave of press, all of which, he told Rolling Stone, were part of an attempt to prove that the race to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. John Kennedy was “winnable.”

[Lovie777]

1. He's telling the truth . ....

GQP hates the truth.

[SergeStorms]

25. So do many White voters.

This ad will do well with the vast majority of Black voters, as it should.

White voters are going to see a scary Black man telling them he's coming for them and their way of life. This isn't going to sell with White folk at all, and he's going to need a lot of White votes to win a statewide election.

Is it time White voters in the deep south to come to grips with a changing demographic? Hell yes, it's way overdue. Will they? He'll no, they want things to stay the same as they've always been. They're comfortable with things that way, but sooner or later they're going to have to change.

Personally, I love the ad. Black voters in Louisiana have been promised the world and have received............nothing. I just don't think taking an "in your face" attitude with White voters will work.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

32. I disagree,

I am a white voter in the South and I absolutely love it!!! I don't think he is a "scary black" person??

[SergeStorms]

34. If you read my entire post...

I said I loved it too, but the majority of deep south White folk won't. We're cut from different cloth than the majority of southern Whites, Mary.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

36. I read the whole post and I

still disagree, many of the white republican folks are scared to death, but the white democrats are going to love this - they hate this flag and what it has meant to their black friends, neighbors and coworkers. Black Americans make up 25+% in Louisiana - talk about getting out the vote - wow. These ads are so good and inspirational that it has motivated me to give to his election.

[SergeStorms]

39. We'll have to agree...

to disagree I guess. I hope I haven't offended you in any way.

I wish the young man well in his campaign.

[secondwind]

2. wow

[aeromanKC]

3. This is one of my new favorite campaign ads!!

It's about time we burned that F'n piece of garbage loser treasonous white nationalist flag to the ground!!

[brooklynite]

4. I'm not impressed.

This is, from what I can see, no different than the MAGA candidates hoisting automatic weapons in their ads. Chambers is, to be blunt, not a consequential candidate (as of December 31 he had -- ZERO -- dollars in his FEC account). But he puts out over-the-top ads which which rile up the Democratic Base to hopefully generate some fundraising.

[live love laugh]

42. Burning a racist symbol compares to AR15s? How?

[brooklynite]

44. Its plays to the liberal base the way guns play to the conservative base,

[Walleye]

5. I like it. Strong into the point. Tired of hearing white guys weasel out of their prejudices

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. I almost love this ad

If the last line had been more along the lines of "I do believe that the South will rise again, but this time it won't be racist" I would be in overwhelming support of it. Instead, by using the line "but this time it will be on our terms" it shifted the focus dramatically onto an "us vs them" focus. That can be left wildly open to interpretation. As a free speech statement, I have no problem, but as a political ad I think it could only help a fairly radical third party candidate.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. I took that line as

"We aren't getting pushed around anymore by racists".

The South got to win the peace - and it was at the expense of my great grandparents, grandparents, and dad. No more.

[Tom Rinaldo]

16. Personally, I took it that way also

And I agree. My point is simply that it can be heard in a range of ways. As social commentary, no problem, but as political advertising it is usually best to maintain tight control over your messaging so that it can't be easily used against you.

[hunter]

24. I didn't hear that at all. I figured that "our" included me...

... just another guy who'd burn a confederate flag.

[live love laugh]

43. Kind of agree. It's not inclusive enough.

[msfiddlestix]

7. Hot Damn!!! I Approve This Message Too!!

This got MY attention!!!!

[nycbos]

8. For what he is talking about to happen...

... Sherman might have to march again.

[brush]

9. Woohoo. He's a long, long, longshot but I like his ad.

[In It to Win It]

10. I feel the same way

I like this ad and the other ad. Seems like a candidate that can gain decent grassroots support and fundraising. But this is a long shot race.

[albacore]

11. The state is last in education.... and guess which Party they vote for...consistently? nt

[JustAnotherGen]

13. I just gave him a $100 donation

That's what I want to see -

In your face campaigns - especially from the long shots. They've got nothing to lose by putting it where the goats can get it. At the root.

[Carlitos Brigante]

14. It'll take more than that to defeat Kennedy. The man is a legend, according

to himself. He was born in the middle of a bayou and raised by an alligator and a bottle of hot sauce.........

[PatSeg]

15. Wow!

[Goodheart]

17. While I approve of his message FOR THE MOST PART, I can't agree that

"this time it will be on our terms" is going to win him many white voters. It just sounds purposely uninclusive. I DO LOVE the in-your-face no apologies attitude, though.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. First Con flag was pink. Truth, look it up. The last Con flag was white. They were losers, always.nt

[KS Toronado]

19. We need to see more Confederate Flag burnings

Maybe every Democrat in Congress should do it as an anti-FailedCoupGuy gesture.
Hell use the ones where his face is on their favorite flag.

[Wounded Bear]

20. K & R...nt

[Tommymac]

21. See my footer.

[patphil]

22. The south can only truly rise if it leaves the past behind.

Burning a confederate flag is a powerful statement; a symbolic break with the racist, slave owning, white supremacist past that still lingers in the south.

It's a flag of hate; a flag of violence and death. It needs to be buried along with all those who died because of it, both in the civil war, and all those years since.

[Traildogbob]

28. It's like the "N" word

African Americans have every damn right to burn that damn treasonous shit rag. Decent white people should hate it as much. I, as a veteran that served under the American flag, can’t stand that damn thing. It’s everywhere here in WNC. Should we ban the REAL history of that flag and the civil war because it makes black children uncomfortable? The illiterate hillbillies here with the flag plastered everywhere have never opened a history book, why would they, they can’t read. Every gun store here, and there are many, have Jesus signs and confederal flags. I don’t remember a picture of Jesus with an AR and his robe being a confederate flag, except up here.
American Taliban,Nazee’s must be stomped out. Some genocide I can get behind. Not a damn thing super about those genes. Limbless family trees. These fools breed like Adam and Eve and Nosh’s family. Family reunions are their dating sites.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

23. I love this!

He is good, going for the emotional. Would love for TikTok users to show videos burning this flag.

[BlueIdaho]

26. I suspect Kennedy has some Klan robes in his closet.

I support Democratic candidates willing to speak truth to old southern power.

[GB_RN]

27. That Flag Should Be Burned On Sight, Period.

And as someone raised in the South, I'm glad he did it. I hate that fucking thing.

Some of those "Freedumb Truckers" up in Canada have been seen flying it. Idiots in Canada, of all places? I mean, the Confederacy and the Civil War wasn't even part of their history, so why are those buggers flying that POS flag? I don't get it. It's not a flag that symbolizes freedom for anyone. It only represents hate for, and oppression of Black people

[DinahMoeHum]

29. A garbage can liner or a toilet. . .

. . .is the only use for a Confederate flag now.

[Paha Sapa]

30. Here is a good interview for a more in-depth view of this fellow.

&list=WL&index=1&t=15s

[Mary in S. Carolina]

35. Wow!!! He might win!

I love this guy! This is a great example of a grass roots candidate who is going to win by using common sense.

[keithbvadu2]

31. Party of Lincoln

[peggysue2]

33. The man has guts

This will not go down well with the crazies in Louisiana.

However, torching the "Scars and Bars" definitely puts Gary Chambers on the map.

Bravo!

[Hortensis]

37. :) Good grief. Points for bold attention-grabbing by a very needy candidate,

and points for the special category of Burning a Confederate Flag While Black.

But subtract them all plus an additional 50 for doing it while running for office as a Democrat.

ANY office. There are huge, fundamental reasons why almost all people who behave this way run as Republicans. Republicans elect them if they're theirs and use them to smear Democrats if they aren't. Democrats don't elect them -- this kind of behavior's way too much like "them." And this is a senate race -- he has to get most of the state to vote for him. John Lewis is no longer around to explain it. Senator Warnock is, but he's also running so he can't get associated with it.

Those we elect are supposed to represent and serve everyone, even if they can't always do it in all the ways some would wish. A large majority of southerners wouldn't dream of flying that flag but do associate it with their own forebears and/or local history. They do rightly expect anyone who represents them to respect that about them. And, of course all constituents also include LA's homos and hoes. I think he's well suited as a political agitator for those who share his attitudes.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

38. I think burning a racist flag

does represent democratic values?? What am I missing?

[Hortensis]

40. :) Well, not the "racist flag" part. It is an aggressive hate symbol

-- but for a regrettable minority.

But a far bigger and more important issue is what representatives elected in a democracy owe the people they are supposed to represent. tRump says he leads "my people" and they all know who he supposedly means, and which citizens he regards as enemies to be punished.

Biden's "people" are everyone in the nation. Warnock's people are also everyone in the nation, though he specifically represents all the people of Georgia, including all our duds and creeps. And they show it by always regarding everyone with respect.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

41. I hope he wins