Group Runs Anti-Kerry Ads on Black Radio Stations

[obnoxiousdrunk]

A group financed by a major Republican contributor has begun running radio ads in about a dozen cities, many in battleground states, attacking Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) as "rich, white and wishy-washy" and mocking his wife for boasting of her African roots.
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The D.C.-based group, People of Color United, has substantial financial backing from J. Patrick Rooney, the former chairman of Golden Rule Insurance Co. and the founder of a new firm, Medical Savings Insurance Co. Both firms specialize in medical savings accounts, created by Republican-backed 1996 legislation, and health savings accounts, which were created by President Bush (news - web sites)'s 2003 Medicare prescription drug legislation.


One of the radio ads addresses Kerry's failure to vote on a bill to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks: "It needed 60 votes to pass. Ninety-nine out of 100 senators voted -- Kerry did not! It lost by one vote! Maybe Kerry thought the more of us who are unemployed and hurting, the more likely we would vote Democrat."


Another ad attacks Teresa Heinz Kerry, who, at the Democratic convention last month cited her birth and upbringing in Mozambique and who has described herself as African American. In the radio commercial, the announcer says: "His wife says she's an African American. While technically true, I don't believe a white woman, raised in Africa, surrounded by servants, qualifies."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&u=/washpost/20040812/pl_washpost/a58006_2004aug11&printer=1

[meegbear]

1. Glad to see their not playing the race card ...

or using the steroetype that blacks are always unemployed.

[jasmeel]

2. Any word on a Kerry campaign response to this?

I thought the truth squad was going to be on top of these things. How about a counter ad on black stations?

[Ruby Romaine]

3. State Insurance Regulators Fine Insurer Golden Rule $660,000

for Violations of Insurance Laws and Lack of Cooperation

http://www.ohioinsurance.gov/Newsroom/scripts/Release.asp?ReleaseID=361

[qwlauren35]

4. I must admit that...

Teresa Heinz' characterization of herself as "African-American" doesn't thrill me. In fact, it suggests a certain ignorance. However, it's not new. There are other white "Africans" who have come to America and claimed "African-American" status.

So now, we must go back to the word "black" to get the point across.

I'm working with some folks here in NC to do fund-raising toward radio ads. I see we need to step up the pace...