Posted on 10/29/2008 12:15:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An angry Kay Hagan said today she was “appalled at the vile tactics” behind the “Godless American” television ad that Republican rival Elizabeth Dole began running against her last night.
Hagan called it politics of the worst kind and “so unbecoming of a woman like Elizabeth Dole.
“How dare she attack my Christian faith,” Hagan told reporters during a noon conference call. Hagan spoke as she was traveling to the General Baptist Convention in Fayetteville.
Earlier in the day, she held a press conference at First Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder, has taught Sunday School and has accompanied youth mission trips.
The Hagan campaign has said it will seek a cease-and-desist order against the ad, which links Hagan to supporters of the Godless Americans Political Action Committee.
“Is Elizabeth Dole that desperate to keep this Senate seat?” Hagan asked.
A spokesman for the Dole campaign said everything about the ad is accurate and the senator has no intention of pulling it from the airwaves.
Hagan attended a Democratic fundraiser in September that was held in the Boston home of author Wendy Kaminer and her husband, Woody Kaplan, who belongs to the advisory board of the Godless Americans PAC.
The couple also are advisory board members of the Secular Coalition for America.
The fundraiser was organized by the Democratic group ActBlue. Hagan said some 40 people attended the fundraiser, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry and an ambassador.
Hagan said she had never heard of the Godless American PAC until the Dole camp issued a press release about it in August.
The Dole campaign issued a press release three weeks before the fundraiser saying who the hosts of the event were. It also claims the Hagan staff took great pains to modify the original invitation to the fundraiser so the hosts’ names would not be mentioned.
The N.C. Republican Party has made references to Hagan’s appearance at the fundraiser in two direct-mail pieces.
Dole spokesman Dan McLagan said Hagan snuck into the Boston home through a side door to avoid cameras outside.
He said footage showing Hagan at the event was shot by representatives of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
McLagan said he couldn’t believe Hagan attended the event, especially after the Republicans put out word of her plans.
“I was absolutely floored that she went,” McLagan said. “It’s just a colossal error in judgment. It’s campaign malpractice, almost.”
The 30-second ad from the Dole campaign starts with an announcer saying “A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan’s honor.”
It goes on to show clips of Ellen Johnson, executive director of Godless Americans PAC, saying “There is no god to rely on” and, in a different interview, “There was no Jesus.’
The ad continues with David Silverman of the Godless Americans PAC saying the group would be for taking “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance and removing “In God We Trust” from money.
The ad concludes with the narrator saying, “Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras. Took Godless money. What did Hagan promise in return?”
Then there’s a cut back to Johnson’s voice saying, “There is no God.”
Hagan was particularly upset that the the voiceover was shown with her photograph, as if she was saying, “There is no god.”
“That’s not my voice, and I definitely do not share their beliefs,” Hagan said.
McLagan, the Dole spokesman, said he finds it odd that the Hagan camp is “hanging their hat” on the “There is no God” voiceover.
He said it’s “obvious” that the voice is not intended to be Hagan’s, noting that Johnson had spoken and been shown earlier in the ad.
“She doesn’t look anything like Hagan,” McLagan said.
He laughed when asked if the Dole camp was considering pulling the ad as a result of Hagan’s complaints and threats of a cease-and-desist order.
“It happens every campaign,” McLagan said. “Someone makes a great deal of noise” in response to an ad.
He said he’d never known of a campaign ad being pulled because of a cease-and-desist order.
“It’s virtually impossible to do for a campaign ad,” McLagan said.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has put out a longer version (2 minutes, 42 seconds) of the “Godless Americans” ad that’s been showing on Web sites. Dole is responsible for the 30-second television ad which debuted Tuesday night statewide.
Hagan said her family always attends her church’s 11 p.m. Christmas Eve service, then spends Christmas morning making breakfast at a residential home for elderly adults with cerebral palsy. It allows the staff to have Christmas at home with their families, she said.
Hagan said Dole should be ashamed of herself. “What she is doing right now is slandering me and my personal character,” Hagan said.
Most polls have shown Hagan with a slim lead in the U.S Senate race against Dole, a Salisbury native, and Libertarian Christopher Cole.
This seat stays GOP. Signed, sealed, and delivered.
Is this Jesse Helms seat? This would be appropriate if it were. Hell this ad would do well to piss off African Americans who are social conservatives.
I can imagine the church’s now.
“Go vote for our brother Obama but don’t vote for anyone else, especially the atheist Hagan!”
Elizabeth Dole - Balls of Steel!
Godless Americans support Hagan.
NARAL is funding loads of Democrats across Texas and other blue states.
Those candidate do the dance of pretending to be godly, ‘normal’ people .... It’s an act. The Democrats are owned lock stock and barrel by the liberal special interests.
You have to run these kinds of ads to expose the real connection and the real results. A Democratic win is a win for the Godless America PAC.
What about the other 52 weeks of the year?
Where does she stand on the politics of PC-USA?
Hagan is not an atheist though, and of course the media will do eveything they can to prop her up.
The fact that she will be a puppet for the leftwing special interests and Godless Americans out of Boston is just... a coincidence.
The last 2 months Libby Dole has had some absolutely outstanding ads.
The real story in North Carolina is we have a good chance of having a Republican governor for the first time in a very long time.
Birds of a feather...
Just being a Democrat is reason enough to believe she is not a true Christian. I bet she is really a member of the Muslim conspiracy to take over American and impolse Shaira law on Christian and Jewish Americans. Could Hagan be a crypto-Muslim, like Obama, the leader of her party?
Yes, Elizabeth Dole holds Jesse Helms former seat.
Has anybody in NC seen this ad? Will it work?
They evidently think they share yours.
Hagan snuck into the Boston home through a side door to avoid cameras outside...
She evidently knew she didn't want to be associated with them publicly. If they just wanted to support her they could have mailed her a check, but they wanted her to come to them. And she was willing, as long as no one knew.
The 30-second ad from the Dole campaign starts with an announcer saying “A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan’s honor.”
Its the simple unvarnished truth. No one is questioning the fact that she is a sunday school teacher and an elder. But as an elder she ought not to have been pandering to these people.
Politicians accept the support of all kinds of people. It goes with the territory. But if you are hinky enough about them to sneak in a side door, don't go. Send a subordinate, or have them mail it in. Hold it at someone else's house. Don't go.
Yep, Helms’ seat.
It’s an ad Ol’ Jesse would have been proud of. He never shied away from defending Christian values even when it wasn’t PC.
Kay Hagen has lied the whole time. She keeps saying Dole’s been in Washington for 40 years. How the heck else are you suppose to run the red cross? From NC? There corp. HQ is in DC. Hagen is a typical liberal. She cries when the attack is on her.
“The fundraiser was organized by the Democratic group ActBlue. Hagan said some 40 people attended the fundraiser, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry and an ambassador.”
Consorting with Kerry is bad too.
Yes I've seen it and I think it's pretty powerful. You can clearly see that Kay Hagan was there and is trying to avoid having her picture taken.
Also, a comparison that I saw in the W/S Journal a couple days ago shows Elizabeth Dole's resume next to Kay Hagan's. Kay Hagan really has no experience beyond being a state senator.
I wish Elizabeth Dole would seem more involved with what's going on here in NC and I think the charge that she doesn't visit often enough carries some weight. I think everyone pretty well know that she really lives at the Watergate in DC and the house in Salisbury was transferred to her name from her mother's for expediency's sake.
But Kay Hagan doesn't seem to be able to even state her opinion on anything important and wants us to wait "until she gets to Washington" to learn her views.
Dole has run a lackluster campaign here, but this one commercial might put her over the top.
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