Republicans talking black
New York Sun - October 17, 2006 http://www.nysun.com/article/41648
Republican Group Chides Democrats With Abortion Ads Aim Is To Win Minority Voters, But Democrats Cry Foul
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
A little-known Republican group that claims to have swayed the 2004
presidential election with provocative radio advertising aimed at
black and Hispanic audiences is spending nearly $1 million this year
to boost the GOP’s chances of holding on to a majority in Congress.
The group, America’s Pac, began running ads last month in more than
two dozen congressional districts. The campaign discusses issues
ranging from warrantless wiretapping to school choice, but the most
inflammatory spots pertain to abortion.
“Black babies are terminated at triple the rate of white babies,” a
female announcer in one of the ads says, as rain, thunder, and a
crying infant are heard in the background. “The Democratic Party
supports these abortion laws that are decimating our people, but the
individual’s right to life is protected in the Republican platform.
Democrats say they want our vote.Why don’t they want our lives?”
Another ad features a dialogue between two men.
“If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos,’ you’ll want to
dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked,” one of the
men says.
“That’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed,” the other replies.
“Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican,” the first man says.
Another spot attempts to link Democrats to a white supremacist who
served as a Republican in the Louisiana Legislature, David Duke. The
ad makes reference to Duke’s trip to Syria last year, where he spoke
at an anti-war rally.
“I can understand why a Ku Klux Klan cracker like David Duke makes
nice with the terrorists, “a male voice in the ad says. “What I want
to know is why so many of the Democrat politicians I helped elect are
on the same side of the Iraq war as David Duke.”
In one of the communities where the ads are running, South Bend,
Ind., some blacks were outraged.
“They’re awful.They’re repulsive,” a Democratic activist and
community leader in South Bend, Gladys Muhammad, said. “When they say
Democrats don’t like black babies, that’s damn fools. They’re very
insensitive.”
“This is so dirty, but it works,” a sociology professor at Indiana
University, Johnnie Griffin, said. “These are race ads. It’s
incredible.”
While Ms. Griffin said she felt insulted by the ads, she also said a
student in her class reported that a relative was thinking of
switching to the Republican Party because of them. “Black people are
more conservative than anybody thinks. We do have strong family
values that people don’t seem to stress as much,” the professor said.
Ms. Griffin said a community meeting is planned for Friday to discuss
the ad campaign. The key financial backer of America’s Pac is J.
Patrick Rooney, 78, of Indianapolis. Mr. Rooney, a strong proponent
of school choice scholarship programs, retired in 1996 as chairman of
Golden Rule Insurance. The company was sold to larger insurer, United-
Health Group, in 2003 for a reported $893 million.
According to a report filed with the Internal Revenue Service, a
company reportedly tied to Mr. Rooney, Woodland Group LLC, gave
$900,000 to America’s PAC earlier this year. Other donors chipped in
about $32,000.
Mr. Rooney declined to be interviewed yesterday. The group referred
calls from The New York Sun to a conservative, African-American talk
show host who voiced some of the ads, Herman Cain.
“The main thing that America’s Pac is up to is it basically is
challenging the thesis or the belief on the part of the Republican
Party that they cannot attract the black vote,” Mr. Cain said. He
said similar advertisements run in 2004 helped boost President Bush’s
share of the black vote in Ohio to 16%, from 9% in 2000.
“We don’t believe that was an accident,” Mr. Cain said. The IRS
filing indicates that the ads are running this year in 10
battleground states, including Ohio, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Mr. Cain, who once managed the Godfather’s Pizza chain and ran
unsuccessfully for the Senate from Georgia in 2004, said he was not
troubled that Mr. Rooney, who is white, is funding ads using black
voices who claim to speak on behalf of the black community.”You don’t
have a lot of black billionaires who would want to fund something
like this,” he said.
America’s Pac is the brainchild of a Kansas-based Republican
consultant, Richard Nadler. He said Sunday that he is no longer
affiliated with the group.
“Mr. Nadler is the genius. We basically follow his game plan,” the
group’s new chief, Thomas Donelson of Marion, Iowa, said. In 2000,
Mr. Nadler came under fire for a school choice-related ad in which
parents said their son’s violence-ridden public school “was a bit
more diversity than he could handle.” Mr. Bush’s campaign denounced
the ad as “inappropriate,” and the Republican National Committee
called it “racist or race-baiting in intent.”
A Republican Party spokeswoman, Tara Wall, disputed Mr. Cain’s claim
that the party has not tried to enlist African-Americans. “Our
outreach efforts have been and are a long-term effort,”she
said.”We’ve spent millions on black outreach alone this cycle.”
A New York investment banker who gave $10,000 to America’s Pac last
month, Peter Flanigan, told the Sun that he found the language in
some of the abortion-related ads “a little strong.”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have put the abortion one in those words,”
Mr. Flanigan said, before adding, “It’s not as if it’s totally apart
from fact.”
Asked why he supports the group, Mr. Flanigan said, “I think it’s
unfortunate that some 90% of African Americans vote Democratic …
Rooney has had some success in moving African-American votes.”
Another ad in this year’s campaign notes that Democratic presidents
oversaw wiretapping and that the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was
one of the targets. “Unlike the Al Qaeda butchers Bush is
wiretapping, Martin was fighting to promote voting rights. He wasn’t
plotting mass murder,” the ad says.
“Republicans respect the Latino soldier,” one of the Spanish-language
spots declares. “After all, it was our own General Ricardo Sanchez
who commanded the American troops in Iraq. Enough with these Democrats.”
Many of the ads with conservative social themes are sandwiched
between hip-hop songs that convey blunt sexual messages. A spokesman
for America’s Pac, John Altevogt, said no stations have refused the
ads, but a few asked for minor edits, such as the removal of the word
“cracker” from the David Duke spot.