There’s an interesting media conundrum brewing in D.C. revolving around a local politician’s advertising — and it’s sure to be one which you’ll be hearing a lot more about very soon. Today, Mike DeBonis reported on Missy Reilly Smith, who is running as a Tea Party-advocating, pro-life challenger against Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton this November. Obviously, trying to unseat Norton in this town is about as close to a political impossibility as you could reach for. So Smith has decided to pull out all the stops: she’s decided to pay for two advertisements which include slideshows of numerous bloody and dismembered aborted fetuses — and all indications are that they will run on D.C.’s televisions.
If you thought parents were upset about the Hardy sex survey, I can’t imagine what the reaction to little Johnny’s evening homework session being interrupted by these ads might be.
As Politico’s Ben Smith reports, media organizations — including all four major D.C. netowrk affiliates — are required to run the ads, and run them unedited, thanks to Federal law.
The voiceover in the ads mention several prominent national and local politicians — President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Norton — and accuse them of being baby killing enablers. DeBonis reports that the D.C. GOP director Paul Craney — whose organization is not supporting Smith — requested that the ads not be run, because its obvious that Smith’s intention is less on a candidacy and more on shocking people into disapproving of abortion. There’s something to be said about about running these kind of images which reeks equally of desperation and a genuine interest in downright shocking people into believing what you believe.
Now, the advertisements are after the jump. I really have to warn you — these advertisements are incredibly graphic. Seriously, guys. I’m not paraphrasing when I say that the ads are really nothing but images of bloody, aborted fetuses. I’ve created a generous amount of white space between the videos and the comments, though, since I’m sure that plenty of you will want to comment on the ad campaign without actually watching the videos. Again: click through at your own discretion.
