The Caucus Blog [New York Times]

A leading conservative legal advocacy group that has a played a prominent role in the debate over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor has created a new ad accusing her of supporting violent terrorists and comparing her to former Weatherman Bill Ayers.

At one point, the ad ...shows a picture of Judge Sotomayor alongside the text: “SUPPORTED VIOLENT TERRORISTS.”

Mr. Levey said the ad was written by Chris LaCivita, who also helped create the Swift Boat Vets for Truth ads against Senator John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. The Swift Boat ads were riddled with unsubstantiated charges and led to a new political term for smearing a political opponent with lies: “swift-boating.”

Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, called the Sotomayor ad “an uniquely implausible act in wingnuttery.” Right Wing Watch, a division of the liberal People for the American Way, called it “over-the-top and nonsensical.”

Mr. Levey acknowledged that the ad presented a “caricature,” but it defended it as “factually true.”

In fairness, when I first saw this ad I was so sure it was a hoax, I asked the gang at Relaxed Politics to do a little digging for me. It's real.

And now Think Progress reports that Orrin Hatch has distanced himself from the ad, even though he's attended fundraisers for the group that produced it. Hatch claims this is "not the kind of ad he would run."

But did you help pay for it, Senator?

The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee should start a big fat file labeled "With Friends Like These..."