Oh goodie. Apparently CNN's Drew Griffin, Jim Acosta and the UVA Center for Politics Larry Sabato have all decided that the extreme right wing tea bagger political ads are going to be a "fun" part of covering the insanity that has taken over the extremists in the Republican Party, and that we'd all better take them seriously. When one of them decides to tell us that the tea baggers aren't really grass roots but fools being taken advantage of by Dick Armey and his buddies with his astroturf movement that they've all climed on board for, I'll consider any reporting they're doing on the "movement" resembling anything that even closely resembles something called journalism. For now we get this bit of hackery praising how potentially "smart" these wingnut teabagger political ads are.
GRIFFIN: November elections still four months away, but I've got to tell you, ,some of these candidates are going crazy trying to get your attention. Campaign advertising season is in full bloom.
Jim Acosta with some of the more odd election campaigns.
ACOSTA: Drew, members of Congress are on break this week, but that doesn't mean Americans are getting a vacation from their politicians. With the midterm elections fast approaching, candidates are finding all sorts of new ways to target voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet Pamela Gorman.
ACOSTA (voice-over): If the campaign season is starting to feel like open season, it's because the ads are already locked and loaded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rated 100 percent by the NRA, conservative Pamela Gorman is always right on target.
ACOSTA: Republican Pamela Gorman has racked up more than 100,000 views on YouTube with this spot showing the Arizona congressional candidate and her son taking target practice in the desert. That's Gorman sporting an old Tommy gun.
PAMELA GORMAN (R), AZ CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We'd never imagined in a million years that it would go as far as it did.
ACOSTA: We caught up with Gorman between fund-raisers in California. She thanks left-leaning bloggers and talk show hosts for helping her ad go viral.
GORMAN: I think most of it is getting passed on by people that probably wouldn't agree with my conservative politics. And if they really stop and thought about how much they're helping me by doing so, they might stop.
ACOSTA (on camera): Are you packing heat right now?
GORMAN: I'm in California. I don't think anybody but criminals have guns in California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You gentlemen revolted over a tea tax. A tea tax.
ACOSTA: Tea party-backed Republican Rick Barber calls for revolution with this ad featuring actors playing the founding fathers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gather your armies.
LARRY SABATO, UVA CENTER FOR POLITICS: I know Thomas Jefferson. He's a friend of mine and the guy in his ad is no Thomas Jefferson.
ACOSTA: Laugh all you want, Barber may be on to something.
SABATO: It's the year of the Tea Party. It's actually a good visual way to connect with the kind of people who may very well vote in a Republican runoff. That's what he's in.
REP. TOM PERRIELLO (D), VIRGINIA: I know times have been tough for Virginia families.
ACOSTA: Even incumbents like Democrat Tom Perriello are trying to go viral with this ad showing the congressman getting more than just his hands dirty.
PERRIELLO: I fought that new job to dairy farms, to protect jobs here in law enforcement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warning. The following is a paid advertisement from J.D. Hayworth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buyer beware.
ACOSTA: In this ad, John McCain accuses his challenger, J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman who went on to host a late-night infomercial, of selling fringe ideas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or a Kenyan safari to find Obama's lost birth certificate. It would be great if people can confirm who they say they are.
ACOSTA: Duck and cover. Election year is only just beginning.
GORMAN: I'm Pamela Gorman, and I approve this message.
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ACOSTA: And the ads will keep on coming. That's because candidates are expected to spend more money than ever before on the upcoming midterms after the Supreme Court opened the floodgates on political contributions from corporations and special interest groups right up until Election Day -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Jim, it's going to be fun watching this all play out over the next few months. Thanks.
