Hoping to sway voters their way this November, Democrats are rolling out an aggressive, exceedingly negative campaign strategy to smear their Republican opponents, and the trend's definitely taken hold down in Florida, where Rep. Alan Grayson has launched a hardball at virulently conservative GOP opponent Daniel Webster.
"Democratic candidates across the country are opening a fierce offensive of negative advertisements against Republicans, using lawsuits, tax filings, reports from the Better Business Bureau and even divorce proceedings to try to discredit their opponents and save their Congressional majority," the New York Times reported yesterday.
The offensive clearly includes comparing opponents to religious fanatics, as Grayson does in his commercial, "Taliban Dan Webster."
"Religious fanatics try to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, Iran and right here in central Florida," the female narrator says before the viewer hears audio of Webster saying a wife should "submit" to her husband. "Daniel Webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us… Taliban Dan Webster, hands of our bodies, and our laws."
Webster's campaign website stays away from gay issues, which are roiling in Florida, although he does describe himself as a "family man," so often used as code for anti-equality. Further, Webster's largest campaign contributions com from Christian Nationalist David Barton, whose organization, Providence Foundation, hopes to implement Old Testament law, like the stoning of gay people, a punishment also championed by the Taliban.
So, this leads to the larger question: does Webster deserve to be compared to the Taliban, or is this just "dirty politics?"
Watch Grayson's commercial, AFTER THE JUMP, and decide for yourself…
