After Islamic State terrorists murdered journalist James Foley, his family pleaded with the public to avoid ISIS’s propaganda video that showed the murder of the innocent American. It’s amazing to see just how many Republican campaigns have chosen to ignore the family’s wishes.
It started over the summer with a U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico, followed soon after by a U.S. House candidate in Arizona. And this week, a right-wing group called Secure America Now joined the club.
James Foley, the American journalist murdered by ISIS militants, makes a cameo in a series of web ads from the Secure America Now, a right-wing nonprofit national security organization that lists on its advisory board people like former Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ambassador John Bolton.The advertisements target Democrats running in competitive midterm elections…. It isn’t clear if the advertisements are running on TV or are Internet-only.
The group specifically targeted Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who appears likely to join the Senate soon.
I continue to believe there’s a problem with those who see ISIS’s propaganda video and think to themselves, “Excerpts from this would look great in a campaign commercial.” Perhaps they should reevaluate their priorities.
Not surprisingly, James Foley’s parents called the conservative group’s attack ads “deplorable” and asked for an apology.
Eric Hananoki noted this morning that the far-right organization has backed off, but not before pushing the videos aggressively.
A conservative group backed by several Fox News contributors has pulled ads featuring footage of murdered journalist James Foley after his family sharply criticized the campaign as “deplorable.” […][Secure America Now president Allen Roth] later told NECN, “It has been brought to our attention that a news report image of American hostage James Foley that appeared in a Secure America Now video has upset his parents, so we have decided to take the video down. It was never our attention to upset Mr. Foley’s family and we apologize for any pain we inadvertently caused.”
Whether the group intended to do this all along, using this as a p.r. stunt, is unclear.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."