A Republican attack ad?

Sunday Telegraph:

A hardened conservative political operative has launched the first no-holds-barred Republican "attack ad" against Barack Obama, painting him as soft on crime and terror.

Floyd Brown, a veteran of America’s often brutal presidential battles, told The Telegraph that the "Victims" advertisement marked the start of an all-out campaign to portray the expected Democratic nominee as a dangerous liberal.

"Our polling shows that Obama’s positives with many Republican voters are much higher than we think they should be," he said. "He is the overwhelming favourite for the Democratic nomination and our intention is to give Republicans a true picture of him."

The 60-second slot relates the fate of three Chicago residents murdered by gangs in 2001. The female narrator then records the opposition of Mr Obama, an Illinois state senator at the time, to expanding the death penalty to cover gang-related murders.

"So the question is: can a man so weak in the war on gangs be trusted in the war on terror?" she asks ominously.

The advertisement was posted online on YouTube and emailed to 7 million conservative supporters last week accompanied by a fundraising appeal for Mr Brown’s National Campaign Fund and its exposeobama.com website.

The on-screen message accompanying the appeal illustrated the strength of the onslaught that awaits Mr Obama if he secures his party’s nomination.

Deploying his politically-detrimental middle name and a barrage of capital letters, it declared: "What really makes 'President Barack Hussein Obama' the scariest four words in the English language is the fact that HE CAN BECOME THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!"

Mr Obama will be dogged by adverts highlighting his long-standing ties to Rev Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and spiritual mentor. Rev Wright put those links back in the headlines last week when he emerged from his temporary silence to defend his outspoken sermons and tell interviewers that Mr Obama was acting like "a politician" when he distanced himself from the pastor’s comments.

The "Victims" spot is apparently the start of an attempt to "swift boat" Mr Obama.

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I guess I was not among the "7 million conservative" who got the message. Thinks to the Telegraph, though it will have wider distribution as they cluck about "swift boat" attacks. I am not sure how effective this ad will be about an obscure vote in the Illinois senate. It does seem to play into the liberal stereo type of conservative politics. I am sure there will be other ads unfavorable to Obama by independent groups. I am sure that Brown does not represent the RNC or the McCain campaign. Brown's claim to fame is the Willie Horton ad, also done by an independent group. I am not sure this will be as effective.