‘Kill Some Crackers’: GOP Group Pays Fox Affiliates To Influence Election With Anti-Obama Propaganda

By Brad Johnson

Several Fox television stations and one ABC affiliate in key battleground states are running a Republican front group’s anti-Obama propaganda as paid programming in the final days leading up to the election. The National Republican Trust PAC, run by conservative conspiracy theorist Scott Wheeler, has purchased airtime in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Carolina to broadcast its 25-minute “Breaking Point” political attack ad, starting last Friday. Using clips from Townhall.com, World Net Daily, Fox Business, CNSNews.com, and Glenn Beck, narrator E. W. Jackson invokes the boogeymen of ACORN, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the New Black Panther Party, Hamas, and Mao Tse-Tung to paint President Obama and the Democratic Party as “extreme,” “treacherous,” “socialist,” and “with hostility” towards America:

“The mainstream media… should have demanded how exactly he intended to govern outside the bounds of the Constitution.”

“The phrases ‘spread the wealth around’ may sound harmless to some. To others it was a clear invitation to adopt the destructive ideology of leftist revolutionaries. Among the public and the media, it should have ignited debate over Obama’s intentions, like: Whose wealth is to be spread around? Who would be the beneficiaries of the money Obama planned to confiscate? It wasn’t the only time that Obama displayed tendencies that some labeled socialist.”

“President Obama’s words and actions seem clear: He does not view America with an America-centric perspective, but with an outsider’s point of view, often with hostility.”

“The goodwill Obama and other Democrats always shower on those hostile towards America never seems to extend to fellow countrymen here at home.”

“During his presidential election, he wound up with a record-shattering $750 million in his campaign. To this day he refuses to report from whence it came. One reason might be that some of it originated from the terrorist group Hamas, which also endorsed Obama.”

“Obama’s science czar, John Holdren, has publicly advocated that trees be allowed to sue us in court, that we should engage in drastic population control by implementing forced abortions and sterilization, and that we should design a global regime to redistribute wealth.”

“During the 2008 campaign, President Obama pretended to turn his back on some extremists from his past. ‘You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You gonna have to kill some of those babies!’”

“Van Jones, self-avowed and unabashed Communist, was appointed to the position of green jobs czar. He held that position until his controversial views led to his resignation. Jones believed the September 11 attacks were staged by the U.S. government.”

“By circumnavigating confirmation hearings, and instead appointing these people to powerful positions within our government, Obama and the Democrats are admitting their views are far too extreme for Americans to accept, so they do it by fiat.”

In addition to the false attacks on Obama advisers Van Jones and John Holdren, the propaganda film also repeats smears against Obama staff Anita Dunn, Kevin Jennings, Carol Browner, and Cass Sunstein. It makes the flat-out false claims that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “caused the entire home mortgage industry crisis,” that health care reform would allow the “government to take over one-fifth of the U.S. economy,” and that there is a “growing number of scientific scandals” that are “further discrediting manmade global warming claims.” When not playing inflammatory clips of angry black people, the ad also comes to defense of the billionaire Koch brothers who fund the Americans for Prosperity, claiming “Obama has repeatedly attacked a group of private citizens simply because they wanted their voices heard.”

The video explicitly encourages citizens to vote against the Democratic Party. “As if to validate the very need for a citizens revolt, the establishment responded by alienating, undermining, and attacking their own voters,” the paid program electioneers, also mentioning the “midterm elections” and people “going to vote on November 2nd” in the context of defeating Democrats. In a video following the smear piece, Scott Wheeler promotes the National Republican Trust’s efforts:

An exclusive ThinkProgress survey has found that this fear-mongering political advertisement has been broadcast on at least the following local stations — one ABC and five Fox affiliates — in order to affect the results of the upcoming election:

– Fox 47 WMSN, Madison, WI 11/1 7 AM – Fox 23 KBSI, Paducah, KY 10/31 10:30 AM – Fox 56 WDKY, Lexington, KY 10/31 8:30 AM – Fox 53 WPGH, Pittsburgh, PA 10/29 8 AM – Fox 17 KDSM, Des Moines, IA 10/29 6:30 AM; 10/27 6 AM – ABC 45 WXLV, Greensboro, NC 10/29 6 AM

The National Republican Trust is supported by prominent conservatives such as action star Chuck Norris, billionaire Roger Milliken, Panduit CEO Jack Caveney, Johns Hopkins University trustee David P. Nolan, and oil executives Terrence Jacobs and Jean Angle.

It is unclear if National Republican Trust coordinates with the Republican Party or other conservative groups. Marc Morano, a Swift-Boat operative who has helped coordinate the Heritage Foundation, Republican lawmakers, and polluter lobbyists, is one of the registered agents for the National Republican Trust. The organization is registered to a UPS drop box on M Street in Washington DC.