Last month, Nevada senatorial candidate Sharron Angle (R) released an ad that portrayed opponent Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) as being the “best friend an illegal alien ever had.” This month, Angle’s latest racially-tinged ad goes after Reid and his support of undocumented students. The ad includes offensive footage of menacing men with flashlights walking along a fence that was featured in her first ad in addition to a new image featuring three scowling Latino men as the narrator proclaims, “and now Harry Reid is fighting for a program that would give preferred college tuition rates to none other than illegal aliens.” Watch it:
Reid’s campaign released a fact check and a statement on the ad saying, “despicably, Angle’s new ad ramps up her use of incendiary imagery to appeal to Nevadans’ worst fears, while using the exact same thoroughly-debunked lies from her first two ads — lies that independent analysts and fact-checkers have called out as false.” However, Angle isn’t the only Republican lawmaker to invoke negative anti-Latino stereotypes. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) used the same exact photo in one of his own attack ads:
The Wonk Room puts Angle’s allegations in context and outlines her troubling pattern of racially-tinged ads.
By Ben Armbruster
Throughout her campaign for U.S. Senate in Nevada, GOP candidate and tea party favorite Sharron Angle has railed against government intervention in just about everything. Angle said she wants to “personalize” Social Security, and she even went so far as to suggest the possibility of an armed insurrection against the U.S. government to protect “against a tyrannical government.” Part of Angle’s anti-government philosophy has also included health care. She wants to repeal the new health care law and recently attacked mandating coverage for autism and maternity leave. She even suggested that Medicare and VA coverage work “towards a privatized system.” But Politico notes today that Angle this week admitted that both she and her husband benefit from government subsidized health care:
Angle’s campaign acknowledged to Nevada journalist Jon Ralston Monday that both the candidate and her husband receive health care from the federal government. Spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said in a statement: “Mr. Ted Angle receives his pension through the (federal) Civil Service Retirement System. While it is not supplemented by the federal government, current civil servants pay into the program to pay the schedule of those already retired – much like how the Social Security Program works today. Mr. Angle does not qualify – nor does he receive Social Security benefits. His health insurance plan (the Federal Employee Health Program), which also covers Sharron, is a continuation of what he was receiving while he worked for the federal government.”
By Tanya Somanader
Last week, Tea Party doyenne Sarah Palin counseled her newest protégé, Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell, to “speak through Fox News.” While O’Donnell is quickly heeding the lesson, Tea Party maven Sharron Angle is a veteran practitioner. Skittish around reporters at her own press conferences, Angle often runs to Fox News, the “safe haven” of conservative candidates in need of “softball questions or nationwide fundraising appeals.”
Angle told Fox News as much when she instructed anchor Carl Cameron on his role as a PR agent. “We needed to have the press be our friends,” she said, because “when I get on a show, and I say, ’send money to SharronAngle.Com,’ so that your listeners” will know where to go “if they want to support me.” While Cameron laughed, audio obtained by Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston of Angle at a house party this month prove “she wasn’t kidding.” According to Angle, Fox News pundits and “friendly press” — like hate radio host Rush Limbaugh — help her rake in the campaign cash:
Here’s some audio of Angle at a house party this month, bragging about how profitable FOX can be:
Guest: Sharron, how are you doing as far as the fundraising?
Sharron Angle: It’s going really well. If you’re interested in just the Internet part of that — and of course I’ve been criticized for saying that I like to be friends with the [press] — but here’s the deal: when I get a friendly press outlet — not so much the guy that’s interviewing me — it’s their audience that I’m trying to reach. So, if I can get on Rush Limbaugh, and I can say, “Harry Reid needs $25 million. I need a million people to send twenty five dollars to SharronAngle.com.” The day I was able to say that [even], he made $236,000 dollars. That’s why it’s so important. Somebody…I’m going on Bill O’Reilly the 16th. They say, “Bill O’Reilly, you better watch out for that guy, he’s not necessarily a friendly”…Doesn’t matter, his audience is friendly, and if I can get an opportunity to say that at least once on his show — when I said it on Sean Hannity’s television show we made $40,000 before we even got out of the studio in New York. It was just [great]. So that’s what I’m really reaching out to is that audience that’s had it with Harry, and you can watch that happen when I go on those shows. Go on my website, it starts coming in. We have an automatic…when you put your name in there and it doesn’t tell how much you gave, but it tells your name and where you’re from. And so you can just watch it; it just rolls like this. In fact, with Rush Limbaugh we put it all down. We couldn’t take the ticker going fast enough. And we’ve pulled in over [3,000,000] dollars just from that kind of a message going out.
The fact that Fox News permits fundraising appeals on air isn’t just a bonus for Angle, it appears to be her primary criteria. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, correspondent David Brody noted that Angle’s preference for “more conservative outlets” over “Meet the Press” or “This Week” conveys that she is “avoiding those mainstream media outlets.” To which Angle replied, “Well, in that audience, will they let me say I need $25 dollars from a million people go to SharronAngle.com send money?”
Angle’s preference for friendly outlets (and friendly audiences) has irked local news affiliates because she has “steadfastly refused to talk to reporters” in Nevada. Her refusal of “an interview request — or 10 requests, or 20″ has local news stations taking the “unprecedented step” of “publicly call[ing] on Ms. Angle to explain her positions to Nevada voters.” But if voters and the press are “tired of playing” the game “Where’s Sharron Angle,” they now know where to look.
LAS VEGAS — A new poll shows Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid with a slight edge over Republican opponent and tea party favorite Sharron Angle in the campaign leading to the November election.
The statewide telephone survey gives Reid a 44 percent to 37 percent lead over Angle, with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Ten percent of 625 likely voters surveyed statewide Monday through Wednesday were undecided. Five percent said they would choose Nevada's none-of-the-above option, and 4 percent wanted someone else.
The poll was conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS-TV.
During an all-day interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody, Sharron Angle admitted that she likes to appear on Fox News to directly raise money for her race against Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Politico’s Ben Smith highlighted a portion of the interview, released today, that reveals how Angle avoids mainstream media outlets because she thinks they won’t let her raise funds on air:
BRODY: When you’re on Fox News or talking to more conservative outlets but maybe not going on “Meet the Press” or a “This Week”, those type of news shows, then the perception and the narrative starts to be like you are avoiding those mainstream media outlets.
ANGLE: Well, in that audience will they let me say I need $25 dollars from a million people go to Sharron Angle.com send money? Will they let me say that? Will I get a bump on my website and you can watch whenever I go on to a show like that we get an immediate bump. You can see the little spinners. People say ‘Oh, I heard that. I am going and I’m going to help Sharron out because they realize this is a national effort and that I need people from all around the nation. They may not be able to vote for me but they can certainly help.”
Watch it:
As Smith says, “The suggestion here, among other things, is that Fox is more open to her fundraising pitch.” Indeed, Angle has been repeatedly allowed to explicitly appeal for campaign money. When she first appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on June 14, shortly after winning the Republican primary, she offered a similarly phrased statement on her interview fundraising strategy and asked for donations on the spot:
HANNITY: It’s obvious the media wants to attack you just like Rand Paul, who was on this program last week. Are you going to give them what they want? Are you going to go on their shows or are you going to run your campaign locally in the state? What are — what are your plans media-wise for this campaign?
ANGLE: You may have heard that I’ve been dodging the media. But I actually I’ve been doing five to seven interviews with folks that can really help me, everyday I’m — I’m on somebody’s talk show.
HANNITY: Right.
ANGLE: And the message is — you may not be able to vote for me, Sean but you can send money to SharronAngle.com.
HANNITY: Oh you’re good at the Web site.
When Angle stopped by Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” two days ago, she began the interview with a fundraising pitch that exactly mirrors the one she told Brody she’d be making in friendly media appearances:
CAVUTO: What do you make of this, an attack from — from Senator Bennett out of the blue?
ANGLE: Well, first of all, Neil, it’s great to be on your show to talk about this campaign against Harry Reid or these 25 million — and I have been saying I only need a million people to send $25 to SharronAngle.com.
When Angle outlined this strategy with Brody, she mentioned “the little spinners” who “may not be able to vote for me” because they don’t live in Nevada but “can certainly help.” She may have been thinking of Fox News commentator Dick Morris, who appeared on Hannity on June 28 saying, “It is crucial in the next week or two that everybody do everything they can to — help Sharron Angle. Doesn’t matter if you live in Nevada, you can help her anyway.”
Last month, KOLOTV reported how “in the first hour following her interview” with a Rush Limbaugh guest host, “her site reported more than 100 thousand dollars in new contributions,” which “more than doubled the total raised since she won the primary” two days earlier.
Although Angle is now hyping this strategy, it hasn’t been as lucrative as she might have hoped. Her finance chair admitted to the Las Vegas Review-Journal today that the campaign “fell short of a $1.4 million fund-raising goal by the June 30 deadline.”
By Tanya Somanader
In her campaign to capture the Nevada Senate seat from Harry Reid (D), Tea Party maven Sharron Angle (R) has maintained a hardline view on abortion. Earlier this year, Angle insisted that women should not have control over their reproductive rights in cases of rape or incest, because it would “interfere with God’s ‘plan’ for them.” In a more recent interview obtained by the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Angle refused to back down from her “pro-life sensibilities” and offered a more jarring take on rape victims. On the right-wing Alan Stock Show in June, Angle suggested that “a young girl raped by her father” deal with the “horrific situation” by making lemons into lemonade:
STOCK: What do you say then to a young girl, I am going to place it as he said it, when a young girl is raped by her father, let’s say, and she is pregnant. How do you explain this to her in terms of wanting her to go through the process of having the baby?
ANGLE: I think that two wrongs don’t make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade. Well one girl in particular moved in with the adoptive parents of her child, and they both were adopted. Both of them grew up, one graduated from high school, the other had parents that loved her and she also graduated from high school. And I’ll tell you the little girl who was born from that very poor situation came to me when she was 13 and said ‘I know what you did thank you for saving my life.’ So it is meaningful to me to err on the side of life.
Angle is not shy in making glib remarks about Nevadans enduring hardship. In another interview last month, Angle determined that those without jobs are “spoiled” and that she is “not in the business of creating jobs.” Incidentally, June was also the month Nevada became “the new no.1” in the U.S. for unemployment.
By Think Progress
In a radio interview with Bill Manders on Jan. 25, Sharron Angle — the GOP candidate and Tea Party darling challenging Harry Reid for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat — came out firmly against abortion. She even took the extreme position that women should not have control over their reproductive rights in cases of rape or incest, because it would interfere with God’s “plan” for them:
MANDERS: Is there any reason at all for an abortion?
ANGLE: Not in my book.
MANDERS: So, in other words, rape and incest would not be something?
ANGLE: You know, I’m a Christian, and I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives and that he can intercede in all kinds of situations and we need to have a little faith in many things.
Listen here:
Last week, Manders — who is a conservative radio host — told his listeners that in order to beat Reid, Angle has to “slide to the left a little bit, to the middle, so to speak. Not stay way over to the right.” “[T]here are things about Sharron that are annoying to the voters,” he added. Recently, former Republican congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, the first woman from Nevada to hold federal office, said she may not even vote for Angle. “She’s very rigid and I have a little bit of trouble understanding her positions,” Vucanovich said. “So I’m not out there waving the flag. She’s a very difficult person.”
The far right has embraced Angle’s anti-choice position. She has said that while it won’t be “the most prominent issue in Nevada’s Senate race,” she “will show voters the difference between Reid and me on abortion: He flip-flops on the issues.” She added that more people are identifying as “pro-life” because the issue “has been framed in a more positive way.”
Media Matters
A Fox affiliate in Las Vegas recently criticized Fox & Friends for its "softball" interview with Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, as being "rife with inaccuracies, softball questions and poor research on the part of the producers and hosts." Fox & Friends' treatment of Angle is not unusual; the hosts routinely interview Republican congressional candidates and provide them with a platform to promote their campaigns, aiding them with leading questions and statements
Fox affiliate slammed Fox & Friends for giving Angle a "softball" interview
Fox & Friends goes easy on Angle, suggesting it's "misinformation" and "not true" that Angle wants to "get rid of Social Security." On the June 14 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade brought Angle, the Republican nominee in the Nevada Senate race, on for an "exclusive" interview. Carlson asked her about how "it must be such a whirl-wind experience for you, somebody who really has not been in politics before," Kilmeade asked her what "message" Nevadans should "be taking by... giving you the nomination," and Doocy asked her: "[A] lot of people in the mainstream media...are trying to marginalize the Tea Party. They shouldn't, should they?"
At the end of the interview, Doocy falsely suggested that it is "misinformation" and "not true" that Angle wants to "get rid of Social Security," when in fact, Angle's campaign website advocates "transition[ing] out" Social Security.
Fox5 hits Fox & Friends for "inaccuracies, softball questions, and poor research." Fox5 (KVVU), Las Vegas' Fox affiliate, strongly criticized Fox & Friends for the interview, calling it "rife with inaccuracies, softball questions and poor research on the part of the producers and hosts." The article also noted that Doocy twisted Angle's position on Social Security. From Fox5's article:
Republican nominee Sharron Angle appeared on the cable news program Monday morning in an interview rife with inaccuracies, softball questions and poor research on the part of the producers and hosts.
[...]
It must have stung when Gretchen Carlson opened by asking the four-term assemblywoman and former minority whip about the "whirlwind experience" she's having as "someone who really has not been in politics before."
[...]
Carlson's co-host Steve Doocy also left some audience members scratching their heads when he said Angle had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. She hasn't.
Reid's team will feast on the interview, especially Doocy's final question, one of the few that asked Angle about her platform.
"Perhaps it's a misinformation or mischaracterization, but some have said you are out to get rid of Social Security. That's not true, right?" he said.
Angle called it "nonsense" and said she wants to "personalize" Social Security, so the government cannot "raid" it. Her website advocates free market alternatives and transitioning out Social Security.
Fox & Friends' interviews with GOP candidates are routinely softballs
Doocy tells Brown that Democrats "are really trying to gang up on you," while Brown fundraises. Then-Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown (MA) appeared on the program January 14. During the interview, Doocy told Brown he had "Democrats panicked up there," and asked him what he planned to do in the Senate, allowing Brown a lengthy and uninterrupted response. Doocy also asked him, "it really bugs you when people refer to that particular Senate seat as 'Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.' It's not Ted Kennedy's seat, is it?" Then, after noting several groups campaigning against Brown, Doocy said, "You can see, Scott, that the forces on the other side are really trying to gang up on you." In response, Brown plugged his campaign website for donations.
Doocy, Perino open Fiorina interview by asking "how did you do it?" and "how much are you looking forward to taking on Barbara Boxer?" Republican Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina (CA) appeared on the program June 9. Doocy and Perino began the interview by asking her "how did you do it [win the GOP nomination]," and "how much are you looking forward to taking on Barbara Boxer come this November?" They also asked her whether she was going to "pool her resources" with gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (CA) because Democrats "going to come at you with all the firepower that they've got," and whether she's "willing to spend a bunch more" on the campaign. At one point, Kilmeade asked her how she would "answer" accusations from Boxer about her time at Hewlett Packard.
Doocy asks Haley about the "crazy allegations" made during the campaign and tells her she is "lucky" to have a Palin endorsement. Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley (SC) also appeared on the program June 9. During the interview, Doocy noted "these crazy allegations out there that you have denied," and asked her why her opponents would "make that stuff up?" Perino stated that "the guys were quite desperate because they couldn't win on the merits," and asked Haley what her "biggest challenges going into" the election will be. Later, Doocy stated that Haley is "lucky because Governor Sarah Palin, she selected just a handful of candidates to endorse...you were one of them." He asked her, "Have you spoken to her since your win? If you did, what was the conversation like?"
Kilmeade introduces Rubio as "soon to be senator, according to some." Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio (FL) appeared on the program February 5. During the interview, Kilmeade introduced Rubio as "one of the great upstart political stories right now in America," and "soon to be senator, according to some."
Camerota asks DioGuardi "what's your platform," and asks him about his American Idol daughter. Republican Senate candidate Joe DioGuardi (NY) appeared on the program March 16. Guest-host Alisyn Camerota asked him "what's your platform, why are you getting back into this racket?" After DioGuardi spoke a length, Kilmeade said, "you know how much work this is...it's going to be hard, especially in New York, to be a Republican," and asked DioGuardi what his daughter, American Idol's Kara DioGuardi, thought about his campaign. They also asked him about his daughter's appearance on American Idol, in which she made a "memorable" "mark" by wearing a bikini.
Kilmeade asks Johnson "What role do you think the tea party has had in inspiring you?" Republican congressional candidate Ron Johnson (WI) appeared on the program June 1. Kilmeade asked him during interview, "Does this seem real to you?" and "what role do you think the tea party has had in inspiring you and supporting you?" After Johnson replied that he was concerned with the "loss of freedom" and that "Obamacare" was a "huge assault on our freedom," Kilmeade asked, "when that happened, instead of just complaining about it or holding court with your friends in your neighborhood, you took action?" Kilmeade also asked him "what do you plan on doing if you get in?" and what his "plan" is for winning over the tea party.
Fox & Friends hosts Vets for Freedom exec to plug 10 GOP candidates. Vets for Freedom Executive Director Pete Hegseth appeared on the program May 31 to promote 10 GOP congressional candidates his organization is endorsing. Guest host Dave Briggs asked him, "why is it of particular importance to get these vets... elected to Congress?" and read through biographies of some of the veterans that Hegseth was "hoping win their congressional battles in 2010."
Kilmeade ignores key question about detainee assault in promoting West candidacy, military expertise. Republican congressional candidate Lt. Col. Allen West appeared on the program February 8. During the interview, Kilmeade said West's "personal interrogation tactic...saved a lot of lives in Iraq," and then repeatedly allowed West to criticize the Obama administration for its handling of the Northwest Airlines bombing suspect while stating that West had "dealt with Al Qaeda directly." Kilmeade did not ask West about his reported resignation from the military after he assaulted a detainee.
Kilmeade hosts candidates from Conservative Freshman Coalition to "share" their "mission." On April 29, Kilmeade hosted two Republican congressional candidates from the Conservative Freshman Coalition, a group that "promotes conservative values." He asked them why it's "necessary" to run, why they were a part of the coalition, what their "take" is on Charlie Crist's run as an independent, and where they stand on illegal immigration. At the end, he thanked them for coming on to "share your mission."
Fox & Friends plugged campaign for 90-year-old Republican candidate, who admitted Fox News' Ailes was once his manager. Republican congressional candidate John Snyder (IN) appeared on the program March 15. Kilmeade noted that Snyder, had "never really felt compelled to run for Washington - an office in Washington," and asked him whether he really felt "things are that bad at this point, throughout your entire life, they've never been worse than now?" After Snyder noted Ailes was once his campaign manager, Doocy stated that Snyder wasn't taking donations and asked him, "you're going to just come up with all the cash yourself?" After Kilmeade said, "the top of your agenda is about spending, correct?" Doocy stated: "There are certainly a lot of people across the country who feel the same way -- they're fed up. Few have taken such drastic measures and put off retirement to run for Congress."
M.C.L Comment: Fox News went easy on a Republican??? I'm shocked..
Supporters of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) are reportedly thrilled about the prospect of him running against former state legislator Sharron Angle, since they see her as a weak Tea Party candidate with a history of extremist views that will make it easy to focus the campaign on her record.
The strategy, according to Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent, will be to "use her own words to paint her as, well, a complete whackjob."
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has already picked up on the emerging anti-Angle narrative. "Conventional wisdom was that Sue Lowden's come-from-ahead defeat to Tea Partier Sharron Angle would hurt Senator Harry Reid," he noted on Wednesday. "Turns out Ms. Lowden was the sensible one."
"Ms. Angle's resume is startling -- or, if you prefer, cartoon-like," Olbermann continued. "She told Liberty Watch magazine that she's opposed to legalizing alcohol. (Las Vegas!) Eleven years ago, she proposed a bill requiring doctors to tell women that research suggested abortions might increase their risk of breast cancer, even though, you know, it doesn't."
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank even suggested on Thursday that Angle's victory "would explain the uncharacteristic smile on Reid's face as he opened Wednesday morning's Senate session. Instead of his usual stemwinder denouncing the obstructionist minority, he engaged his Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a celebration of the national pastime."
According to the Post's Dave Weigel, however, Angle backers like Club for Growth spokesman Mike Connolly, are describing their reaction to the wave of attacks on their candidate as "one big yawn."
"We know Sharron Angle pretty well," Connolly told Weigel. "A lot of folks around here have worked with her. We've endorsed her in the past. This tactic is neither new nor surprising."
Even if the tactic doesn't surprise Angle's backers, though, it could still prove damaging when played out before a national audience.
"She endorsed a plan for a prison drug treatment program that would be like sweat lodges, saunas with massage," Olbermann noted. "It would cost $15,000 per prisoner. It was developed in part by the Church of Scientology. ... Two weeks ago -- after BP! -- she said she favors more deregulation of the oil industry. Oh, and Ms. Angle also voted against fluoridizing the water, because she thinks the fluoride might be poison."
Connolly acknowledged to Weigel that he hadn't previously known of Angle's opposition to fluoridation but insisted that "this is what their campaign is going to be -- digging around in things she's said and taking them out of context. And the polls haven't moved for Harry Reid. He's been a dead man walking, politically, for months."
Sal Russo of the Tea Party Express and other Republicans also described the attacks on Angle as "stale stuff" and suggested that Angle should have no problems as long as she can avoid future gaffes.
It's true that Angle's support for the sauna idea might fairly be described as old news, since it goes back to 2003, but her Scientology connections recently came under renewed scrutiny when the Las Vegas Sunreported that Angle's website had "scrubbed" any mention of her having worked with actresses Kelly Preston and Jenna Elfman to promote legislation prohibiting schools from requiring students to take psychiatric drugs, such as anti-depressants. Both women are prominent Scientologists, and opposition to psychiatric drugs is a Scientological position.
This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast June 9, 2010.
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