TERRE HAUTE — You have to hand it to the Republican Party: When it comes to disinformation meant to scare the bejeebers out of people, nobody does it better.
Exhibit A: anti-Brad Ellsworth ads that have been making their way via mail and the airways around Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District. The ads portray U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as the Freddy Krueger of decent, hard-working, patriotic Hoosiers everywhere and Ellsworth as her eager accomplice.
On one side of the 7 1/2 -by-11-inch mailer card, a cluster of lovely white farm buildings is shown in a sea of verdant fields — with the Golden Gate Bridge superimposed over the whole scene.
White letters warn, “San Francisco values don’t belong in Indiana.”
On the flip side, there are murky-looking black-and-white headshots of Ellsworth, the Vanderburgh County sheriff, and Pelosi, the 22-year congresswoman and ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. The warnings continue:
“If elected to Congress, Brad Ellsworth could vote to put Democrats in control of Congress and could allow liberal San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi to become the Speaker of the House.”
Pelosi’s “liberal agenda” is then listed with bullet points: “raise taxes, cut and run from Iraq, amnesty for illegals.”
The mailer concludes: “HOOSIERS DON’T SUPPORT THE NATIONAL LIBERAL AGENDA. HOOSIERS SHOULDN’T SUPPORT BRAD ELLSWORTH.”
A television spot carries the same message and a recent news release from Indiana Republican Party Chair Murray Clark takes it one notch higher. All of the state’s Democratic congressional candidates, declared Clark, “can’t wait to get to Washington so they can elect San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House … Don’t forget that a vote for the Democrats is a vote to give San Francisco more power.”
Lest anyone think Ellsworth’s opponent — the utterly unmentioned incumbent congressman John Hostettler — is behind this message, a disclaimer box on the mailer says it is bankrolled by the National Republican Congressional Committee and “not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
Well, of course not. In fact, I’ll bet Rep. Hostettler was just shocked to see this thing and the TV ads appear. Embarrassed even. Doggone those national and state Republican groups.
Where to start? So many ironies, so little time.
One of the most pointed is the votes cast by ultra-liberal Pelosi and ultra-conservative Hostettler on Oct. 10, 2002, when both opposed the invasion of Iraq. The two representatives were among a 133-member minority who said the president had not made a strong enough case to justify an unprecedented, pre-emptive attack of a sovereign nation. Hostettler was one of only six Republicans to defy the White House.
The speech Pelosi delivered on the House floor that day is a good speech, but Hostettler’s is great. It’s eloquent, clear, quotes Churchill and St. Augustine and — read today — makes the congressman from Indiana sound like a prophet. Some excerpts:
“We should not turn our back today on millennia of wisdom by proposing to send America’s beautiful sons and daughters into harm’s way for what might be.”
(Hostettler reviewed the “possibles” offered by the White House: Saddam Hussein possessing nuclear weapons, using them against us or giving them to al-Qaida.)
“But based on the best of our intelligence information, none of these things have happened. The evidence supporting what ‘might’ be is tenuous at best.”
He continued his argument, “I am still not convinced that there is a substantial link between Iraq and al-Qaida … I must be convinced of that proof, or convinced that Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction do in fact pose an imminent and demonstrable threat to our national security or other vital interests. Substantial evidence is lacking in both regards.”
Remember, this was pre-9/11 Commission, pre-a passel of books by disillusioned former administrators and retired generals that revealed the civilian-driven “plan” for war as pitifully short-sighted and under-funded. It was pre-admission by the president that Iraq had “nothing” to do with al-Qaida.
Calling the resolution “an ominous precedent” for pre-emptive attacks by any nation for any reason, Hostettler shared his fears of the future:
“This vote, therefore, represents to me the beginning of a very long war, or series of wars, against several nations — a prolonged war that is piled on top of the war on terrorism to which we are already committed.”
Pelosi couldn’t have said it better — and didn’t. Since then, both representatives have voted for “emergency wartime supplemental appropriations” for U.S. troops. Most recently, however, as Pelosi has joined legislators such as combat veteran John Murtha in calling for an exit strategy and “responsible downdraws” of U.S. troops, Hostettler’s brave clarity of 2002 is but a memory.
In June, he voted to affirm that Iraq is part of the war on terror and that no exit dates for troops should be discussed.
Possibly the most ironic aspect of the attack-ads-not-paid-for-by-Hostettler is Ellsworth’s unabashed conservatism. In fact, about the only obvious things he has in common with Pelosi are party affiliation, and that they are still married to their respective college sweethearts.
Unlike Pelosi and most centrist Democrats (and even some moderate Republicans), Ellsworth is anti-choice on abortion and has said he will work to change existing laws. He is also against public funding for stem cell research. Like many “pro-life” candidates, he is pro-death penalty, pro-gun rights and vociferously against allowing non-documented immigrants to remain here and work toward citizenship.
If Democrats do manage to take 15 seats in the house this fall and Ellsworth indeed ends up voting for Pelosi as House Speaker, it won’t be because he “can’t wait” to do so or because he shares many items on her legislative wish list. It will be because his only alternative is to switch parties and avoid voting altogether.
Next time: How scary is Nancy Pelosi, and just what are “San Francisco values”?
Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.
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