Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dole?

In North Carolina, the death of Jesse Helms prompted the hope that politics would get a little nicer. A little more gentile. A little more honest.

And a lot less based in fear.

In the 1990 Senate race, Helms' campaign ran an ad known now as "Hands." It featured a pair of white hands crumpling a job rejection notice and ran with the point that a less qualified person of color took that job away from the white handed man.

Playing on fear. Scaring you into voting for him. And now Elizabeth Dole follows brazenly in his footsteps, running a scathing fear based ad against her opponent, Kay Hagan.

The ad in question claims that a PAC called The Godless Americans held a fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor. It goes on to show clips from Fox News where a Godless American was stating that they would support removing "In God We Trust" from our money and "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.

At the end of the ad, Dole's campaign inserted a voice that sounded remarkably like Hagan's saying, "There is no God."

There is a lawsuit pending. It's not Kay Hagan's voice at the end of the ad, and Godless Americans did not host the fundraiser. A member of the PAC was one of 40 hosts that held the fundraiser in question. Hagan is actually a long standing Presbyterian, a denomination whose original branch is known for its tolerance and acceptance.

As far as I'm concerned, that is neither here nor there.

What disturbs me is the amount of blind emotional manipulation that plays into politics.

Have Republicans in North Carolina forgotten that the government is supposed to represent everyone? That in fact, even atheists vote and deserve representation? So what if the Godless Americans donated to Hagan's campaign?

Even as a Christian, I would stand up with the Godless Americans and support their right to skip the pledge and would consider taking "In God We Trust" off of our currency. It's a little foundational issue called separation of church and state. It's not an unreasonable request in reality.

The Godless Americans don't scare me. Who scares me is Elizabeth Dole. The ad uses footage that has been made to look like a hidden camera shot it. They made it look like Hagan was hiding from cameras by never showing a full on shot of her in the grainy, shaky shots.

It's flat out dishonest and manipulative.

They are trying to frighten us into voting for Dole. You should be so scared that a Godless American is going to be in the Senate. Next thing you know, gays will have equal rights, and a black man might be President.

They expect us to not think. To not consider logic and issues. They honestly expect that the people of North Carolina will go to the polls with fear and trembling and vote for Dole because God wants us to.

Shame on you, Elizabeth Dole. Helms is dead. You should have let his politics die with him.

An original Deep South Moms post. Marty also blogs at Triangle Mamas and thinks that perhaps Elizabeth Dole ought to live in the state in which she is running for the Senate.