Martha Coakley's Lowest Blows
As the special Senatorial election in Massachusetts became more and more competitive, Democrat Martha Coakley was forced to go negative in order to make up for being caught flatfooted by the sudden ascendency of Republican Scott Brown. Here are FrumForum’s top four picks for Coakley’s most embarrassing negative ads.
Associating Scott Brown with the World Trade Center
One recent Martha Coakley ad featured a picture of the World Trade Center as a backdrop to the accusation that Scott Brown was tied to Wall Street greed.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani erupted at the news, saying: “Never in their wildest dreams did they think they would lose in Massachusetts... Now they’re using imagery from an area of New York where thousands of Americans died.” The ad, he continued, “just understates how excessively negative they’ve become since they’re so paranoid about losing this seat. They’re now using buildings that were destroyed on 9/11 — which is just unthinkable.”
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Accusing Scott Brown of Wanting to Deny Rape Victims Emergency Contraception
A Coakley ad accused Brown of wanting to “deny rape victims care”, showing a smiling Scott Brown side by side with a traumatized young girl, huddled in a stairwell. At issue was an amendment that Brown proposed in 2005, which would have allowed doctors to find a substitute if they objected to providing emergency contraception on religious grounds.
Ayla Brown, Scott’s daughter and a former American Idol contestant, defended her father fiercely, saying that the ad “represents everything that discourages young women from getting involved in politics, and as a young woman, I’m completely offended by that.”
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Coakley Ad accuses Brown of Wanting to Turn All Rape Victims Away From Hospitals
Going even further than the video ad that showed a rape victim huddled in a stairwell, a flier was sent to voters that read: “1,736 WOMEN WERE RAPED IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 2008. SCOTT BROWN WANTS HOSPITALS TO TURN THEM ALL AWAY.”
Dan Winslow, counsel for the Brown campaign, immediately threatened legal action: "The law creates a forum after the election for the facts to come out," Winslow says. "Scott Brown cannot have this lie stand."
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Coakley Ad Misspells "Massachusetts"
There’s been a lot of forgetfulness circulating around the campaign. President Obama appeared to forget which state he was in while stumping for Coakley, and Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) called Martha Coakley ‘Marcia’ several times after the President’s speech.
But perhaps the worst offense is the misspelling of Massachusetts in an ad approved by Coakley’s campaign. It doesn’t get much worse than this - in an ad designed to increase negative perceptions of Scott Brown, this image only served to portray Coakley as out of touch.
