Another Grown-Up

Thanks to Kevin at Catch.com (which is called that for a reason) we find that the Senator Jim Bunning, who recently said his Italian American opponent looks like Uday and Qusay, has a history of classy campaigning. He’s one o’ those uniters not dividers:

One ad was shot at August’s Fancy Farm political picnic, where the low-key Mr. Baesler surprised and even shocked a lot of political watchers, Democratic officials and reporters with a speech that many described as over-the-top.

Mr. Baesler ranted, raved, screamed, hollered, pounded the podium and shook his fists. He moved around the podium so much that one Lexington Herald-Leader reporter wrote that Mr. Baesler, a former University of Kentucky basketball player, looked like he was trying to guard it.

But Mr. Bunning had a film crew take some shots of the speech. Music from Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” was added. And according to the Baesler camp some selective edits were made — a charge the Bunning campaign denies — to make Mr. Baesler appear like a frenzied Adolf Hitler in a Nazi propaganda film.

The music, by the way, was by one of Hitler’s favorite composers. It was also used in the film Apocalypse Now during a scene in which a village in Vietnam is blasted.

“It is a deliberate attempt to portray Scotty Baesler in a Hitler-esque image,” said Bob Wiseman, Mr. Baesler’s campaign manager.

Mr. Baesler wants the ad, showing in most of Kentucky, off the air. The Bunning campaign says forget it.

Kyle Simmons, Mr. Bunning’s campaign spokesman, said the music was also used in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and nobody tried to make Mr. Baesler look like Hitler.

What’s up with that, doc? There is nothing cartoonish about that ad. See it, if you can, and make your own decision.

The second ad deals with the vote Mr. Baesler made in Congress for NAFTA, or the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Baesler has since said it was a mistake, but he voted for NAFTA, which is blamed for the loss of thousands of jobs in southern Kentucky to Central America.

The ad criticizes Mr. Baesler’s vote. But right at the end an Hispanic man walks on to the screen, gives a thumbs up and says, “Mucho gracias, senor Baesler.”

Now, I don’t want to accuse Republicans of political hate speech. That would not be correct. Political hate speech is when a Democrat accuses a Republican of lying or makes fun of President Bush. Senator Bunning just has a lively sense of humor and it’s nothing more than typical leftist political correctness run amuck to suggest otherwise.

Get Over It.