Hagen Daze

by digby

I am always a little bit skeptical of claims of sweeping change, but I have to say that I think this really is good news (made possible by Youtube and the ease of contributing online):

It’s no surprise to Steve Lowe that being an atheist is considered taboo.

But when the head of the Washington Area Secular Humanists saw Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s “godless” campaign ad, he did something he’d done only once before — he sent money to a political candidate.

Turns out, Sen.-elect Kay Hagan got 3,600 contributions within 48 hours of Dole airing of the controversial ad, which centered on Hagan’s attendance at a fund-raiser at the Boston home of someone active in the atheist community. The Democrat from Greensboro had immediately used the “godless” ad as an e-mail fund-raising tool, and it paid off.

“I told Hagan’s campaign, ‘This is the reason you’re getting money from me — I want you to know this is not hurting you, this has helped you,'” said Lowe said, who gave $50 to Hagan and called Dole, R-N.C., several times to complain.

The 3,600 donations came from a cross-section of society.

“We got responses from people who identify themselves as atheists and every religion under the sun who found that ad offensive,” said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan, who said the campaign hadn’t yet calculated the dollar figure raised as a result.

This story about how the ad was created makes it clear why this happened:

Critics of the ad from the right and the left accused Dole of questioning Hagan’s faith. Hagan, a Sunday school teacher and elder in her Presbyterian church in Greensboro, called the ad “despicable” and ran her own ad accusing Dole of “bearing false witness against fellow Christians.”

But Davis insists the commercial was not designed to question Hagan’s faith. He said it was about her decision to attend the fundraiser.

The people who made that ad assumed that everyone believed it was outrageous to even be in the same room with people who don’t believe in God. What they didn’t understand was that there are many people, religious and atheist alike, who would see that ad and be disgusted, many of them probably because of the inflammatory ending which implied that Hagen was “godless.” But it also disgusted people who didn’t like the charge of guilt by association. Saying that someone shouldn’t even attend a fundraiser at the home of an atheist was a bridge too far for all but the most bigoted, fundamentalist types.

Hagen was smart enough to use her email list to solicit support and donations from people who don’t like smear merchants and bigots instead of those who do. Good for her.

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