I can only imagine the hurried emails and phone calls that led to John Kline's scurrilous attack against Ashwin Madia for his ad featuring stock footage (read: footage that is available for anyone to use in advertisements) in a campaign ad.
That's it, they must have been rushed to come up with talking points, and a strategy that involved passing criticism from Erik Paulsen (Madia's Republican opponent, who happens to employ Brodkorb as a "part-time researcher") to John Kline, a Marine veteran, who would be less likely to draw criticism for attacking an honorably discharged Marine veteran.
Hurried. That's one of two reasonable explanations I can think of for this crock:
I respect and appreciate the military service of both Kline and Madia, but I believe Kline is raising a very fair point.
Specifically, Kline is upset that Madia used "footage of the elite U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team in his campaign ads." Click here to watch Madia's questionable ad.
The ad gives the impression that the drill team is performing for Madia. In reality, it appears that Team Madia "used" footage floating around on the Internet of the drill team and then arranged for Madia to appear in the same location were the drill team performed or a similar background.
Below is the video of the uniformed Marines that Team Madia "used" in their campaign ad.
I can deal with Brodkorb's magnanimous declaration that he respects Madia's service, despite the fact that he and his cohorts pretty clearly don't -- when was the last time they stood up and told one of their conservative blogger buddies that calling Ash Madia a phony soldier was both morally and factually wrong (especially since most Marines I've met despise being called "soldiers")?
No, the disrespect for veterans who happen to consider themselves Democrats is just a part of the game for people like Michael and his friend John Kline (who's no stranger to exploiting military history for the sake of politics). What I'm curious about is the repeated quotation of "used" in the post. Either Madia used stock footage of the Silent Drill Team, or he did something else with them -- the Thesaurus is an amazing tool, and can recommend other words to use. Why the quotes, if not to avoid responsibility for the accusations you're making against an honorably discharged Marine veteran?
Below you'll find the ad in question. I don't think it leaves any impression that the Drill Team is "performing" for Madia -- but then, I'm not a paid, part-time researcher for the guy who's running against him. I can see how if I were a paid, part-time researcher for the Republican who's running against Madia, I would want desperately to see something that's not there.
I just did. I have a feeling they won't be able to help themselves and we're going to end up donating a lot more to Madia and Sarvi before this is done.
