Adwatch: Bucks County Kitchens

Today, Adwatch looks at Mike Fitzpatrick, Republican congressman for the Eighth Congressional District, and his recent attack ads toward his opponent.

The ads mostly just replay a clip of Patrick Murphy on Hardball, where he can’t tell Chris Matthews whether he would have voted for the Iraq war (which he served in), and they play up his inexperience. Let’s explore one of these attack ads, after the jump.

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Adwatch: Joe Sestak Out Of Nowhere!

Today’s Adwatch video is a 30-second spot for Admiral Joe Sestak, as he likes to call himself, a retired Vice Admiral in the Navy who’s battling against noted conspiracy theorist Curt Weldon.

While Sestak is a political neophyte, he’s running ahead of Curt Weldon in recent polls, mainly due to… well.. Curt Weldon being the zaniest (to put it nicely) politician ever. Also, Sestak has these ads that are, like, super-patriotic. I’ll analyze one after the jump.

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Leftovers: Actual Cheers For Jersey

• The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that gays and lesbians have equal partnership rights according to the New Jersey constitution, but doesn’t say the state has to call it marriage. As such, get ready for some hot hot civil unions in the Dirty Jerz within 180 days. Hooray! [Inquirer]

• Don Sherwood, a U.S. Rep. from our fine state who also happened to allegedly choke his mistress, is now down nine points in a recent poll. Looks like Pennsylvania voters have some limits for their incumbents after all. [Ferrick's Poliblog]

• $211K of another U.S. Rep. from our fine state, Mike Fitzpatrick, has been linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Dun dun dun! [Bucks County Courier Times]

Adwatch: Lois Murphy’s Breasts Will Raise Taxes

Welcome to Philadelphia Will Do’s Adwatch, yet another hastily thrown together feature that features the best and worst (but mostly the worst) of political advertising. No fact-checking here, unless it’s particularly funny. No, Adwatch dissects the ads to find out just what makes them so unintentionally hilarious. (Or, in rare cases, effective.)

Today’s ad is an attack ad from the Republican National Congressional Committee, which you may remember from the famous 2004 ads where they essentially accused Democrats of being slaves to Osama Bin Laden. (Or something.) The ads were so over the top that Republican House candidate Mike Fitzpatrick actually asked them to stop running the ads. After the jump, the ad and some commentary.

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Next For Weldon: Chants Of ‘M-V-P!’

Every day it seems like there’s a new, ultra-hilarious aspect of Curt “Gogolyguk” Weldon’s campaign for re-election in the seventh district. Whether it’s blaming everyone in the world for the federal probe, being an asshole to his daughter or even chiding his opponent for having a sick daughter, Weldon is a top-notch politician in terms of hilarity.

Which brings us to Friday night’s debate with challenger Joe Sestak. Apparently, it was a pretty pro-Weldon crowd, according to the Inquirer:

The debate ended with chants of “Curt! Curt! Curt!”

You have got to be kidding me. This is gogolyguk.

Weldon comes out swinging [Inquirer]
Archives: Curt Weldon

Weldon Accuses 95 Percent Of America For FBI Raid

Monday’s FBI raid of Congressman Curt Weldon’s daughter and friend’s houses and offices was met with the usual list of suspects: Democrats, the Liberal Media, etc.

But yesterday Weldon came up with another one: A former FBI agent said someone in opponent Joe Sestak’s campaign knew the raid was going to happen! Because political neophytes usually have inside info with the Bush Justice Department. But that’s not all. KYW 1060 recaps who Weldon has accused so far:

In an interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian this week, Weldon accused former President Bill Clinton, the left wing group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, former CIA official Mary McCarthy and others of involvement in sparking the FBI probe.

Actually missed that one on the DP interview, but, yep, that’s the old Bill Clinton chestnut. Geeze. All he needs to do is all liberal gays and communists and he’ll pretty much have blamed everyone in the whole entire world. For the Bush Justice Department’s investigation of his daughter and his friend.

Let’s just put this really clear: Curt Weldon is a blithering idiot. If you vote for him, so are you.

Weldon Says He Knows Who is Behind FBI Investigation [KYW 1060]
Archives: Curt Weldon

Curt Weldon Drums Up New Conspiracy Theory

Yesterday, the FBI raided the house of Curt Weldon’s daughter — among other places connected to her — as part of an investigation whether Weldon improperly helped steer contracts her way. (Weldon is shown here speaking at the “coronation” of Rev. Sun Myung Moon — which named Moon the God of the Earth or something and which Weldon helped organize — standing next to a photo of himself pinning a medal on Moammar Al Qadhafi. Right.)

The deal involves contracts Weldon’s daughter and Delaware County GOP bigwig Charles Sexton’s company — Solutions Worldwide — received from Itera, a Russian natural gas company. The main deal was a $500k contract Itera awarded the company while Weldon was lobbying Congress on behalf of the company. Dun dun dun.

Of course, Weldon thinks the raid is politically motivated, since the Bush justice department usually raids Republicans right before the election. Weldon said:

“The person who filed the one complaint against me with the Justice Department, Melanie Sloan, was a key staffer for John Conyers, who stands to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee assuming the Democrats win control of the Congress. I think it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this district could swing control of the Congress.”

Right. Except the complain was filed over two years ago. She really couldn’t have known the Justice Department would investigate Weldon two years-plus later, right. Unless Melanie Sloan is some sort of prophet. Perhaps Weldon could worship her along with Rev. Moon.

Weldon inquiry boils as FBI seizes material [Inquirer]
Weldon Calls Investigation ‘Suspicious’ [KYW 1060]
Yesterday: Curt Weldon Never Gave His Daughter Anything
Archives: Curt Weldon

Curt Weldon Never Gave His Daughter Anything

Noted goofy congressman Curt “Gogolyguk” Weldon had had his daughter’s home raided by the FBI this morning, as well as the home of a family friend and four other sites in Philly and Jacksonville.

The congressman is being investigated for possibly improperly helping his daughter’s consulting firm win lobbying contracts. (Uh, this is illegal?) Weldon named his outers to — who else? — black people don’t care about Darfur columnist Steven Morse of the Daily Pennsylvanian. He says that it’s Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, as well as former NSA head Sandy Berger.

Of course, this is the same man who said that Osama Bin Laden had secretly died in Iran, so take this with a grain of salt.

Weldon, for his part, says it’s a politically-motivated attack, and that his daughter is fine on his own:

“I’ve never helped my daughter get anything. My kids are qualified on their own,” Weldon said.

Curt Weldon never helped his daughter get anything? That asshole.

FBI raids home of congressman’s daughter [AP/CNN.com]
Congressman Weldon outs alleged leaker [DP's The Spin]
Archives: Curt Weldon

Leftovers: Bill Clinton Slums It

• Bill Clinton hit Bristol’s Mill Street yesterday, stumping for democrat Patrick Murphy. He also called Murphy’s opponent, Mike Fitzpatrick, a “mangy dog” in a really, really weird metaphor that I can’t figure out. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• The American Highway Users alliance did a report on the safest cities to evacuate from, and — surprise! — Philadelphia got an F, much like almost every other city. (Only Kansas City got an A.) Gee, what shocker. It’s hard to evacuate from cities with a million plus people in them. Who knew. [KYW 1060]

• Stop the presses! Dan Savage said something wild! Those alt-weekly editors/sex columnists! Who knew they’d say outrageous things? (Okay, okay, saying Carl Romanelli should be drug behind a car is a little out there.) [DP's The Spin]

• The infamous “Smiling Bank Robber” has been caught after robbing an Upper Darby bank. He said he moved to the suburbs because he had run out of banks to rob in Philadelphia. Guhwha? [KYW 1060]

• Berks County judges and their staffs may soon have to face random drug tests. Ha! [AP/NBC 10]

Weldon To Opponent: ‘Gogolyguk!’

Last Friday, noted conspiracy theorist and congressman Curt Weldon debated his Democratic challenger, Joe Sestak. The democrat, an admiral in the Navy, is a political neophyte, while Curt Weldon knows who really orchestrated 9/11, who killed Osama Bin Laden and how the moon landings were faked.

The Evening Bulletin recaps an important part of the debate (emphasis mine):

Sestak accused Rep. Weldon of cutting federal funding for student loans and not fully funding mandates for the No Child Left Behind law.

Weldon called the charge, “gogolyguk,” noting that he voted to strip federal subsidies to banks and lending institutions.

Curt Weldon is even more amazing than we all originally thought. Gogolyguk! Gogolyguk, indeed.

Weldon, Sestak Debate Shows Stark Contrast [Bulletin]