Sunday, September 19, 2010

Obama may use fear-mongering ads to target G.O.P. & Tea Party - Unedited version of NY Times article



From the New York Times - unedited version. [The article has since been revised. Read on.]:
President Barack Obama's political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a national advertising campaign to warn voters against returning to power a Republican Party all but taken over by tea party extremists, people involved in the discussion said...

"We need to get out the message that it's now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party because the people who have taken over the party are radical, and there are going to be real consequences if we put them in charge," said one Democratic strategist who has spoken with White House advisers but requested anonymity to discuss private strategy talks.

The newly revised article no longer contains the quote from the Democratic strategist in its entirety. He is now quoted as simply saying: "We need to get out the message that it's now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party..."

Although, the word "dangerous" was still left in tact, the second half of the sentence: "because the people who have taken over the party are radical, and there are going to be real consequences if we put them in charge," has been deleted.

Looks like the New York Times' editorial staff got scared off by someone. The statement - which reflected a strategy of fear-mongering on the part of the White House - was subsequently edited, and toned down. Hmmm......

Here's a couple of links to the unedited version of the article:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/09/20/obama_advisers_consider_national_ad_assault/

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_16119876

Current version - Link - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/us/politics/20dems.html

[Also, the title, as originally posted on the Times website, read: "Obama advisers weigh ad assault against the GOP"

The title, in its newly edited and more milder form, now reads: "Obama Aides Weigh Bid to Tie the G.O.P. to the Tea Party"]

Update - Read subsequent post: My take on NY Times article corraborated by Politico: Obama Advisers Weigh Ad Assault Against GOP & Tea Party

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