In Mississippi's hotly debated Senate
race to complete the final four years of a six-year term left vacant
by Republican Trent Lott, Roger Wicker's campaign against Democrat
Ronnie Musgrove is playing up gay stereotypes and bashing gay
marriage.
A new 30-second spot that appeared this
week ridicules gay Americans with offensive stereotypes.
In the ad, a Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee (DSCC) Musgrove fundraiser says, “We got a shot
at defeating a conservative pro-life Senator.” People immediately
line up to donate money, including a woman representing the Friends
of Hillary Clinton PAC and a creepy-looking man representing the
NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC.
“Let's go. Ronnie Musgrove has
promised to support our liberal Democratic leadership,” says the
fundraiser as the line continues to move along swiftly.
Actors portraying the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC) PAC – the nation's largest advocate for gay and
lesbian rights – step up to donate: One man is dressed as a cowboy
and another in leather representing the 1970s disco band the Village
People – an outdated and insulting gay stereotype.
The text reads, “HRC SUPPORTS GAY
MARRIAGE.”
“We just thought it would be in good
fun to show Mississippians who's paying for these ads,” Wicker
campaign spokesman Ryan Annison told The Associated Press.
The ad is not only insulting, the
charges are also false. Musgrove is neither a pro-choice nor pro gay
marriage candidate. And neither the Human Rights Campaign PAC nor
the NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC have donated directly to the
Musgrove campaign, reports The Associated Press.
“That sounds like an ad, to me, of
somebody who's worried,” said Marty Wiseman, director of the
Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.
Wicker is currently filling Lott's
Senate seat until the November election.