NRCC scrubs ads attacking party switcher

Republicans move quickly to rid YouTube of vicious ads run against Parker Griffith, who's joining their party

Published December 22, 2009 5:15PM (EST)

When Democrat Parker Griffith ran for Congress last year, it was in a district that the GOP wanted badly to win. So the Natioanl Republican Congressional Committee really went to town on him, putting out an attack ad filled with dark images of terror attacks, including 9/11, that ended by quoting Griffith as saying, "We have nothing to fear from radical Islam."

Griffith won anyway. But on Tuesday, news broke that he plans to switch parties, and will officially announce his decision to become a Republican Tuesday afternoon. Problem was, that ad was apparently still on YouTube.

The NRCC seems to have moved quickly, though. Their official copy of the spot has been removed from the video-sharing site. One other user's copy still remained as of this post, however. You can view it below.

Update: Not wanting to be left out of the action, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now scrubbing positive statements its people made about Griffith in 2008.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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