NAACP a transparent arm of the Democrat Party

Rep. Allen West says ad plays on racial stereotypes; NAACP disagrees

STUART —

Conservative black U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, says an ad that depicts him punching white women plays on racial stereotypes and would make liberals “apoplectic” if a Republican ran it against a black Democrat.

While Sarah Palin and Herman Cain joined the West campaign in ratcheting up criticism of the ad on Friday, an NAACP official said he didn’t find the 30-second spot to be racially offensive. And the campaign of West’s main Democratic rival defended the ad’s content while denying any involvement in its creation.

The controversy centers on an ad by American Sunrise, a PAC that is largely financed by the father of Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy. The ad blasts West’s stances on seniors, women’s health and tax issues by showing a cartoonish likeness of West in boxing gloves slugging an elderly woman and a younger woman who are white and punching a black family and grabbing the family’s cash.

“Think if the Republican Party or some conservative PAC ran a picture of a black Democrat politician or congressman punching white women and white seniors. I’m sure that MSNBC, NBC and the Huffington Post and everyone would be going apoplectic right now,” West said on Fox News.

West, one of only two black Republicans in Congress, said “different rules” apply to black conservatives.

“You know, where’s the outrage from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the NAACP about this? They’re not going to say anything because they’re nothing but an effective wing of the Democrat Party whatsoever and they have effectively kept them well placed so that they can continue to have a black electorate voting bloc,” West said.

NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary O. Shelton, the organization’s chief federal lobbyist, said he watched the ad three or four times.

“It is a typical campaign ad,” said Shelton. “I don’t see it playing on stereotypes.”

American Sunrise got $250,000 of its initial $350,050 budget from Coastal Construction CEO Thomas Murphy Jr., who is Patrick Murphy’s father. The PAC, which says it aims to “reduce the hostile environment of governing in today’s Congress,” lists Patrick Murphy as the only candidate it supports.

The elder Murphy has not returned calls requesting comment. Patrick Murphy’s campaign defended the ad’s content.

“The Murphy campaign had nothing to do with the content or creation of this ad,” said a statement released by Murphy consultant Eric Johnson. “However, it is amazing to hear Allen West complain considering he recently called Social Security ‘slavery,’ said the President is trying to ‘enslave’ Americans, and told a female colleague she was ‘vile and despicable.’”

West’s campaign assembled several supporters for a Friday news conference to blast the ad.

“It’s only been recently that women have come out and admitted that they have been victims of domestic violence. And to put this ad on TV showing a black man hitting a white woman is despicable. It sets things back 20 years,” said Nita Denton, the lead attorney in the state attorney’s office in Martin County.

State Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, a candidate for Martin County sheriff, decried the “vile, racially charged attack ad.”

Thomas Bakkedahl, an assistant state attorney in Martin County, said the ad “hearkens back to the Willie Horton days.”

Horton was the convicted murderer featured in a 1988 ad by a PAC supporting Republican George H.W. Bush for president and slamming Democratic rival Michael Dukakis as soft on crime. While Dukakis was governor of Massachusetts, Horton used a weekend furlough to escape and later kidnap a couple, stabbing the man and raping the woman.

Critics charged that the 1988 TV ad was meant to inflame white prejudice by featuring a menacing photo of Horton, who is black.

The NAACP’s Shelton said the smiling photo of West used in the American Sunrise ad isn’t in the same category.

“What you don’t see is the kind of Willie Hortonesque making him look more sinister,” Shelton said. “He does not look more aggressive, he does not look more threatening. He looks congressional.”

While West and Murphy are expected to face off in an expensive November showdown, both must first win Tuesday primaries. West is being challenged by Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder in the GOP primary while Murphy is on the Democratic ballot with retired firefighter Jerry Buechler and businessman Jim Horn.