False Folks

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October 8, 2010, 9:10 am
Night Watch: Faux Folk

By Brian Stelter

“They’re not really from West Virginia. They just play them on TV!”

Thursday’s disclosure that an ad for a Republican senate candidate in West Virginia featured out-of-state actors was catnip for some hosts on cable news. It drew comments like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, quoted above, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who began his program with, as he put it, “politicians trying to play you for a chump.”

The ad, for John Raese, the Republican candidate, featured actors playing regular Joes complaining about how President Obama was “messing things up.” The Republican officials in Washington who paid for the ad told The Times that they had nothing to do with the casting call, for which the directors sought actors with “a ‘hicky’ blue-collar look.”

Mr. Cooper wondered why they needed to hire actors. “The question is, why all the spoon-feeding? There is, after all, a real version of the truth. And we’re all living it.” He talked with Ed Rollins and Anita Dunn about the faux quality of the ad and the amount of ad spending this campaign cycle:


“I guess we should be thankful, in some ways, this is like stimulus money,” Mr. Cooper shrugged at the end of the segment. “It’s at least making some actors employed and giving them jobs, but it would be nice to see some real people.”

“Well, unfortunately, it all ends Nov. 2 — or fortunately,” Mr. Rollins said.

Fox News spent less time than CNN or MSNBC talking about the West Virginia ad on Thursday, though Fox’s “Special Report” host Bret Baier did bring it up briefly on two broadcasts. He noted that the West Virginia race “is pretty tight,” with Real Clear Politics giving the Republican candidate, John Raese, a 4.5-point lead over the Democratic governor, Joe Manchin III.

Stephen Colbert had something to say Thursday night about a different campaign ad — two of them actually. “One of the greatest tools to motivate voters in any election is fear,” the comedian said on “The Colbert Report.” “And there are two terrifyingly great ads out this year, from Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle and Louisiana Senator David Vitter.”

Mr. Colbert highlighted the fact that in separate attack ads against Democratic opponents, the two Republican candidates apparently licensed the same photo to depict illegal immigrants.

Mr. Colbert’s take: “There aren’t enough stock photos of scary minorities out there to represent all the scary minorities we know have gotta be out there!” He continued: