Think Progress

Elizabeth Dole ad falsely suggests opponent Kay Hagan is ‘Godless.’

Facing a close re-election race in North Carolina, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) recently released an ad attacking her opponent Kay Hagan, falsely accusing her of being “Godless.” The end of the ad shows a photo of Hagan while a woman yells, “There is no God!” Watch it:

The only problem is that Hagan is an elder at the First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC, has taught Sunday School and accompanied youth mission trips. In a similar move, the North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee recently sent out homophobic mailers targeting Hagan claiming she seeks to advance a “radical homosexual agenda” and wants to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. The Hagan campaign is seeking a cease-and-desist order against Dole for her latest ad.



57 Responses to “Elizabeth Dole ad falsely suggests opponent Kay Hagan is ‘Godless.’”

  1. raynman says:

    Class act, all the way.

    I guess the phrase ‘lose with dignity’ isn’t in the Republican playbook, eh?


  2. Zooey says:

    Crazy Old Liddy needs to check herself into the home.


  3. kindness says:

    Elizabeth…..the lil’ blue pills aren’t doing anything for Bob anymore? Maybe it isn’t Bob, maybe it’s you.

    Just sayin’….


  4. Leftside Annie says:

    Crikey. Someone ought to tell that beeyotch Dole that “THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR” is one of the Ten Commandments she’s supposedly so damned fond of.


  5. lurker says:

    So what if she is? I thought that there no litmus test?
    Also about 16% of the population is “godless.”


  6. kdilkington says:

    This is the sort of demagoguery that this election will hopefully bring to an end. Tough I don’t agree with them, I don’t have moral problems with true conservative values(which ‘been around for a good while), but this culture war crap has got to stop. I’m guessing in their ’secret’ post-election meeting, the repub higher ups will probably (begrudgingly) be forced to the same conclusion. People are sick of this pathetic, divisive, vitriolic partisanship.


  7. DRxJ says:

    Can someone…ANYONE…define the supposed radical homosexual agenda?
    And how is it different from just the normal homosexual agenda?
    How does one sign up for it?

    Because believe you me, I worry more about the radical “heterosexual” agenda that’s fcked up this world the last 8 years.


  8. krazeeinjun says:

    Even if it were true, which it’s not (Hagan is a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher), what’s wrong with having a “godless” politician representing the people? Seems to me Congress is full of “god fearing” politicians and look how corrupt they are.

    Just saying . . .


  9. citizen_pain says:

    I think Lizzy just had her “Macacca’ moment.

    Good riddance.


  10. jimtallby74 says:

    McCain vs. Obama: Which Candidate Can You Afford? How Could the Next President Affect Your Financial Plan?

    Voyant:

    http://www.planwithvoyant.com

    I am loving this tool. I created a better plan than my financial planner gave me. I fired him. I’m done with paper financial plans.


  11. Leftside Annie says:

    Ah, you know how I am:

    http://dole.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm

    555 Dirksen Office Building
    Washington, DC 20510
    Ph: 202.224.6342
    Fax: 202.224.1100

    Raleigh Office:
    310 New Bern Avenue
    Suite 122
    Raleigh, NC 27601
    Ph: 919.856.4630
    Toll Free: 866.420.6083
    Fax: 919.856.4053

    Salisbury Office:
    225 North Main Street
    Suite 304
    Salisbury, NC 28144
    Ph: 704.633.5011
    Toll Free: 866.420.6084
    Fax: 704.633.2937

    Western Office:
    401 North Main Street
    Suite 200
    Hendersonville, NC 28792
    Ph: 828.698.3747
    Fax: 828.698.1267

    Eastern Office:
    306 South Evans Street
    Greenville, NC 27835
    Ph: 252.329.1093
    Fax: 252.329.1097

    Stupid evil old hag.


  12. celtic cynic says:

    Wow, she’s eating the Fruit Loops again. What’s worse, she’s spiting them out at us.


  13. fletc3her says:

    I think attacking people for their faith is sickening. Even in this election where McCain has not just attacked Obama for going to church, but also attacked him for his Christian beliefs, accusing a church elder and Sunday school teacher of being an atheist seems beyond the pale. Have they no shame?


  14. tom says:

    McNumbNuts has been looking more and more like Little Bobby Dole lately.

    Now, Liddy is looking more and more like McNumbNuts.


  15. DvlsAdvocat says:

    “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg” – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

    If its good enough for the author of the Declaration of Independence, it should be good enough for a do-nothing Senator like Elizabeth Dole.


  16. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    Guess Lizzy Dole is seriously desperate, as well as apparently seriously deranged.

    At the very end of the ad, a voice sounding like Hagan’s says: “There is no God.”

    Seriously, Dole used a Hagan impersonator to make voters think she’s an atheist.

    It’s hard to know where to start with an ad this deplorable. First, Hagan is actually a Sunday school teacher and an elder in her church. Second, the fundraiser in question was co-hosted by 40 people, one of whom is on the board of an atheist political action committee. Third, there’s nothing scandalous about non-believers.

    And fourth, what the hell is “godless money”?

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015426.php


  17. WaltinTexas says:

    Isn’t it funny how these reich-wingers that wear their “superior morality and faith” on their sleeve for political gain don’t seem to have a problem with that pesky, “bearing false witness” Commandment?


  18. misshusseinmolly says:

    I just heard about this on our local news here in NC. Hagan has put up with a great deal of negative advertising from Dole (and to be fair, Hagan has been pretty negative, too), but this did go over the line. I don’t blame her for demanding that this slander be withdrawn. Not that being an atheist is a bad thing, but in the case of Kay Hagan, it’s totally false. It would be like calling Dole a tranny.


  19. avchavis says:

    OMG! We must vote these crazy republicans like Elizabeth Dole out of the White House! Enough is enough already!


  20. Nevar says:

  21. misshusseinmolly says:

    impeachcheneythenbush Says
    October 29th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    And fourth, what the hell is “godless money”?
    _____________________________________________________________

    I dunno — money that doesn’t say “In God We Trust” on it?




  22. tombaker says:

    Liddy the Liar.

    I really thought the Doles were above this kind of gutter politics.


  23. shoeless says:

    I’m guessing that Elizabeth Dole is a Baptist. They consider Presbyterians to be godless heathens, due to the more tolerant nature of their organization.


  24. lurker says:

    The main reason people believe what they do is that
    they inherit (brainwashed) it from their parents. How many people can say “I studied all the various religions and
    found “X” to be the most reasonable.”


  25. pete says:

    In a sane world, the mere mention of religion would be grounds for barring one from public office. The longer we tolerate myths and mysticism in American politics, the lower we will sink.


  26. gummitch says:

    shoeless Says:

    I’m guessing that Elizabeth Dole is a Baptist. They consider Presbyterians to be godless heathens, due to the more tolerant nature of their organization.

    And then there’s that great line from A River Runs Through It, when the Presbyterian narrator describes his dad’s impression of Methodists: Baptists who can read.


  27. dbadass says:

    Hi jimtalby74:
    Just what the hell does your comment have to do with any of this? Please spare us or take it up with the already forgotten ClusterTim. Maybe he can tell you all about his Privacy Center and you can hawk him some financial advice…


  28. freeman says:

    The republican party seems to have a monopoly on the exterior (dead)part of religion .
    Democrats are on the whole , it would seem drawn to it’s spirit , even those which profess atheism .
    Religion is a finger pointing at the moon ,
    people look at the finger and say ….what a beautiful moon .
    Zen parable


  29. MapleStreet says:

    In Northeast Missouri are 2 democratic candidates (one for national one for state) who are being branded as not being Christian – and again they are both active in their churches.

    A good lie bears repeating ?


  30. misshusseinmolly says:

    Both the RNC and DNC are pouring millions of dollars into our senate race, which is still running neck and neck (but with Hagan holding a razor-thin edge in most polls).

    The GOP has decided that the NC seat is a “must win” for them, and the Dems are attempting to reach 60 (and they need NC to do it).

    At the beginning of the race, Dole looked like a shoo-in. After all, nobody had heard of Kay Hagan. But Hagan started running some “get to know me” ads (no negativity toward Dole), and started getting a little recognition outside her state senate district. Dole ran no advertising, figuring Hagan wasn’t a threat.

    Hagan was the first to go negative, by running an ad claiming that according to some study done by People Who Keep Track of These Things, Dole was rated 93rd in effectiveness (out of 100) in the Senate. She followed that with an ad about Dole’s record on Big Oil and other corporate interests. These got a lot of attention, and Hagan’s poll numbers rose dramatically, as Dole’s fell.

    Dole responded with a flurry of ads painting Hagan as a liar about Dole’s record, and as a tax-loving liberal who would tax, tax, tax everyone to death. Advertising pretty much continued in this vein for awhile — negative, stretching the truth, full of spin, repeating standard GOP talking points ad nauseum, but not outright slanderous or blatantly false.

    As Hagan edged ahead of Dole in the polls, the Dole ads have taken an even nastier turn. We saw the “anti-gay” flyer that was mailed out, and we have seen ads claiming that we must defeat Kay Hagan because if the evil liberal Democrats control the White House AND Congress, the world as we know it will come to an end. I have to say that even though Hagan started the negativity, Dole has racked up far more — both in quantity and viciousness.

    I haven’t yet seen this latest ad claiming that Hagan is “godless”. But I expect I will. Unless Dole actually backs down and pulls it.


  31. Buckie Boy says:

    Well, I guess there is no “too low” that repukes will go. What a POS Dole is, real classy there, real classy.


  32. Doc Rock says:

    “Godless” and “soulless” is the state of the morally bankrupt and desperately desperate Republican party.


  33. Diana9 says:

    “The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.
    $30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
    $540 billion: Annual U.S. Defense Budget.”


  34. shoeless says:

    MapleStreet Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    In Northeast Missouri are 2 democratic candidates (one for national one for state) who are being branded as not being Christian – and again they are both active in their churches.

    A good lie bears repeating ?

    Oh, I don’t think they are lying. Many Republicans have become such theocratic extremists that they no longer recognize churches which allow participation by Democrats. I think these whack jobs have gone so far over the edge that they really believe Democrats can be neither Christian nor American.


  35. pete says:

    Son to Father: “What would you like me to be when I grow up”?
    Father to Son” “Honest”.

    Paraphrased (it’s been about twenty years) from Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.


  36. freeman says:

    Thanx Diana …. good hunting.


  37. shoeless says:

    pete, who is this Zen guy? He sounds like some kinda godless librul.


  38. qatwoman says:

    My husband saw that commercial this AM while I was still getting ready and he was shocked. Wish we lived in NC so we can vote that witch OUT!


  39. freeman says:

    Shoe he’s a good friend of that hippy dude ,Jesus.


  40. pete says:

    pete, who is this Zen guy? He sounds like some kinda godless librul.

    I think he gave Karl Marx the idea for communism. LOL.


  41. freeman says:

    Hey I have it on good authority he gave him nothing .


  42. pete says:

    “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg” – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782


  43. pete says:

    Oops! Does anyone doubt that Today’s GOP would claim Jefferson wasn’t a Real American(TM)?


  44. freeman says:

    For pete’s sake , who could doubt thomas ?


  45. Tim W H says:

    Godless money is money that does not carry the phrase “In god we trust” on it, including paper money printed before 1957. Pre-1957 “clean” $1 bills are the prize in a random drawing at each Freedom From Religion Foundation convention.


  46. Perry logan says:

    It’s sad. The Right’s God is so weak, He can’t even swing an election for them.


  47. freeman says:

    Perry
    He doesn’t do much better with the weather.


  48. Nevar says:

    I’m amazed Daryll hasn’t shown up, loins girded for battle against all this godlessness…


  49. upright left says:

    The ad didn’t say Hagan is “Godless.” It said she met with and took money from “Godless Americans Pac.” “Godless money” is money given by “Godless Americans PAC.” The woman who said there is no God sounded like one of the women in the MSNBC clips.


  50. celtic cynic says:

    Will Elizabeth Dole’s next ad proclaim how wonderful a christian she is and how much she loves Jeebus?


  51. Leftside Annie says:

    Nevar Says:

    I’m amazed Daryll hasn’t shown up, loins girded for battle against all this godlessness…

    Yanno, Nevar, he got hung up on the loin-girding part…


  52. dbadass says:

    Nevar:
    I hope you are well and safe and have seen some beautiful things. While you were on walkabout Daryll morphed into Rapture Ready. Rapture Ready has moments which are sort of amusing but mostly the true genius of Darryl is a thing of the past
    best-


  53. pbg says:

    And tomorrow, a Dole campaign worker will come forth saying she was assaulted by a big black atheist who carved an H (fortunately symmetrical) into her cheek.


  54. rtblogger says:

    I guess it just goes to show you that being on a church board doesn’t make you a believer in God or a proponent of godly principles.


  55. turtle_fear3 says:

    THese idiots will do and say anything to stay in DC. It seems they’ve grown too accustomed to the lifestyle. Liddy damn sure hasn’t been in NC enough to recognize it. We have a few of these NC Repubs that are going to have withdrawal symptoms come Tuesday.



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