This morning, during a heated discussion with Rachel Maddow on Meet The Press, GOP consultant Alex Castellanos denied that women make 77 cents for a man’s dollar in the workplace and noted, “there are lots of reasons for that.” Maddow expressed shock at the assertion, but concluded that it explained why Republicans and Mitt Romney are so hesitant to embrace the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, a law that helps women hold accountable employers who discriminate in the pay practices based on gender.

“Now we know, at least from both of your perspectives,” Maddow said, pointing to Castellanos and Romney surrogate Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), “women are not fairing worse than men in the economy that women aren’t getting paid less for equal work.” “It’s about policy and whether or not you want to fix some of the structural discrimination that women really do face that Republicans don’t believe is happening,” she added. Castellanos responded to Maddow’s policy argument by remarking on her passion, to which the MSNBC host took offense:

CASTELLANOS: It is about policy and I love how passionate you are. I wish you were as right about what you’re saying as you are passionate about it. I really do.

MADDOW: That’s really condescending. This is a stylistic issue. My passion on this issue is actually me making a factual argument on it.

Watch it:

In an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer earlier this month, Romney refused to say whether he would sign the Lilly Ledbetter Act, but claimed that he would not change it. Romney’s women surrogates — including McMorris Rodgers — all voted against the legislation. Castellanos himself consulted Romney during the 2008 presidential election.

Yesterday at the Newseum, consultant Alex Castellanos spoke at a 2010 elections preview hosted by the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Politico. Castellanos, who fashions himself as a the “father of the modern attack ad,” has helped produce ads for industry clients — like the Chamber of Commerce and the health insurance trade group — to kill health reform. Recently, after a top communications official was forced out of the Republican National Committee, Castellanos indicated that he will also advise the party on its communications strategy.

Perhaps what sets Castellanos apart from other political consultants is his use of subliminal, often racist, messages. In a profile piece, Eric Boehlert noted some of Castellanos’ most infamous work:

In 1990, working for Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, he produced perhaps the most racially divisive TV ad in campaign history. Called “White Hands,” it featured an angry white worker crumpling up a job rejection notice. He had lost out because “they had to give it to a minority.” More recently, in 2000, his firm National Media produced an ad mocking Al Gore’s stance on prescription drugs, flashing the word “RATS” on the screen for a split second. Castellanos denied using subliminal advertising.

ThinkProgress caught up with Castellanos yesterday, and asked him if he had produced a “White Hands” ad for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) last year — who Castellanos advised for the Presidential campaign — would McCain have won the election? Castellanos, in a rare expression of honesty, said no he wouldn’t because his own “White Hands” ad would have hurt the country in “race relations” since “most people knew Barack Obama is a black man”:

CASTELLANOS: No I think just the opposite. [...] I think most people knew that Barack Obama is a black man. I dont think that was a shot. As a matter of fact I think one of the things people wanted last election, was they wanted to move in a better place in race relations in this country.

Watch it:

While Castellanos admits his own race-based ads would have backfired last year, he is still up to his old tricks. In a recent ad he produced for the Chamber of Commerce against health reform, one scene features a factory boss forced to fire a white employee. As the worker is summoned to the boss’ office, he taps a black coworker on his way out. The black worker, still gainfully employed, looks directly into the camera for a moment before the white worker is dismissed by the boss. “This is the same old right wing dog whistle politics,” observed Eddie Vale, spokesman for the AFL-CIO. “They’re trying to use race and class to scare working people about a health care bill.”

Yesterday, a senior aide to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Trevor Francis, resigned from his position as communications director. “Trevor’s talents will be missed at the RNC,” said Steele in a statement. “We have accomplished a great deal in the year he was here. He worked tirelessly, as did the whole team, on the victories in Virginia and his home state of New Jersey.”

But Politico’s Jonathan Martin reports that Francis’ abrupt departure was not by choice, quoting two Republican strategists who say that Francis was “pushed out” because Steele “didn’t feel he was getting enough credit for the GOP’s electoral success earlier this month.” Steele apparently attributes this to a communications failure by Francis.

Francis is being replaced by Alex Castellanos, a CNN contributor who fashions himself as the “father of the modern attack ad.” Castellanos is no stranger to the RNC, having received four payments totaling $434,336 from them for media work since July. Castellanos has also been a key player in the effort to stop health care reform:

– His political consulting firm, National Media, was the ad buyer for the insurance industry group America’s Health Insurance Plan’s (AHIP) recent ad blitz attacking Democratic health reform plans.

– In July, he wrote a memo for the GOP leadership on how to kill health reform that emphasized the use of buzzwords to characterize Democratic plans — like “risky” and “experiment” — but most importantly defined the ultimate goal: “If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it.”

– He has repeatedly used his pundit perch on CNN to attack President Obama’s health care reform effort, calling it “a big gamble” and an “expensive trillion-dollar experiment.”

Before the health care debate, Castellanos was best known as the creator of the racially-charged “Hands” advertisement, which ran on behalf of former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC). In May 2008, Castellanos defended sexism during the 2008 campaign by saying that sometimes it’s “accurate” to describe a woman as a “bitch.”