DCCC targets Reichert and McMorris in new round of advertising

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is stepping up its criticism of Dave Reichert and moving into the 5th District with ads criticizing Cathy McMorris. It's a bold move, and one that we strongly applaud.

We believe that every district should be competitive, and in both the 5th and the 8th Democrats are fielding top-tier candidates (Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark) who are running aggressive grassroots campaigns and have proven their ability to top their Republican opponents in fundraising from quarter to quarter.

Next door in Idaho, Larry Grant is forcing the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to spend money attacking his candidacy because of the fear that he will defeat the GOP nominee, Bill Sali, who is disliked even in his own party.

I just watched the new DCCC's newest anti-Reichert ad (see it yourself here), which includes an amusing and amazing excerpt from one of Reichert's speeches earlier this year (before the Mainstream Republicans of Washington) which we have widely publicized:

Sometimes the leadership comes to me and says, `Dave, we want you to vote a certain way.' Now, they know I can do that over here, that I have to do that over here. In other districts, that's not a problem, but here I have to be able to be very flexible in where I place my votes.

Because the big picture here is, keep this seat, keep the majority, keep the country moving forward with Republican ideals -- especially on the budget, on protecting our troops, on protecting this country. Right? Being responsible with taxpayer dollars. All of those things. That's the big picture. Not the vote I place on ANWR that you may not agree with, or the vote that I place on protecting salmon."

You have to... be ... flexible.

And so, when the leadership comes to me and says 'Dave, we need you to take a vote over here because we want to protect you and keep this majority, I...I do it.'

After the ad excerpts the speech, the announcer then adds:

And when they told Dave Reichert to give billions to big oil, he did it. And a vote against cracking down on price gouging, he did it. Three times. Now we know why. Dave Reichert – another vote for Bush’s agenda.

Reichert's campaign is whining that the ad took Reichert's words out of context. To that, we say...that's one of the oldest defenses in the book. There's nothing out of context here. NPI's own state representative, Republican Toby Nixon, who was in the audience when Reichert made that speech, has admitted that it was "shocking". It certainly was, and it still is.

Unlike the NRCC's attacks on Darcy Burner (SHE'LL INCREASE YOUR TAXES!!! RUN!!!) this is fair criticism, and Reichert's campaign knows it.