So Tea Party doofus, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R. WI), released his first major ad of the campaign season leaving out a key detail:
Republican Ron Johnson is a first-term U.S. senator from Wisconsin. The voters back home wouldn't know it watching his re-election campaign's first TV ad .
Even for a time when incumbent lawmakers try to distance themselves from their job titles, Johnson's new ad takes that approach to an extreme. It doesn't once mention his work as a lawmaker or even identify him as a senator.
Instead, Johnson appears on camera in a manufacturing plant, promoting the virtues of a plastics company he helped found.
"Career politicians manufacture hogwash," he says while a forklift operates in the background. "I manufacture plastic. And I respect you enough to tell you the truth."
Yeah, pretty lame attempt to dupe the voters. So Russ Feingold (D. WI) released his attack ad highlighting how Johnson isn’t just a lousy Senator, he’s also a lousy businessman:
Democratic former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold is up with a new attack ad Tuesday, taking aim at Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's record on jobs.
The ad uses video from Johnson's first statewide spot that began airing a week ago in which he touted his manufacturing roots in Oshkosh.
The Feingold ad says that "before Senator Johnson left for Washington, he paid himself $10 million, a sweetheart corporate payout." The charge refers to Johnson receiving deferred compensation at the plastics firm he once headed, Pacur.
The ad continues: "Then in Congress he voted five times for tax breaks to help companies ship Wisconsin jobs overseas."
So how’s the GOP responding to this? By invoking the most recent tragedy as an excuse to pull the ad:
Republicans are calling on Democrat Russ Feingold to pull his latest campaign attack ad against Sen. Ron Johnson because it comes two days after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
The ad released Tuesday has nothing to do with the shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub that left 49 people and the attacker dead. Instead, the spot focuses on Johnson's votes in the Senate on trade deals and his accepting a $10 million deferred compensation package in 2011.
Johnson spokesman Brian Reisinger says Feingold is shameless for launching the ad and says this is a time for the country to come together.
Feingold spokesman Michael Tyler isn't addressing criticism of the timing. Instead, Tyler says Johnson has been hiding behind attack ads funded by outsider groups opposed to Feingold.
Lets get real, Johnson can’t afford to have anymore negative press, but he isn’t doing himself any favors:
Johnson told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that fully automatic weapons are already banned and that the U.S. should not further restrict the constitutional right to bear arms as a result of Sunday’s attack at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. A puzzled Blitzer pressed Johnson, seeking clarity on the Republican senator’s distinction between banned fully-automatic weapons and the legally purchased semi-automatic rifle used by shooter Omar Mateen.
“The AR-15 that was used in this terror attack, killing 49 people, you wouldn’t describe that as an assault weapon?” Blitzer asked. “You’re differentiating between that and a fully automatic assault weapon? Because that weapon certainly did kill a lot of people.”
“So do bombs,” Johnson replied. “So there are other ways that terrorists can slaughter people. It’s their ideology. Their ideology calls for the slaughter of innocents. That’s the root cause. It’s not law-abiding gun owners that are the problem here, it’s Islamic terrorists.”
In fact, he’s even distancing himself from his good friend, Donald Trump:
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he disagreed with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's renewed call for a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
"The root cause is Islamic terror groups," Johnson, a Republican from Oshkosh, said of the shooting during a Monday interview with Green Bay talk radio host Jerry Bader.
"The best way to prevent the homegrown-inspired attacks is literally positive engagement with Muslim communities," Johnson said. "Making sure that any immigrant population that comes into America assimilates, becomes part of our culture. That has been our history, it has made us strong."
Police identified the gunman as Omar Mateen, who was born in New York to parents originally from Afghanistan. News reports, quoting sources, said Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during a 911 call.
Trump repeated his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration in a post on Twitter Sunday and in a speech Monday.
During a round of television interviews Monday, Trump sounded as if he questioned President Barack Obama's motives in confronting terrorism. Brian Reisinger, a Johnson spokesman, said: "Ron finds these comments to be offensive and wrong."
The ad was already scheduled to go out. Johnson just can’t run away from his record. Lets help Feingold remind voters who Johnson really is. Click here to donate and get involved with Feingold’s campaign.