That would be a no. What happened in Philadelphia? The National Republic Senatorial Committee shot an ad disparaging the West Virginia Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate for being too close to President Obama. Perfectly acceptable political rhetoric. What wasn’t acceptable was the casting call that went out for the male actors in the ad. According to Politico.com, the casting call said “We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look. These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks.” West Virginians, not surprisingly, were not pleased by the language in the casting call. The lesson? In the age of the Internet, Truth 2 prevails: There are no mainstream media. And anything you say or write will eventually get distributed through online channels. You can no longer assume that something that is said in one community won’t get repeated quickly almost anywhere.
UPDATE: This story is all over the news web today. The Plum Line notes that Democrats are smart to be hitting back on this story, but he questions whether it’s a big enough deal for the press to play along with them. He notes that the offensive casting call was written by a contractor, not by the NRSC.