GOP Says New Ad Not Racist

The Republican National Committee, which spent two weeks denying that the anti-Harold Ford Jr. “bimbo” ad had racist undertones, is again defending a controversial attack ad on behalf of GOP nominee Bob Corker. The new ad features a Ford look-alike dressed like a cartoon cannibal, complete with a bone in his nose. A giant pot with a bewildered looking white family sitting in it simmers over a fire, while “Ford” tosses in “ingredients” with labels such as “tax and spend,” “abortion pills for schoolgirls” and “Playboy.” “What is Harold Ford Jr. cooking up for Tennessee families?” an announcer ominously intones, as the sound of tom-toms overwhelms the soundtrack and a giant “Vote for Corker” fills the screen. The Corker campaign says it had nothing to do with the ad, and a spokesman called for it to be pulled from the air “in a week or so.” Ken Mehlman, the GOP national chairman who paid for both the “bimbo” and the “cannibal” ads, says race has nothing to do with either ad. “This is about the issues and where our opponent stands,” he says. “We would depict Ford as a cannibal with a bone through his nose even if he were white.” The Ford campaign has no comment on the ad. “At least if they’re calling him a cannibal they’re not talking about his dad, his uncle, his aunt or his brother,” says a source in the Ford camp. “That stuff can really hurt us.”