San Francisco values

A political ad burning up the Internet tries to link a Democratic congressional candidate to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco and gay people.

Published May 21, 2008 3:27PM (EDT)

You know, working for Salon you can't help learning about -- and, of course, being indoctrinated by -- those evil "San Francisco values" we're always hearing so much about. Why, I know that I now personally don a cowboy hat and a sleeveless shirt and go dancing at cheesy, suggestive clubs every night. (For some reason, I do this with women.) And, of course, I've had more abortions than I can count. Yes, I know I'm a man and technically that's not physically possible -- but, hey, it's San Francisco. I don't even have to live there to feel the corrupting influence of its decadence and debauchery.

I bring all this up because I finally got a chance to watch this attack ad, which explains all these values:

The ad, which was released a little while back, but only started burning up the Internet yesterday, was produced for the campaign of Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., who's fighting for his seat against Democratic challenger Kay Barnes, the former mayor of Kansas City. The ad isn't running in Kansas City, however.

The spot has, unsurprisingly, been controversial, but Graves' campaign defends the ad. According to a local Fox station, the campaign responded to criticism by saying, "The same week Kay Barnes was in San Francisco for a fundraiser, the California Supreme Court issues the most sweeping liberal, activist, pro-gay marriage ruling in the nation."

Barnes' campaign, meanwhile, has responded to the ad with one of its own, which reproduces a scene from Graves' spot and turns it around against him. It's below.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

2008 Elections Nancy Pelosi D-calif. San Francisco