With these friends, Coakley doesn't need enemies

An ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee uses an image of the WTC to bash Republican on economy

Published January 15, 2010 6:10PM (EST)

With all the trouble Massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley's been having in the special election to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy, she really could use a mistake-free few days as voters get ready to go to the polls.

Unfortunately for Coakley, though, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was trying to help her when it released a new attack ad against Republican Scott Brown, it tripped over its own feet pretty badly in doing so.

The spot hits Brown for being too close to Wall Street, with the narrator saying, "Republican Scott Brown opposes President Obama's plan to reform Wall Street. That's right, Scott Brown actually opposes the plan to crack down on the greed and corruption that nearly destroyed our economy."

But the DSCC chose a bad image to accompany this message: Specifically, it used a photo of the World Trade Center behind a shot of Brown's face. And while we may by now be used to images of the WTC in campaign ads -- and we can debate the appropriateness of that, too -- they're at least generally not used in a way that make the building a symbol of "greed and corruption."

The DSCC has pulled the ad, and is replacing the image.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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2010 Elections Martha Coakley War Room