June 21, 2010 04:32 PM UTC

Norton's 9/11 Ad "Not Coming Down" (Unlike Twin Towers)

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Gary Harmon reports:

Colorado Democrats called Norton’s ad “deeply offensive” and said they would circulate a petition calling on her to drop the video and return any contributions she gets because of it.

Norton, who boasted Friday of her endorsement by Sandra Dahl, wife of United Airlines Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl, said she would do no such thing.

“Joe Rice and the other Democratic veterans deserve thanks for their service, but on this one they’re just wrong,” she said in a statement. “Too many liberals in Washington have forgotten, and the advertisement is not coming down.”

One of the better commentaries we’ve seen on Norton’s controversial “never forget” ad was posted by Westword’s Alan Prendergast Friday:

Norton, whose noxious rhetoric has established a new low in political discourse this election season, has outdone herself with the new video that opens her ominous homepage.

“First, they tried to close Guantanamo,” Norton intones, as a clock ticks urgently somewhere in her head. “Then they said jihadists had the right to remain silent.”

The rant goes on in that vein, right up to the point where Norton says, “The liberals in Washington seem to have forgotten…”

[Screen goes dark. Whining jet engine noise, shameless auditory evocation of hijacked planes crashing into World Trade Center.] “But we haven’t.”

No, of course we haven’t. Which makes this cynical use of 9/11 among the worst political appeals ever, a classic case of fearmongering instead of ideas–right up there with the famous anti-Goldwater ad of 1964, suggesting that his election would result in a nuclear holocaust.

Right folks, but you’ve seen the polling. One of the things about the “Hail Mary” pass in politics, like football, is the small likelihood of success; but you’re still desperate enough to try. The fact that this sickeningly over-the-top ad has been received so poorly–we have yet to see a single positive reference in major media–only reinforces the perception of desperation within Norton’s campaign. Even those who are susceptible to this kind of naked appeal to fear, and we concede that’s a significant number of people, will see right past this web-only ad to Norton’s flagging poll numbers–and realize exactly why she’s going there.

Once the viewer understands that one of the most terrible moments in American history is being crassly manipulated by a losing candidate, desperate to breathe a little life into her uninspiring campaign, the emotion that follows is something other than fear.