May 31, 2016 02:28 PM UTC

Keyser Fakes Buy For Debunked Ad, Press Sees Right Through It

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post’s John Frank reports, beleaguered GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jon Keyser is up on the air with an ad attacking Sen. Michael Bennet over the Iranian nuclear weapons agreement–well, sort of on the air:

The 30-second spot, which debuts Tuesday, emphasizes Keyser’s service as a “military intelligence officer” who conducted urban “capture and kill missions to remove high-value targets” against “a vicious enemy armed by Iran.”

A stern-looking Keyser then takes aim at the Iran deal, saying President Barack Obama “wants to give these guys nuclear weapons and Michael Bennet, he was all for it.”

The first problem is apparently that there’s no actual money behind this ad, which appears to have been produced solely to elicit press coverage. Unfortunately for Keyser, John Frank asked the next logical question:

…not many people are expected to see it. According to media tracking companies, the Keyser campaign is spending less than $5,000 to air the ad on Fox News through Sunday.

When the press coverage which was the whole point of making the ad reports it’s a two-bit stunt from a campaign that’s essentially broke, you’ve wasted your money. This alone is enough to turn this from a “comeback kid” story into one of desperation and fakery. But it gets even worse:

PolitiFact, a prominent fact-checking outlet, recently gave a False ruling to a U.S. Senate candidate in Florida who said the deal “allows Iran to produce a nuclear weapon.” The wording in Keyser’s ad goes even further. [Pols emphasis]

That’s right, folks! The ad Keyser doesn’t have the money to air is factually full of crap to boot! Here again, this is not why you produce an ad for the express purpose of garnering press coverage. You do this to get good press, not bad press.

But at this point, the “good press” phase of Keyser’s disastrous U.S. Senate campaign is long over.