Going Negative In The Champagne Room: California Edition

Are California Republicans around just to make us appreciate how classy Philadelphia Republican strip club-themed ads are? Maybe! This little piece of work must be a parody, because there’s no way something like this gets taken seriously for a second. They’ve edited the face of LA city council member/congressional candidate Janice Hahn onto the body of a stripper surrounded by Black men who are holding guns and singing “Give me your cash, bitch/So we can shoot up the street/Give me your cash, bitch/So we can buy some more heat.” This is apparently based on her support for a Scared Straight-style program that worked with former gang members.

Politico identifies the ad’s maker as Turn Right USA, a superPAC based out of Gardena. The Wrap said, “We’d identify the filmmaker responsible [. . .] but this is such obvious acting out for attention that I think it’s more humane to let him work out his race and gender issues in private.” Even the conservative Daily Caller came down hard: “Hahn’s actual Republican opponent, Craig Huey had absolutely nothing to do with the video because even George Wallace wouldn’t have had anything to do with the video.”

It’s not exactly clear why Hahn is portrayed as a stripper, even though our general support for rape, murder, and mayhem is well-known. Because strippers like to give money to gangbangers? While there are dancers who have, erm, “managers,” I don’t think their priorities are as depicted in this ad. Maybe in the filmmaker’s mind it was the most offensive possible way to portray a candidate. Maybe it’s a humor piece. It does end with “Definitely NOT authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. So suck it, McCain-Feingold.” Maybe it just doesn’t make any sense, like the images of Charles Manson and Fidel Castro. “We’ll have gangbangers, pictures of gangsters (literally! Bugsy Siegel’s in there!), and make the councilwoman a stripper!”

Californians, if you’re in the 36th, you know what to do.