Dole’s Mean-Spirited Attacks on Hagan’s Spiritual Life

Four days ago, Faithful Democrats endorsed Kay Hagan. We did so with the full confidence that her faith and values represented the same that our community brings to the debate about faith in public life. Today, the Republican Machine turned on the attack in the most despicable of ways – by unfairly attacking Hagan’s personal spirituality in an attempt to win political points. Folks, we are talking about issues that are deeper and more profound than just getting elected. Elizabeth Dole and the Republican operatives who have encouraged this vicious smear against Kay Hagan are simply acting out of malice in order to distract from the issues. Their behavior is mean-spirited and it is inexcusable. They should be utterly ashamed that they have put politics before principles and have given precedence to improving their chances in an election over the value of serving the higher calling of doing what is right regardless of partisan divisiveness.

In an ad called “Promises,” Dole makes false accusations and demeaning associations about Kay Hagan by fallaciously linking her to a Political Action Committee called the “Godless Americans.” But the ad goes beyond some tenuous tie based on a fundraiser and this advertisement goes over the line, even as far as attack ads go. Kay Hagan believes in Jesus Christ, but you wouldn’t know that by the advertisement. At the end of the ad, a picture of Kay Hagan appears. The narrator states that Kay Hagan took “Godless money” and asks “And what did Kay Hagan promise in return?”  Then, a woman’s voice says, “There is no God,” while Hagan’s picture remains on the screen.  It cannot get much more straightforward than this: the ad is insinuating that Kay Hagan abandoned Christianity and swore that there is no God in exchange for fundraising dollars. This smear ad is wrong, it is unjust, and it is wretched.

While this advertisement depicts Kay Hagan as saying that there is no God, everything that Kay Hagan has ever stated and confirmed in the public sphere and everything that she has lived by speaks to her Christian faith and her belief in an Awesome God she has followed, trusted, and served throughout her life. By attacking Kay Hagan’s convictions in such a dishonest and dishonorable manner, this ad is quite simply beyond the scope of any political ad we have seen in recent years. The cold heartlessness of this ad ranks up there with the horrid North Carolina political machinations of Jesse Helms’ “Hands” ad that pulled on the worst kinds of emotions rather than the better angels of our common cause for better policies resulting from decent and respectful political discourse .  In 1996, there was the Hands Ad.  In 2006, there was the Harold, Call Me Ad. In 2008, we have the Godless Americans Ad.

In response to this whole ordeal, Dole spokesman Dan McLagan has said the “There is no God” line was in fact a recycled quote from a Godless Americans PAC representative played earlier in the commercial and that “She bears no resemblance to Hagan. She’s blonde, sounds totally different.”

She’s blonde?  I am sorry, Dan, but I cannot tell the woman’s voice based on what her hair color is. When you have not played any other clips from Kay Hagan, of course I cannot differentiate whether the voice on the advertisement is hers or not, particularly when I see her face during the time that this “There is no God” clip is being played. The Dole campaign has issued blatant and cruel lies, all in the name of scoring political points, and we as Faithful Democrats have a responsibility to speak out against these kinds of nasty attacks.

Kay Hagan has already done just that. Here is a letter that she sent to her supporters immediately after this story broke:

“I don’t know what things were like when she grew up in North Carolina, but the North Carolina I raised my children in would never condone this kind of personal slander.

I was raised going to Sunday school and church every week and I raised my children that way. The Hagan family has attended the First Presbyterian Church for over 100 years – that’s where I’ve taught Sunday school.
If Senator Dole wants to pass judgment on my faith, that’s her right – but that’s not the kind of response MY faith teaches.”

The right response is to focus on the issues and to make sure that the difficult questions get answered during these troubled times. What is more important than these destructive political games is for people of all creeds to focus on what Kay Hagan has publicly proclaimed as her values in an honest examination of how she has lived them out through her daily commitment to public service.  We cannot become entrapped by these baseless smear ads that distort the campaign’s hopeful message and distract from the important issues at hand.

How has Kay Hagan really lived her life? Four days ago, here is what we at Faithful Democrats had to say about her:

“During her five terms in the North Carolina Senate, she has proven to be an effective leader who is not afraid to do the hard work to bridge partisan divides and always put people before politics. As Senate President Pro-Tem Marc Basnight once stated, ‘No one works harder than Kay to find common sense solutions to the issues North Carolina families talk about around their kitchen table.’ We at Faithful Democrats stand with Kay Hagan and ask North Carolinians to consider how this great woman has lived out her values as a lifelong public servant in her community, church, and home, as well as in her distinguished business career and through her strong record while in elected office.”

We still stand with Kay Hagan.  While we also understand that Kay Hagan’s personal faith cannot be perfectly encapsulated in these words, we encourage everyone who wants to learn more about Hagan’s journey of faith to take the chance to learn the truth from the candidate herself. We hope that you will visit kayhagan.com to learn more about her Christian values.  We also hope that everyone who sees this ad will take the time to read about Kay Hagan’s press conference tomorrow where she has the chance to talk about her faith and stand up against these smears.  And in the interim, we at Faithful Democrats encourage voters in North Carolina and across the United States to stay focused on the issues and not be distracted by these shameful attacks that have stooped to all new lows.

Today, more than ever, the Faithful Democrats community is proud to stand with Kay Hagan as we did four days ago, and we will stand up for her for the next six days until the election is over and the voters have made their decisions.  We will also proudly stand with her for the next six years as she serves as US Senator from North Carolina, and this appalling episode can be thankfully left in the past.   The Godless Americans attack ad will go down as a desperate ploy and the last gasp of Elizabeth Dole’s political career.  May we speedily consign this low moment in America’s political discourse to the graveyard of unfair, unfounded, and untrue campaign advertising, where we will soon bury it and which is where it belongs.