Republicans use fear tactics in latest ad

Kenneth R. Bazinet

Think Halloween is scary? Take a look at the latest ad the GOP is running.

Called “These Are the Stakes” - reminiscent of one of the most provocative political ads of all time and using the same name — it suggests a terrorist attack is imminent and makes its point in the starkest of terms.

The ad begins with a clock quietly ticking as a picture of Osama Bin Laden appears near his words, “What is next to come will be even greater.”

As the ticking gets steadily louder, shots of other al-Qaida plotters flash on the screen, quoting them as saying their mission to “kill the Americans” has moved “inside America.”

It warns of “suitcase bombs” and ends with a heart beating as images of explosions fill the screen.

The political spot is reminiscent of former President Lyndon Johnson’s controversial 1964 “Daisy” campaign ad, intended to make voters fear nuclear war if they elected his conservative rival, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

In that spot — which only ran once as a paid political commercial but has lived on in news stories now on the Internet — a little girl picks petals off a daisy, but the warm and fuzzy imagery ends with a scary voice counting down from 10, a nuclear explosion, a mushroom cloud and the voice then saying, “These are the stakes.”

“The ad . . . underscores the high stakes America faces in the global war on terror by using the words of the terrorists themselves as they describe their intention towards the United States,” the GOP said in a statement.

Phil Singer, spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, said, “The GOP is running an ad reminding people that Bush has failed to catch bin Laden. This must be their October surprise.”