New parody video mocks Ken Mehlman’s denial of responsibility for race-baiting TV ad

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – Proud of Who We Are's Mike Rogers today used YouTube to release a parody TV ad mocking the multiple counts of hypocrisy put on display by Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ken Mehlman.

The parody ad is posted on YouTube under the title "blogActive parody of Ford ad and Ken Mehlman," here. It may also be seen on Rogers’ blog, blogActive.com.

Rogers’ ad is a direct response to the RNC’s now-infamous "call me" ad, which analysts said was designed to raise old fears about interracial relationships to try to defeat the Senate campaign of African-American Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN).

Rogers, the nation’s top gay activist blogger, said the parody touches on serious questions about Mehlman’s and the Republicans’ conduct – from covering up the Foley page scandal, to doing favors for convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, to sending young Americans to die in Iraq while the Bush twins party in New York.

The TV ad against Rep. Ford, which the RNC eventually pulled this month, showed a scantily clad white actress saying she met Ford at "the Playboy party." It ended with her asking the congressman to "call me!"

The parody ad follows the same format.

"I am another frustrated American, tired of people like Ken Mehlman using lies and personal attacks in an effort to manipulate elections. If Ken Mehlman got the entire mainstream media to give precious air time and column inches to his race-baiting ad, I’m sure they will have no problem reporting the response. And there’s a big difference between Mehlman’s ad and our response: ours is honest," Rogers said.

The parody ad script:

Young man: "Ken Mehlman makes race-baiting ads. Yet he still wants my vote. Isn’t that enough?"

Woman on street: "Ken Mehlman did favors for convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff? (Laughs) So what? Me? I think government’s a little TOO honest."

Young man wearing camouflage: "I don’t mind risking my life in Iraq. As long as the Bush twins get to party in New York."

Minister holding Bible: "Ken Mehlman’s right. I SHOULD get my congregation to vote with him, and just forget that his friends covered up the Foley page scandal."

Young man in tank top: "Ken Mehlman and I went to an inauguration event. We had a great time! And, we saw President Bush."

Young woman: "I don’t mind having my pocket picked by the big drug companies. They give money to Ken Mehlman."

Man in sunglasses: "Ken Mehlman helped George Bush steal the 2004 election. But uh, what the heck? Doesn’t everybody do that?"

Title screen: Ken Mehlman. He’s just not straight with Americans.

Voiceover: "BlogActive.com and Proud of Who We Are heartily approve of this parody ad."

Young man in tank top again: "Ken – call me!"

Title screen: blogActive.com

Last Friday, Oct. 27, Rogers challenged James Dobson and his Focus on the Family group to reconcile their anti-homosexual agenda and their leadership of evangelical support for the GOP with the fact that the party is led by a man who has a large, unanswered question about his own sexual identity. Dobson has told National Public Radio that after the elections, there will have to be a "serious conversation" about whether or not homosexuality can be part of the Republicans’ "big tent."

Rogers responded, "James Dobson says that homosexuality is ‘a disorder’ and ‘a descent into depravity.’ Why is he taking orders and trying to turn out voters for a man who might very well be someone on such a ‘descent into depravity’?’"

As The New York Times editorialized on Saturday, Oct. 28:

"If the last month has taught us anything about the Republican Party, it is that homophobia is campaign strategy, not conviction.

"Congressmen who trust their careers to gay staffers vote for laws to enshrine second-class citizenship for gays in the Constitution. Gay appointees and their partners are treated as married people at official ceremonies and social gatherings. Then whenever an election rolls around, the whole team pretends it’s on a mission to save America from gay marriage… "…All this is, as everyone knows, just a show for rousing the base."

For example, a radio ad ran in Indiana this month in support of U.S. Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), in which the announcer warns that if Democrats take control of Congress, they will put in motion a "radical plan to advance the homosexual agenda."

Rogers has devoted several hours each day calling social conservative leaders around the country, informing them of his growing body of information about closeted gay conservatives in congress.

Rogers reported a year and a half ago that former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is gay, which Foley confirmed this fall in the wake of the page scandal. Rogers recently has made a series of disclosures about the gay sexual activities of U.S. Rep. David Dreier; a top staffer to House Speaker Dennis Hastert; and, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID).