Democratic criticism of a new ad taking gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Steve Bullock (D-MT) to task on Obamacare appears to have backfired.
The party, which typically uses the liberal Montana Cowgirl blog to launch party talking points and plant news stories in the minds of Montana reporters, also officially responded to the Montana GOP ad, as Chuck Johnson reports in the statewide Lee Newspapers.
Before we look at the criticism and the backfire, you can watch the ad below:
The first criticism of the ad came via the Montana Cowgirl blog with the headline, “Montana GOP Caught Lying in Anti-Bullock Ad.”
Here’s an excerpt:
The ad says, “Attorneys General across the nation, Republicans and Democrats, joined together to fight Obamacare at the Supreme Court.”
Not true.
Instead of distancing Bullock from Obama and Obamacare, the Democrats followed suit by criticizing the ad in Chuck Johnson’s piece. Their criticism helped land a statewide newspaper story reminding voters of Bullock’s failure to try and block Obamacare in Montana.
The GOP then countered the MT Democrats complaint:
Kevin O’Brien, Bullock’s campaign manager, said the 22 attorneys generals participating in the legal challenge were all Republicans.
The state GOP, however, cited a friend-of-the-court brief filed last year by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat, in the Florida case challenging the health law.
Koster asked the federal court to strike down the individual mandate, which required most people to buy health insurance.