Ex-RNC chief slams ‘racist’ NRCC ad

Former head of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele joined the chorus of critics who have slammed the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) recent ad for race baiting.

The ad produced by NRCC tries to link Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-Neb.) Democratic opponent’s, state Sen. Brad Ashford, to a black convicted murderer.

{mosads}The ad tells the story of Nikko Jenkins, who committed four murders in 11 days after getting out of prison early under the state’s “good time” law.

“You say to yourself, what is the point of this ad? I mean, in the context of the case or the situation, yeah, okay, the member of the house supported the law. But then to put it in this frame, says something very racist in my view…Stupid does stupid,” Steele said Saturday on MSNBC’s “Up With Steve Kornacki.

“This ad doesn’t tell you anything other than consultants are stupid and that’s basically – they play to the lowest common denominator and that’s part of the problem,” he added.

A narrator in the ad says, “Brad Ashford supported the good time law, and still defends it, allowing criminals like Nikko Jenkins to be released early.” 

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Ashley Lewis has decried the ad, demanding the NRCC take it down because it “has no place in America.”