Politico's Mike Allen Owes NRSC an Apology

UPDATE: Larry Weitzner of Jamestown Associates, the media consulting firm that initially denied having described West Virginians as “hicky,” admitted on Thursday to having used that characterization in the firm’s casting call request. He has since been fired by the NRSC. The NRSC maintains it had nothing to do with the wording and no one, apart from his political opponent, suggests John Raese has had anything to do with the entire affair.

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In his eagerness to carry out a political hit job on the NRSC, Politico’s Mike Allen revealed himself to be easily led by West Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin, who is up against Republican contender John Raese for the late Robert Byrd’s seat.

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Allen tried to create an issue from a non-issue by crafting a piece attacking Raese’s latest television ad which features some men in a diner finding solidarity in how much they dislike Manchin. With the headline “GOP ad casting call: ‘hicky’ W.Va. look,” Allen characterizes the ad as such:

But not just any actors: “We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look,” read the casting call for the ad, being aired by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks.”

[…]

The casting material was provided to POLITICO by Democrats.

You can view the ad above or watch an excerpt of the ad here. The original ad was pulled from YouTube.

The implication is that the NRSC was behind the wording.

Allen was quick to give platform for Manchin to blow out a comically self-righteous response:

In a statement Thursday morning, Manchin said: “John Raese and his special interest friends have insulted the people of West Virginia and need to immediately apologize. Not only have they been spending millions to try and buy this election with lies and distortions, we can now see once and for all what he and his friends really think of West Virginia and our people. It’s offensive and it only proves that John Raese has spent too much time in the state of Florida, living in his Palm Beach mansion and doesn’t know, understand or respect the great people of this state, and what we stand for.”

This from the same people who found nothing objectionable in President Obama’s assertion that Midwesterners loved to cling to their guns and Bible.

Manchin is basing his demand for apology off of Allen’s piece.

Kudos to JournoList for training Allen well.

Manchin staffers apparently weren’t thorough enough to read past the first graph (unless Allen employed some stealth editing and omitted that the “hicky” language didn’t come from either the NRSC or Raese) to learn that the language was from a third-party vendor. The original casting language:

“So here’s what we need for casting … 2 featured characters that will be talking to each other at a diner, conversation back and forth. … One male- Age about 55.- Looking for someone to represent the middle of the country… Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia area- Middle class … One male- Age about 45- Middle class- Again, should represent the Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia area of the country.”

Vendor language:

We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look. These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker look

As someone who hails from the Ozark region, I simply cannot take seriously the defense of the limousine liberal faction, people who consistently refer to middle or rural America as hicks, rednecks – or “uninformed.” Allen’s own bias set Manchin up to project his own stereotypes upon voters and gives us another case of the media providing the assist in a play to exploit a particular group of people for votes.

Damian Muziani, referenced by Politico as one of the actors in the commercial, hit back against Politico’s implication and Manchin’s tirade in an interview with ABC. Speaking on Manchin’s criticism that the ad featured out-of-state actors, Muziani retorted:

So I guess Joe Manchin would rather have real West Virginian actors ripping him on camera. Is that any better?”

Meanwhile … MTV holds a casting call for the President’s next town hall.