"BP Republicans": Effective meme for the Dems this fall?

[marmar]

The National Democratic Committee added Pennsylvania Republican candidate for Senate, Pat Toomey, to its list of BP-friendly candidates. Toomey's inclusion on the Democrats' "BP Republicans" website puts him in the same camp as Rep. Joe Barton, who infamously apologized to BP for Obama's "shakedown" as well as Minnesota's Michele Bachmann and Sharron Angle, who is running against Democrat Harry Reid in Nevada.

The site is an effort by Democrats to cast certain Republicans as villains in the aftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf by claiming their allegiance is to BP and other oil companies.

The Democrats criticize Toomey for his opposition to offshore drilling moratoriums in the wake of the BP spill. Toomey, for his part, has argued the importance of getting oil from deep ocean wells, saying the BP incident needs to be investigated, but the industry overall is generally safe.

By adding Toomey to a list of some of the nation's more divisive Republican politicians, it's clear that the Democrats are attempting to make Toomey into a controversial figure as well.

Similar efforts are being made by Republicans and other interest groups, like the Chamber of Commerce, to make Democrat Joe Sestak, Toomey's opponent, appear wedded to the policies of polarizing political personalities like Nancy Pelosi.



http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2010/08/dems-dub-toomey-a-bp-republican.html