Demon Sheep: Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell

This is really a bizarre political attack ad, from Carly Fiorina.



It features a demon sheep representing a FCINO - Fiscal Conservative in Name Only.

Fiorina charges her opponent, Tom Campbell, with being a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The guy wearing the cheesy sheep costume with the glowing eyes looks like the sort of aliens used on Lost in Space -- weird but comical, a little creepy but not at all scary.

Video Release: Tom Campbell Exposed As A FCINO: Fiscal Conservative In Name Only
February 03, 2010

Carly for California today released “FCINO,” a Web video exposing Tom Campbell as a “Fiscal Conservative In Name Only.” Since his flip-flop into the Senate race, Campbell has been calling himself a fiscal conservative based on his time as a member of Congress nearly two decades ago, hoping that voters will ignore his recent support for more government spending, increased borrowing, a $16 billion tax hike and a 32-cent gas tax increase.

“California voters beware: Tom Campbell is a wolf in sheep’s clothing when it comes to his campaign rhetoric on taxes and government spending. He is a fiscal liberal masquerading as a ‘Fiscal Conservative In Name Only,’” said Carly for California Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications Julie Soderlund. “The last thing California needs is another tax-hiking, big-spending senator – Barbara Boxer has done more than her fair share of that over the last 18 years. And given his record of support for higher taxes, more borrowing and increased government spending, there is no reason to believe Taxin’ Tom would be any different.”

Video.



Transcript

VOICE OVER: Purity. Piety. Our fiscal conservative leaders. Men and women we admire. Aspire to be. Wholesome. Honorable. True believers. Men like Tom Campbell. Who would never lead us astray, his pedestal so high. Leaving but one way to fall.

GRAPHIC: Purity. Piety. Wholesome. Honorable. True Believers. Leaving but one way to fall.

VOICE OVER: Tom Campbell. “Fiscal genius.” Who would remember that as the Governor’s Chief Budget Officer – Campbell was the architect of our disastrous 2005 budget? A budget so bloated with increased ongoing spending commitments and borrowing that it literally set the stage for the recent decline of California.

GRAPHIC: Tom Campbell. Fiscal genius?

VOICE OVER: That’s fiscally conservative, Tom?

GRAPHIC: Fiscally conservative, Tom?

VOICE OVER: Who would remember that was the Tom Campbell Budget? We would. A budget about which the respected, non-partisan California Legislative Analyst Office wrote, “multi-billion dollar operating deficits…will persist” even in the best of times.

GRAPHIC: The Tom Campbell Budget. “…multi-billion dollar operating deficits…will persist…” – California Legislative Analyst Office, November 2005

VOICE OVER: And, Tom, while proclaiming your new-found fiscal conservatism, you seemed to have forgotten that you supported last year’s budget saying its tax increases were “the right thing to do.” Your current brilliant solution to California’s budget mess is to raise our gas tax – already the highest in the country – by 32 cents a gallon? Could there be a worse solution? Is that fiscally conservative, Tom?

GRAPHIC: Supported $12.5 billion tax increase. Supported gas tax increase.

VOICE OVER: And sadly, we’re just getting started. You also campaigned for a ballot measure last Spring that would have extended a supposedly temporary tax hike in the sales tax, the income tax, and vehicle license fees for another two years. At the end of the day, that’s another $16 billion in new taxes you supported, Tom.

GRAPHIC: Supported extending $16 billion “temporary” tax.

VOICE OVER: When in Congress, you supported a tax on the Internet. And you were publicly critical of the Bush tax cuts. I suppose we should not be surprised then, Tom, that you are the only Republican candidate to refuse to sign the “Tax Payer Protection Pledge” – no matter what office you were running for that particular week.

GRAPHIC: Supported an Internet tax. Criticized the Bush tax cuts. Refused to sign “no tax increase” pledge.

VOICE OVER: Tom Campbell. Is he what he tells us? Or, is he what he’s become over the years? A FCINO. A Fiscal Conservative In Name Only. A wolf, in sheep’s clothing. A man who literally helped put the state of California on the path to bankruptcy and higher taxes?

GRAPHIC: Tom Campbell. Fiscal conservative? Has he fooled you?

VOICE OVER: Fiscal conservative? Or just another same old tale of tax and spend. Authored by a career politician who helped guide us into this fiscal mess in the first place.

GRAPHIC: Might there be a better choice?

VOICE OVER: Might there be a better choice? Someone who has not made a career of politics. A political outsider. Perhaps a proven fiscal conservative, who has accomplished enormous things in life. Now, that sounds like the right choice for California.

When the guy is down on all fours crawling around in the field, it really is funny.



So is the ad effective?

It does get one's attention, but it could produce an undesired effect. Maybe California voters are attracted to demon sheep and it will boost Campbell.