Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) committee just wrapped up the longest congressional investigation in the history of the United States. Even after it found no evidence of any wrongdoing by Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), in the Benghazi, Libya, attack, the National Rifle Association jumped in with an anti-Clinton attack ad claiming yet again that she did.
The reason for the NRA ad is to drudge up support for likely Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump (R-N.Y.).
As we know, Trump’s campaign has run out of money to air commercials in key 2016 battleground states. The NRA’s political arm, NRA Political Victory Fund, comes to his aid with $2 million to invest in a newly released attack ad blaming the 2012 attack in Benghazi on Hillary Clinton.
The 30-second spot, entitled “Stop Clinton, Vote Trump,” features Mark Geist, a Marine Corps veteran and security contractor who fought during, and survived the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, in 2012.
In the ad, he walks solemnly through a veterans cemetery, telling the viewer,
“A lot of people say they’re not going to vote this November because their candidate didn’t win. Well, I know some people who won’t be voting this year either.”
However, many find it disrespectful to use a veterans cemetery for political purposes. As it turns out, NRA didn’t even have permission to film there. Federal government officials dismissed the ad, according to NY Daily News, and would have rejected the application if the NRA had applied for a permit.
The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration, which maintains 134 national cemeteries, said in a statement,
“Partisan activities are prohibited on national cemetery grounds as they are not compatible with preserving the dignity and tranquility of the national cemeteries as national shrines.”
Secondly, while the tragic Benghazi massacre did claim four American lives, including that of Ambassador Chris Stevens, the backdrop of thousands of gravestones implicates a larger number of casualties, which simply isn’t accurate.
Maybe the oddest choice is the release of this ad just after the House Republicans’ own Benghazi report found no evidence of wrongdoing, despite two years of investigating and a cost of $7 million; nothing that can put any blame on Sec. Clinton for the act of terrorism.
The ill-timed, ill-conceived, and disrespectful attack-ad is set to air in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
You can also watch the ad here.
Featured Image: Screenshot Of NRA Video Via YouTube.
