BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE -- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scotty Baesler has asked his Republican opponent to pull a television advertisement that he says tries to portray him as Adolf Hitler.
Some Jewish leaders also asked Republican Jim Bunning to pull the 30-second ad, saying it had parallels with Nazi propaganda. Republican leaders defended the ad -- which features film clips of a frenzied Mr. Baesler accompanied by music by Richard Wagner, the anti-Semitic German composer who was Hitler's favorite.
Mr. Baesler said the spot went "over the line" by "trying to portray me as a lot more sinister than just a politician."
"It is a deliberate attempt to portray Scotty Baesler in a Hitler-esque image," said Bob Wiseman, Mr. Baesler's campaign chairman.
Mr. Bunning denied the ad's purpose was to link Mr. Baesler with Hitler and gave no indication he would withdraw the spot, which was still airing Friday.
In a written response to Mr. Baesler's request, Mr. Bunning said it was "preposterous" to claim that the ad evoked images of Hitler.
"The fact is, the music your campaign believes was intentionally used to create allusions to Hitler is actually used quite commonly -- it even was the subject of a Bugs Bunny cartoon," Mr. Bunning said in the letter.
The ad uses music from Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries while film clips show Mr. Baesler flailing his arms and shouting at the Fancy Farm picnic in western Kentucky on Aug. 1.
Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport, the chairman of the Jewish Community Relations Council, a Jefferson County group, said six members of his organization felt the ad had parallels with Nazi propaganda and films of Hitler. He said he had called the Bunning campaign to request that it be pulled.
"Many people who are not Jewish who have seen it have taken it the same way," he said.
But Bill Stone, who is Jewish and a local Republican leader, said he didn't see any parallels to Nazi propaganda. Mr. Stone said he thought the ad was intended to humorously portray Mr. Baesler as unfit for the Senate. Mr. Stone called it a "damn funny ad." Mr. Stone, a close friend of Mr. Bunning's, said Mr. Bunning is no bigot.
Mr. Wiseman said he thought the Bunning campaign had speeded up the tape, added crowd noise and distorted the film by repeating Mr. Baesler's lectern-thumping. That, combined with the choice of music, made the footage look like a Nazi propaganda film, he said. But Kyle Simmons, Mr. Bunning's campaign coordinator, said the campaign had not altered the film.
"It's showing Scotty Baesler not as his media consultants would want him to act or behave, but as he did act and behave," Mr. Simmons said.
