Behind the Ad: The Benghazi attack ad that never aired

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive "Behind the Ad" series.)

Who: The Republican National Committee.

Where: Never aired.

What's going on: Jonathan Karl of ABC News got his hands on an ad created by the Republican National Committee to attack Obama over Benghazi, though it was never aired.

It was made last fall in the final weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign.

It begins with a replay of Hillary Clinton's famous "3 a.m. phone call" commercial from the 2008 campaign that she used to criticize Barack Obama's political experience and then moves to an image of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in flames:

Over the images of the attack – in which four Americans were killed – words appear on the screen:

"The Call Came … On September 12, 2012." As the screen goes black, the words continue: "Security Requests Denied. Four Americans Dead. And an Administration whose story is still changing. The Call Came."

Karl writes that a source familiar with the creation of the ad said it was approved by the RNC leadership but didn't run because Romney's campaign was afraid it would detract from their efforts to focus on the economy.

Whether or not that was the right call by Romney's people, something tells me we haven't heard the last of this approach, which I suspect will be used against Clinton should she run in 2016.

As with so much of the politicking the GOP does, it appeals to the already converted rather than helping to  expand their base. In other words, it's pure Fox News theatrics.



(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)