Why won't Elizabeth Dole, or anyone, act to pull the Obama "Extreme" ad in NC?

Last week, Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend delivered a petition on behalf of her readers and those at BlueNC and FireDogLake to North Carolina's Senior Senator, Elizabeth Dole.

In response to the North Carolina GOP's slimy ad, "Extreme" the petition requested that Dole ask Linda Daves of the NC Republican party to stop running the "color-aroused anti-Obama ad...which tries to draw some sort of connection between Dem gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue and Richard Moore (both endorsed Obama) and Reverend Jeremiah Wright." The tagline: "He's just too extreme for North Carolina." Flash to NC Republican Chair Linda Daves....as prim and proper and...white as can be.

Dole didn't respond. The ad runs still. Her spokesman sent Pam a fax (fax?) explaining that Senator Dole's campaign has nothing to do with the ad, or vice versa, and Dole does not plan on "refereeing third party political advertisements." Fair enough. Weak, but ok. But then, Pam discloses that, in fear of facing similar slimy ads from the North Carolina DEMOCRATIC Party, one of Dole's consultants sent a letter to the North Carolina Democratic Party chair requesting the Dems not to run any ads against Dole, and to tell the National Party to not run third party ads against her. Dole doesn't want any Party-sponsored negative ads run against her, but when confronted with the chance to stand up against a truly abhorrent piece of GOP-race baiting in her own state and own Party, she won't budge. Pam, thanks for sharing this.

Dole does not set a great precedent, and she could, since Mrs. Dole is one of our country's few stateswomen. The state GOP is running similar ads in Louisiana, trying to link Dems to Obama and his "extreme" views. I think this portends a really bad theme should Obama make it to the general. 13% of Americans already think Obama is a Muslim. Race-baiting, Wright-hollering ads are just too easy for Republican political consultants to throw together to scare voters with. We're going to see tons of them in the fall if Obama is the nominee.

Someone has to get out there and condemn this kind of stuff. It wasn't McCain. Wasn't Hillary. Wasn't Elizabeth Dole. Anyone?

As blase as I am about the Democratic Primary right now, this ad's existence revs me up. To me it tells a scary prophecy about how the GOP will falsely create a portrait of Obama and I can't believe none of leaders will do more than condemn it. I guess I am majorly naive, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact I worked for John Kerry during the Swift Boat summer in 2004.