Republicans Ignore Family’s Pleas Refuse To Take Down Ad That Politicizes James Foley’s Death

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The family of slain journalist James Foley called for a conservative group’s ads that feature their son’s beheading deplorable and have asked that the ads be taken down. The group ignored the grieving family’s request.

The right-wing group Secure America Now is running an ad in competitive Senate races around the country that features Foley’s beheading by his ISIS captors.

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James Foley’s father said, “I think it is deplorable, and I think it should be taken down.” Foley’s mother said, “It makes me very sad that people would use the brutality of our son’s death for their own political purposes.”

The president of Secure America Now, Allen Roth admitted that the group didn’t contact the Foley family before making the ad public, and said, “The image has appeared around the world millions of times…We meant no harm, we just took an image that is in the public domain and used it.” Secure America Now refuses to apologize, and claimed that the ad is not controversial.

The ad goes beyond controversial. Is is disrespectful to James Foley. The ad is disrespectful to the family and friends of James Foley. It is also promoting the propaganda of Foley’s ISIS killers. Secure America Now has John Bolton, and Mike Huckabee on its board.

It is a piece of advertising that will only the Republicans that it is trying to help. There is nothing but disrespect behind that ad, and the fact that conservatives are ignoring the pleas of the grieving family will almost certainly backfire on the Republican candidates that they claim to be helping.

Any Republican Senate candidate that does not immediate condemn the ad deserves to lose. Since conservatives refuse to listen to the Foley family, voters will have to reject their crass politics at the ballot box on Election Day.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association