Maddow Blog | The problem(s) with a conservative group’s attack ad in Wisconsin

A couple of years ago, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans ran into a little trouble when some of their Senate ads were so brazenly deceptive, they had to be pulled from the airwaves.

This recent history came to mind reading this report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

At issue is a super PAC called Restoration PAC, which is largely funded by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, and which has already invested millions of dollars in the hopes of bringing down Baldwin in the fall.

It was against this backdrop that the outfit launched an attack ad accusing the incumbent senator of having voted to “cut Medicare funding.” As the Journal Sentinel’s report explained, attorneys with Elias Law Group, on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, contacted OnMedia TV Ad Sales last week, pointing to the commercial’s “blatant lies” and asking that the ad be removed from the air.

The spot was, in fact, taken down, and in its replacement the “cut Medicare” phrasing was edited, though Restoration PAC claims the changes predated the Democratic complaint.

A Daily Kos report added, “Restoration PAC was vulnerable to Democrats’ takedown demand because television stations can be held liable for publishing defamatory statements by third-party groups — one of the few ways in which there can be accountability for lying in the political arena.”

As for the underlying claim, it was nearly two years ago when Sen. Rick Scott first started telling Americans that Democrats had cut Medicare through the Inflation Reduction Act. By any sensible measure, the Florida Republican was brazenly lying: As regular readers know, the Democrats’ law empowered Medicare to negotiate lower prices for consumers on prescription medications, generating dramatic savings.

In the English language, there is no credible definition of “cut” under which this falls.

And yet the GOP senator kept repeating the lie, even as journalists kept reminding him of reality.

We’re just now starting to see initial hints that Republicans intend to embrace the same nonsensical claim in the 2024 election cycle, cynically hoping that voters will believe that Democrats don’t quite love Medicare enough, reality notwithstanding. Coming soon to an attack ad near you.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com