Florida GOP Group Uses Image Of Dead Ambassador’s Body In Obama Attack Ad

Oct 12, 2012

A Florida chapter of the pro-gay Log Cabin Republicans has published an attack ad against the Obama administration that prominently features a picture of slain Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya last month. Accompanying the picture is the claim that the President refuses to protect gay and gay friendly Americans against “Islamic radicalism.”

Funded by the Broward County Log Cabin Republicans, the ad calls for LGBT voters to support the Republican Party because of its support for Israel. Israel, according to the flyer, is the “one beacon of hope in the Middle East protecting our communities human rights.” The ad further insinuates that President Obama will impose sharia law on the United States in a second term. The full ad as published in the Florida Agenda, an LBGT newspaper

In making its assertions, the ad perpetuates two rumors surrounding the death of Stevens. The first, that the group shown in the picture was proudly dragging his body through the streets, has been roundly debunked. Translated video of the moments captured in the picture shows that the group was taking the Ambassador to the hospital for treatment. The second is that Stevens was himself gay, an unsubstantiated claim that right-wing blogs have seized on to claim that the Obama administration “needlessly enraged the passions of protesters” in the Middle East.