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PA-8: Santarsiero Releases First TV Ad (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejeimIEKreI

The Democratic primary in PA-8 is heating up.

Two days ago, Shaughnessy Naughton premiered her first TV ad. Now, State Rep. Steve Santarsiero is hitting the airwaves.

A thirty-second spot, it is rather conventional in content as a biographical piece yet unconventional in format.

Shot and edited more like a film, the commercial follows the lawmaker throughout the morning in an attempt to tie in with the “Wake Up” theme.

“I woke up that day and the world changed,” he begins describing how personally viewing the Sept. 11th attacks in New York affected him. “I saw them fall from my office window. I knew then that I had a responsibility. I left my law firm and came back home to teach.”

The spot transitions to Santarsiero’s record in the legislature on guns, women’s rights and climate change.

“I woke up that day and the world changed, now I wake up to change the world,” he concludes.

Santarsiero is running to replace retiring Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick’s younger brother Brian is the favorite to be the next GOP nominee.

The 8th Congressional District consists of all of Bucks County as well as part of upper Montgomery County.

12 Responses

  1. This ad seems really confusing to me. What has 9/11 got to do with him? Left his law firm and came home to teach?? I have an open mind here, but so far I lean toward Shaughnessy. I have seen her speak and Steve should be worried.

  2. Yes, making money is so Un-American, I’m surprised Steve hasn’t been investigated by now. I don’t give a crap that Patrick Murphy went to Iraq, or if, after he was done, went to work for a white shoe law firm in Philly to make money. That’s what people with families do, they go make money. Apparently, posters on this site have a problem with that. Perhaps you should sign up for Comrade Sander’s campaign, but as for me, I’ll stick with real people who make real world decisions. As for the imagery in the ad, there is nothing vaguely offensive about it. Posters on this site need to get over it, this isn’t a commercial for soft drinks, this man is running to represent us in a world where things like that happen, good for him for reminding us what is at stake.

  3. Sounds like Porter Randolph needs a refill after having that Santarsiero kool-aid. Let me be totally clear – I say this as a Dem, it’s not about his personal decision to leave his law office – it’s about the use of this horrid imagery with the clear purpose of pandering in a political ad.

    Although to be fair, one would be remiss not to add, how incredibly courageous and sacrificing of him to leave a white-shoe Wall Street law firm and try something new. That’s really being on the front lines. Families in PA8 who know what it’s like to be a white-shoe Wall Street lawyer will love this ad – that is, if they can get over his shamefully evoking the greatest tragedy to happen to the country in many generations in a TV spot for some votes.

    On the other hand, Patrick Murphy was and is a real public servant. The contrast between Murphy and Santarsiero couldn’t be greater – one went to Iraq and served our country, the other worked on Wall Street and served himself. Those are just the facts, if you don’t like them you can stick your head in a bag (bizarre, juvenile choice of words, Porter) and pretend his “public service” and “immense sacrifice” of leaving a white-shoe Wall Street law firm will resonate with voters the same way Murphy’s actual record and actual public service did.

    Just like an out of touch career politician not to understand why using that imagery in a political ad for personal gain is downright wrong.

  4. Steve is for real about his own experience. I have known him for a long time and have watched him progress from a lawyer to being a teacher and then his turn toward public service as he ran a campaign for County Commissioner and then for State Representative.

    He is well schooled in the needs of Bucks County and has a real education and ability to get along with many people of different social and economic backgrounds. He is the most sober and meaningful candidate for this office in many years and is not driven by ideology but by a passion for his children’s and our communities futures.

    To those who consider him posting the reason for his switch into teaching and then into government service who feel he lauds this service over your own I feel that you are looking for answers as to why you were sent to war and now blame those who actually understand that our lack of preparedness and political education was a prime cause for the sacrifices you made to save our nation. Steve is your friend and would think several times about war and the real changes we need to make in our approach to solving the problems of radical religious fanatics without destroying our values as to the freedom of all religions to participate in making a better world.

    Steve’s reasons for public service don’t, to my thinking, understate your sacrifice but reinforce the need for well educated and worthy people to keep us out of making the mistakes that caused our war in Iraq.

  5. Steve walked away from a lucrative law career to become a public servant, both as an educator and an elected representative of the people. Being a public servant is not limited to the military, law enforcement or other types of service. Steve has every right to tell his personal story of being inspired by what he saw that day and the choices he made as a result. Don’t like to see images from that day used to tell a story? Stick your head in a bag, you’ve got a long sad life ahead of you.

  6. This is a powerful ad and I think Santarsiero was going in the right direction. His whole “I was called to serve after 9/11” thing is part of his story, and I think it’s valid.

    But using footage of the day I think was in poor taste. He could just *say* 9/11 and get the same effect. He was going for shock value.

  7. Even Daily Kos thinks this ad is in poor taste. Major blunder by the Santasiero campaign.

  8. He should be ashamed….

    ● PA-08: State Rep. Steve Santarsiero’s first ad of the Democratic primary for this open swing seat is, in a word, startling—and not in a good way. Out of absolutely nowhere, Santarsiero, who narrates the spot, starts his story on Sept. 11, 2001, saying, “I woke up that day and the world changed. I saw them fall from my office window”—”them” being the twin towers of the World Trade Center, shown damaged then collapsed in a pair of still photos that are simply shocking to see.

    So what is Santarsiero’s connection to 9/11? Did he lose friends or loved ones? Does he have a statement to make about terrorism or national security? Nothing of the sort. He simply says that he was motivated to quit the practice of law and return home to teach children; from there he segues into a description of his priorities as a state legislator. As profoundly affecting as the attacks were, using them as a hook to tell your otherwise unrelated life story seems extremely gratuitous. Fifteen years on, it bears repeating that photos of the destroyed towers depict the scene of a mass murder. It just doesn’t feel right to use them in a campaign ad this way.

  9. James Dunn and Buzzedinbristol are correct, using 9/11 footage for personal gain in a political TV ad seems really wrong, plain and simple.

  10. So I totally posted this comment on the canidiates page and he hide the comment:

    You know thousands of Vets like myself saw those towers fall and felt a responsibility and joined the military and served their country in combat while you taught kids and “serve in the legislature”. As a liberal democrat Marine shame on you for trying to compare your service equal to ours!!!

  11. This is a really powerful ad. Normally political ads bore me but this one was really powerful. Not 100% sure who I’m voting for yet but this ad makes a strong case.

  12. I don’t usually comment on these things but I am completely offended and turned off by this ad. The only time we should see images of the Twin Towers falling is to honor the victims who met their fates that day.

    For this smarmy career politician with a sh*t eating grin to stand there and use the single worst national tragedy in modern American history for political gain makes me want to puke. This clown may have walked away and ran for office but the 3500 innocent people who died that day weren’t so lucky.

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