Plot twist!
In her first video ad for the campaign in Congressional District 27, Democrat State Sen. Annette Taddeo has flipped the script and is calling U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar the socialist.
Shut the front door!
“This election will determine if we remain a beacon of freedom or we become a socialist dictatorship,” Taddeo says, wearing a jeweled American flag on her chest. “MAGA Republican Maria Salazar supports government control over women’s healthcare decisions, even in cases of rape or incest.”
A Democrat calling a Republican socialist? This is rich.
But it might not be too far fetched in this case. Does anyone else remember Salazar feigning over Fidel Castro in that video interview, where she gushed like a flirting teenager with the tyrant. She referred to him as “comandante” and “un revolucionario por excelencia,” which translates to a “revolutionary par excellence.” Like, really?
Salazar later said she was caught off guard when he complimented her legs. Ugh. Really? And just how did she score that interview, anyway, when Castro wasn’t speaking with legitimate journalists?
She also hasn’t said a word about Gov. Ron DeSantis using migrants who flee from countries where communism and socialism are rising as red meat props by shipping them off at taxpayer expense to Martha’s Vineyard (more on that later).
Read related: Jose Felix Diaz outspends Annette Taddeo 3 to 1 plus — but loses anyway
“My MAGA Republican opponent María Elvira only pretends to care about freedom, but has remained silent as those seeking freedom from increasingly socialist governments have been shipped off and used as political pawns by Florida’s Governor,” Taddeo said.
“Our ad highlights the biggest difference between myself and Maria Elvira — only one of us believes in actually defending freedom.
“I came to this country fleeing a Marxist terrorist group in Colombia funded by the Cuban regime, and I know firsthand how important it is that we fight for our freedom.
“Freedom from government control over women’s bodies, freedom from violence.”
Read related: Push poll in CD27 shows Maria Elvira Salazar fears Annette Taddeo in general
Women’s rights are going to be front and center in many races this cycle, including CD27. Taddeo has fought in the Florida Senate for rape and incest exemptions to the state’s new 15-week abortion ban. Salazar is against any exemptions.
How is this socialist? It is allowing a government to make healthcare decisions for an individual.
This race is expected to be one of the closest — recent polls have Taddeo within the margin of error — and most watched, not only in Florida but across the country. But what matters is how the video and message resonates with voters in District 27, which includes parts of Miami, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Key Biscayne, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, North Bay Village, South Miami, West Miami and the unincorporated neighborhoods of Coral Terrace, Fisher Island, Glenvar Heights, Kendall, Olympia Heights, Richmond Heights, The Crossings, Three Lakes and Westchester.
The commercial comes on all the time as the six-figure ad buy started last week.
Lots of CD27 voters are Cuban or from Latin America — it’s more than 70% Hispanic — and have fallen for that socialist crap in other campaigns. Like, for instance, the 2020 race where Salazar beat former Congresswoman Donna Shalala by 6 points. Only two years earlier, Shalala had beat Salazar by six points. The only reason Salazar won last time was because the former UM president basically admitted to being a socialist.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar uses socialist scare in rematch vs Donna Shalala
Taddeo won’t do that. Born in Colombia, she had to flee when she was a teenager after her father was abducted. It’s going to be hard for Salazar to paint her a socialist. She’s going to have to turn to something else.
“My family came to this country seeking freedom,” Taddeo says in the 30-second piece. “Freedom from government control. Freedom from violence.”
She ends the piece by saying she approves it “because freedom is worth fighting for.”
In total, she says the word “freedom” five times. Because Republicans don’t own that word, either.
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