From the Faith and Freedom Coalition's slimy flyer seeking money

to boost the evangelical vote for Mitt Romney.

From the Faith and Freedom Coalition's slimy flyer seeking money

to boost the evangelical vote for Mitt Romney.

Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, has had a new gig since 2009. It's the Faith and Freedom Coalition , a right-wing group that this election season is pouring $10-$12 million into a campaign to get evangelicals to the polls for Mitt Romney. The GOP candidate is quoted on the website as saying: “Ralph Reed is doing a great job here with the Faith & Freedom Coalition. This is going to make a big impact across America and I appreciate the work you are doing here.”

Part of that work can be found in a mailed flyer that recently landed in Andy Kroll's inbox at Mother Jones magazine. It's the sort of broadside the organization hopes to have 5,000 volunteers passing out to millions of evangelical voters. Despite his best efforts in the primaries, Romney has not fully persuaded many evangelicals that he will adhere to their values if he's elected president.

The flyer appeals for money using the technique of direct-mail campaigns found to be effective ages ago—asking leading questions. The worst of the lot compares Obama's "attack on liberty" to the threats the United States faced from the Nazis and Japanese in World War II. For the evangelical voter still on the fence, another leading question links Obama with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez:



ISSUE SUMMARY: The anti-American Communist dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, calls Barack Obama "Comrade Obama" and remarked that he believes President Obama is to the Left of himself and Fidel Castro. Question #2: Do you think Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro see President Obama as an ally of theirs? Or do you think Chavez was just joking about President Obama's Communist beliefs?

Swastikas or hammers and sickles? Your choice. Kroll failed to get a response from the Faith and Freedom Coalition in answer his own question: "Does Reed truly believe Obama is a communist whose policies threaten the United States as Nazi Germany once did?"

Of course, he doesn't. Because even Ralph Reed isn't that stupid. But he also knows how to push buttons. And since some voters will swallow any lie about Obama, why not crank it up a bit? "Nazi" and "commie" often does the trick. Of course, Reed can proclaim that he's not trying to shape a narrative here, "just asking questions."

It's low-down, it's sneaky, and it's exactly what you would expect from a traditional-moral-values guy who took money from convicted sleazebag Jack Abramoff.