In the race for the most breathless, hyperbolic spot of the campaign season, any attempt to top Alan Grayson’s “Taliban Dan” ad would be an exercise in futility. But Florida Democrats are giving it a go.
The message? Don’t elect Republican Pam Bondi as your next attorney general, because she’s a dog thief.
Here’s the cliff notes of the long story: During Hurricane Katrina, a St. Bernard named Master Tank was separated from its owners, the Couture family, and subsequently rescued by the Humane Society. Bondi adopted the dog from the shelter. When the Coutures tracked Master Tank down and wanted him returned, Bondi said she had legally adopted the dog and contended that she had actually saved its life. The Coutures sued. After a legal battle, the parties settled out of court, and Master Tank was retuned.
But Bondi’s specter — the terror that she would one day return to steal him back — could not be exorcised.
“He’d wake up during the night, having nightmares that Bondi came back to take his dog,” Dorreen Couture says in the new ad. “I feel for the state of Florida, for a woman that will use her power to get what she wants in the legal system, just to destroy a family.”