Obama wins!
Reagan redistributed wealth
McCain and his croonies what you to be afraid of Obama because he's a "socialist." He wants to redistribute wealth. I hate to break it to them but we've been redistributing wealth since the income tax started about 100 years ago.
David Gergan has been an advisor to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. On CNN he pointed out that Regan started the Earned Income Tax credit which redistributes wealth.
I love this clip from Obama's speech in North Carolina today:
McCain's latest unhonorable campaign ad
Let's jump into the wayback machine for a few minutes and head all the way back to March 11, 2008. This was the day that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, sent a memo to reporters that stated
…It is critical, as we prepare to face off with whomever the Democrats select as their nominee, that we all follow John's lead and run a respectful campaign focused on the issues and values that are important to the American people.
Throughout the primary election we saw John McCain reject the type of politics that degrade our civics, and this will not change as he prepares to run head-to-head against the Democratic nominee….
…Throughout his life John McCain has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues. We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards when they are representing the campaign….
That oh so honorable campaign lasted until July 2008. Now McCain's campaign is wallowing in the gutter.
The McCain campaign's latest hairball of an ad borders on the obscene. By now you have probably seen or heard McCain's Education ad. If not you can see it on YouTube.com. I refuse to provide free play time for the ad by putting it up on my blog.
The ad claims that Obama is responsible for "legislation to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergarteners."
Here's what FactCheck.org has to say about this ad:
It's true that the phrase "comprehensive sex education" appeared in the bill, but little else in McCain's claim is accurate. The ad refers to a bill Obama supported in the Illinois state Senate to update the sex education curriculum and make it "medically accurate." It would have lowered the age at which students would begin what the bill termed "comprehensive sex education" to include kindergarten. But it mandated the instruction be "age-appropriate" for kindergarteners when addressing topics such as sexually transmitted diseases. The bill also would have granted parents the opportunity to remove their children from the class without question:
SB 99: However, no pupil shall be required to take or participate in any family life class or course on HIV AIDS or family life instruction if his parent or guardian submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or participate in such course or program shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of such pupil.
The bill also called for all sex education course materials to include information that would help students recognize, among other activities, inappropriate touching, sexual assault and rape:
SB99: Course material and instruction shall discuss and provide
for the development of positive communication skills to maintain healthy relationships and avoid unwanted sexual activity. … Course material and instruction shall teach pupils … how to say no to unwanted sexual advances … and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one's judgment.The bill passed in the Health and Human Services Committee with Democrats, including Obama, voting along party lines in support of it. But the measure promptly stalled and died in the full Senate, and no action has been taken on it since late 2005.
All emphasis is mine.
The McCain campaign's attempt to put some sort of perverse reasoning on Obama's support of the failed bill is disgusting.
It can also backfire on McCain.
McCain is criticising Obama for supporting a bill that would teach children to recognize inappropriate behavior and pedophiles. David Sirota expains that logically the argument can be made that McCain is declaring "his support for child molestor rights."
Do I honestly feel that McCain supports the rights of child molestors? Of course not. However, if he and his campgain is going to make ungrounded and disgusting claims against Obama, then he better not claim that he's running a clean, honorable campaign.
By the way, if you're interested in the actual article from Education Week about Obama you can read it here. If you read it, you'll notice that it is not nearly as daming as the McCain ad wants you to believe.
