A shady independent group is running a new ad against Obama, based on Supreme Court judges. First This topic is certainly a a fair one, well within the boundaries of legitimate debate. Except that this ad really says nothing about judicial philosophy. Roe v. Wade does not even warrant a mention, which makes me wonder about the real agenda of these people. There is no talk of Obama’s position on abortion, or the likelihood that he would nominate strongly pro-Roe justices.
It seems that the ad is designed solely to help McCain and smear Obama by talking about some of the people he has been associated with in one form or other, including shady businessmen, radicals from the 1960s, and yes, Jeremiah Wright. The line here is that Obama chose as his pastor a man who blamed 9/11 on America. At that point, I just wanted to bang my head on my desk, for — as has been pointed out a million times now — mainstream Republican-leaning religious leaders like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell used similar language. What has this to due with judges? Absolutely nothing. Yet again, we have the abortion issue being used to score cheap political points (in this place, guilt by association) by people who dearly do not care about abortion. The main speaker in the ad is wearing a rather prominent cross, clearly placed there deliberately. In these circumstances, this comes across as a highly offensive exploitation of a core symbol of our faith.
And does McCain really want to talk about shady business dealings from the past? In the middle of a financial crisis, does he really want to be reminded of his past relationship with Charles Keating?
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