Legal Commentary

Republican Attack Ads on Obama

By Jeralyn

The North Carolina Republican party unveiled an ad today against two Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The ad attacks Barack Obama because he remained in Rev. Wright's church. You can view it here.

John McCain and the national Republican party are calling for it to be removed. But, it's nothing compared to the Willie Horton ad by the 527 group the National Campaign Fund (Floyd Brown)attacking Obama for refusing to vote for a bill that included the death penalty for gang members. You can view it here.

Brown says the initial effort, a 60-second spot called "Victims" will be aired later this month in North Carolina and e-mailed to between 3 and 7 million conservatives this week, with a plea for more funding to further spread the message. "All of the efforts I have ever done in my life have been significantly funded," Brown claimed, though he declined to describe the size of the purchase. "This is going to be the most Internet-intensive effort for an ad debut ever."

Barack Obama should be praised for his vote against the death penalty for gang members. Similarly, I praised him for his vote against the federal anti-gang bill here. ABC News reviews his objections to the Illiniois bill:

At the time Obama argued that the bill would disproportionally impact African-Americans and Hispanics. "There's a strong overlap between gang affiliation and young men of color," he said. "I think it's problematic for them to be singled out as more likely to receive the death penalty for carrying out certain acts than are others who do the same thing."

Obama's right about that.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).