As an update to this blog entry, where I posted about NARAL’s scare tactics via running a nasty ad against Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts, FactCheck has criticized this ad claiming it leaves the wrong impression of what John Roberts supports (NARAL said he supported abortion clinic bombers - surprise). Here’s more:
Summary
An abortion-rights group is running an attack ad accusing Supreme Court nominee John Roberts of filing legal papers "supporting . . . a convicted clinic bomber" and of having an ideology that "leads him to excuse violence against other Americans." It shows images of a bombed clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
The ad is false.
And the ad misleads when it says Roberts supported a clinic bomber. It is true that Roberts sided with the bomber and many other defendants in a civil case, but the case didn’t deal with bombing at all. Roberts argued that abortion clinics who brought the suit had no right use an 1871 federal anti-discrimination statute against anti-abortion protesters who tried to blockade clinics. Eventually a 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court agreed, too. Roberts argued that blockades were already illegal under state law.
The images used in the ad are especially misleading. The pictures are of a clinic bombing that happened nearly seven years after Roberts signed the legal brief in question.
These people have absolutely NO shame. By hook or by crook, they won’t rest until they’ve smeared Judge John Roberts’ name in the mud. This is almost like a pre-Borking!
Hat tip: Eugene Volokh
Captain Ed has a great post about this very misleading ad and how CNN should be ashamed for showing it here (8/10/05 Update: Fox is going to air it too 
). Patterico also has a must-read post about the NARAL ad and the LA Times article on it. The Unalienable Right weighs in. Jim at bRight and Early shares his thoughts.
8/10/05 Update: Michelle Malkin links up to a piece in the WSJ by Manuel Miranda that takes NARAL to task for this disgusting distortion.
More: Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush:
The only thing missing, of course, is a forthright denunciation of the NARAL ad by any leftwing organization. If you’ve found one, let me know - I will note their actions and applaud it; but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Me either.
Afternoon update: ArizonaTeach makes a good point here in the comments section re: the media and political ads.
Related Toldjah So posts:
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I really wish the RNC would run ads countering this kind of tripe…ads that would come right out and say, “These people are lying, and here’s how and why.” It wouldn’t be that hard. Someone has gotta call them on it…a write-up on Factcheck.org is nice, but it’s not enough.
Comment by Sloan @ 8/9/2005 - 11:14 pm
As I unnderstand it, Fox news has also agreed to run the ad, sadly.
Comment by Stoo @ 8/10/2005 - 1:18 am
Fox is going to broadcast this?? Ugh … that’s disappointing.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/10/2005 - 9:58 am
Stoo, you’ve got to be kidding. I don’t have time to track that down…do you have a link you can point us to? I just can’t believe that.
It’s not “misrepresentation.” It’s not “misleading.” It’s lying. Lying is when you say something that isn’t true, and these people are lying like a cheap rug.
Comment by Sloan @ 8/10/2005 - 10:27 am
Good point, Sloan - I should have characterized this as “lying” rather than “misrepresentating” or “misleading”.
ops:
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/10/2005 - 10:31 am
BTW, Sloan, the bit about FoxNews was in the WashPost piece linked up to at Captain Ed’s (which I linked to in this post).
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/10/2005 - 11:13 am
This is a tough call. It’s not a tough call in that NARAL is a bunch of lying puswads (I don’t know what the Sister’s policy for naughty words are, or I’d be a lot more colorful), but I have issue with damning CNN and Fox for running the ads. Misleading, lying political ads are par for the course, and while I’d like to think that my side are angels in this matter, and only the Dems put up lying ads, I’m not THAT naive. I do know that if television stations got to decide what political ads to show, we never would have heard from the Swift Vets, God bless them. I wish CNN didn’t run this garbage. I truly truly truly wish Fox wouldn’t, but I don’t think they have the leeway to not accept advertising (CNN especially, their rates must be bottoming out!) and if Fox turned them down, get ready for more the the Fox-is-the-puppet-of-the-fascist-right posts on the moonbat sites. The ad is misleading, but what ad isn’t. I’m not surrounded by bikini-clad supermodels when I hold a certain type of beer in my hand…more’s the pity…I might start drinking then. Anyway, it’s crap, it’s crass, it’s grade-A BS, but it’s politics and the media. Roberts will be confirmed; all this does is make NARAL look bad.
Comment by ArizonaTeach @ 8/10/2005 - 1:04 pm
That’s a very good point, AT. If we heaped shame on every network that ran lying political ads, probably only 10% would ever actually get run.
I just updated my post to reference your comments.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/10/2005 - 1:31 pm
- Au contrar’ mon ami’s. The more the better of this sort of pravaricating. Provided the Reps counter them. I am always happy to see the weasels pop their miserable heads up and go public with their desperate mal-a-props. sKerry might have actually come closer to election if his anti-american manipulations from the past hadn’t been spotlighted by the Rathergate/Mapes fiasco and the Swifties widespread counter to His mendacities. Moreover the whole pethetic effort by the DNC/moron.dummies exposed their attemps to smear anyone and everyone that disagree with them and put the lie label on the lefts so-called right to free speech claims. To this day the left stands firm that one man told the truth, and 236 men lied. So by all means, keep it coming lefties. Soon you’ll be in a hole so deep the electorate you lie too will speak Mandarin…
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/10/2005 - 5:46 pm
Thing is though the Reps often *don’t* counter them. Sigh.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/10/2005 - 7:01 pm
- Well take heart Sistah …. The Reps already have an Ad up om FOX completely exposing this sham by NARAL as an out and out “witch hunt” filled with false impressions, and downright lies. NARAL issued a statement today that they in no-way ment to imply that Roberts supported violence. What part of “…He should be in jail[sic]” did we misunderstand? pitiful….
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/10/2005 - 7:36 pm
Really? Do you have a link to the ad? I’ll check the RNC site to see if I can find one. I would love to see it!
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/11/2005 - 11:36 am
- Sorry…no I havn’t found a link yet….. They are running it as part of FOX newscast reports… thats where I saw “The Witch Hunt”… they may have more today and a link - we’ll see…. whats interesting is how some liberal groups are already condemning the NARAL Ad in news releases….Even the left knows a loser misstep when they see one…..
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/11/2005 - 5:21 pm
Hiya bang - don’t worry, I saw the bit about the counter-ad being run this afternoon .. .in a piece from the NYTimes.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/11/2005 - 5:43 pm