Debunking media/Dem myths: Revisiting the controversial 2002 Max Cleland ad

Back in 2002, Senator Max Cleland’s Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss ran a critical ad which criticized Cleland’s dismal record on the Homeland Security bill. Democrats have relentlessly criticized that ad, and used it as a call to arms of sorts – as they have the Swift Boat Vet ads – against the alleged “smear tactics” used by Republicans in order to win an election. The claim (scroll) has always been some variation of Cleland’s face supposedly being morphed into Osama’s or Saddam’s, or both.

The latest Democrat to perpetuate this outright lie is none other than Bill Clinton himself in remarks he made last week in which he was acting as a “champion” (cough) for his wife after her poor performance in the Dem debate from two weeks ago, but my comments addressed what he said about the Swift Boat Vets. I had not, until today, seen Clinton’s comments in full as they related to the Chambliss ad. Here they are (ht/: Bryan -emphasis added):

“The point I’m here to make to you is whoever you’re for, this is a really big election. We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters. When we listened to people make snide comments about whether Vice President Gore was too stiff.

And when they made dishonest claims about the things that he said that he’d done in his life. When that scandalous Swift Boat ad was run against Senator Kerry. When there was an ad that defeated Max Cleland in Georgia, a man that left half his body in Vietnam. And a guy that led several departments … with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden because he dared to vote against the president’s version of the Homeland Security bill. Most Americans still don’t know the truth. The president was against the Homeland Security Bill for 8 1/2 months. And Karl Rove told him they were going to lose the 2002 election unless the American people were scared about terror again. So they decided to be for a bill they opposed. And they put a poison pill in it. That bill was designed by the president to take the job rights away from 170,000 federal employees that had no access to secure information, no access to secure technology. No business being treated like CIA. We need to be able to fire CIAs. .. But we don’t need to treat secretaries at FEMA that way. The whole thing was a scam.

So Max Cleland said, I didn’t go to Vietnam and leave one arm and two legs to come home and hold my job by stripping the job rights of 170,000 good, hardworking Americans. I don’t want to do it. So they put an ad on comparing him to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Why am I saying this?

Because, I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again. Ya’ll raise your hand if you’re for illegal immigrants getting a driver’s license. So, we then let the Republicans go ahead saying all the Democrats are against the rule of law.

In a post yesterday at Newsbusters, Ken Shepherd noted that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported it’s own version of the ad (h/t: ST reader Mark Dunn):

Democrats were especially angered by Cleland’s loss to Saxby Chambliss five years ago because of an 11th-hour television ad in which the Republican challenger questioned the incumbent’s patriotism.

The video can be viewed here, in a post where Sweetness and Light notes that this isn’t the first time Bill Clinton has lied about this ad. As pointed out in Shepherd’s post, NRO’s Rich Lowry debunked the myths about that ad back in 2004, yet Democrats from Clinton to Kerry to Obama (along with their pals in the press) still invoke the Cleland ad today in order to get far left Democrats fired up even more against the “smear tactics” of the right. In all of this, we see the familiar Democrat tactic of invoking the Absolute Moral Authority Card in a shameless attempt to cut off legitimate debate and criticisms.

Democrat motto: When the truth doesn’t work in your favor, just lie, lie again.

Cross-posted at Liberty Pundit, where I’ve helped out guestblogging the last two days while Brian’s been away.