Liberal PACs Ready Attack Ad On McCain’s Health

by Jim Rutenberg

Two liberal groups – one of them directed by a brother of the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean – will begin running a graphic attack advertisement Thursday morning raising questions about Senator John McCain’s health. Showing vivid and unflattering images of the fresh scar that appeared on Senator McCain’s face immediately after his last operation for melanoma skin cancer eight years ago, the commercial ends with a screen headline that reads, “Why won’t John McCain release his medical records?” (Mr. McCain, 72, did invite a limited group of reporters to inspect more than 1,100 pages of his medical records in May, though he gave them only a three-hour window in which to review the documents.)

The commercial is among the harshest to run against Mr. McCain yet, seeking to exploit the sensitive issues of health and age. Officials with the groups running the ad, Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, said they were only showing the spot initially on MSNBC over the next few days, a limited run intended to draw news media attention on a network that has increasingly catered to liberal tastes.

Officials at the groups, both of which are political action committees that rely on individual donors, said they hoped to show the spot on stations in battleground states in the coming weeks as well. But it is unclear if individual stations will accept the spot: Leighton Akio Woodhouse, a spokesman for Brave New PAC, said late Wednesday that CNN declined to accept the commercial after reviewing its contents this week.

The ad comes from the same two groups that recently released an advertisement questioning whether Mr. McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam adversely affected his ability to lead.

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I heard John McCain’s address where he discussed the current financial crisis. I was very happy to hear that he wants to create proactive measures to ensure banks remain solvent and help people continue to live in their homes.

He very clearly pointed out, and I agree with him, that the root of this crisis is the mortgage industry.

But while the American Dream to some is being able to buy a home, I really have no desire to buy fractions of other people’s homes without getting any equity in them.

One of the big contributing factors, in my opinion, to this crisis is the practice of issuing adjustable-rate mortgages. They were disasters not just waiting, but eager to happen. (The “interest only” mortgages were sheer insanity, and in my opinion people on either side of those loans should seriously consider eliminating themselves from the gene pool, or at least the housing market, unless they had a darn good reason for doing it — and IMHO planning to sell the house very quickly is not a good reason.) People who want more house than they can afford with a fixed-rate mortgage were able to get what they wanted — for awhile. Lenders were able to make more loans, people were able to build and sell more houses, and all looked rosy, until it all turned red.

I’m not saying that ARMs can’t be an intelligent choice and save a person money. They can.

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I hope that you are not upset at a liberal deciding to post a diary entry here. If you feel that this is crossing the line about how liberals should be expected to behave in a conservative home, please say so.

I believe that liberals and conservatives both can agree on many subjects. We may disagree about the best way to deal with certain problems, but we generally both agree that the problems exist.

I also think both liberals and conservatives agree that our country was founded on the right to peacefully protest, and the right to free speech. Now, the Boston Tea Party was not exactly an example I would like protesters to follow — I don’t think it is necessary to damage property in a protest. But at least if you’re going to damage property, damage the property that has at least some significance to your cause, not just random acts of vandalism. I support the right of every person to peacefully protest, even if I disagree with their message, because if I want that right I have to grant it to others. However, I do not support the “right” for people to harm others or randomly damage property as “free speech”.

So here is a compilation of videos, some from the Democratic National Convention, others from the Republican National Convention, as well as photographs and articles, showing protesters behaving badly. Please be aware that some of the language in these videos is not suitable for children.

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