Planned Parenthood defends Obama, attacks McCain

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has a tough new ad responding to McCain's attack on Obama's support for some sex-ed for kindergartners. The ad defends Obama, and suggests McCain is indifferent to the plight of sexually abused children.

"Every eight minutes a child is sexually abused. That's why Barack Obama supported legislation to teach children how to protect themselves. Now John McCain is twisting the facts and attacking Senator Obama," says the female narrator, over images that suggest abused children.

"Doesn't McCain want our children to protect ourselves from sex offenders? Or after 26 years in Washington, is he just another politician who will say anything to get elected?"

A reader noticed the ad in Planned Parenthood's YouTube account; I'll add details about where it's airing when they're available.

UPDATE: Planned Parenthood has taken the ad off YouTube, but others posted it, so I've restored it.

UPDATE: A Planned Parenthood spokesman, Tait Sye, says the ad is airing in the Denver and Pittsburgh markets -- the only markets where, as far as they could tell, the McCain ad aired. They've also written a letter to McCain asking him to take it off the air.

The letter from Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards, which notes that the disputed bill was a Planned Parenthood effort, is after the jump.

1110 Vermont Ave, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20005 · PHONE: 202.973.4800 · www.plannedparenthoodaction.org

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington, VA 22215

FAX: 703-752-2515

Delivered via Fax, email, and postal mail

Sept. 11, 2008

Dear Steve Schmidt/McCain-Palin campaign,

I am writing to ask that the McCain campaign immediately take down your false and misleading

ad attacking Senator Obama for his support of a bill that would have helped protect young

children from sexual predators.

This ad is a misleading attack on Senator Obama AND on the substance of the bill itself. As one

of many organizations the supported the bill, we are outraged that the McCain campaign would

seek to play political games with children’s health and safety. We are also disappointed that

Senator McCain has reneged on his own promise to refrain from such tactics.

In 2003, Planned Parenthood worked with Illinois state legislators to introduce the bill

highlighted in Senator McCain’s negative ad. The bill, SB 99, would have taught kindergartners

how to recognize inappropriate touching and how to defend against sexual predators. In addition,

the bill “was supported by a coalition of education and public health organizations, including the

Illinois Parent Teacher Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Illinois Public Health

Association and the Illinois Education Association.” (New York Times, 9/11/08)

Bill SB 99 of the 2003 Illinois Legislative session explicitly states, “Course material and

instruction shall teach pupils to not make unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances and how

to say no to unwanted sexual advances and shall include information about verbal, physical, and

visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances,

nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance.”

Several analyses and fact checks of the McCain campaign’s attack ad have criticized the ad, and

found that it is a “factual failure” and “seriously distort(s) the record.”

The New York Times: McCain’s ad “distorts” Obama’s record: The New York Times reports

that McCain’s ad “severely distorts” Obama’s record and is “recycling old and discredited

arguments.” The Times goes on to report that “The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what

the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it

called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that

kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues.” [The

New York Times, 9/11/08]

The Washington Post: The McCain ad “fails test”: The Washington Post examined the

“education” ad created by McCain and said that political ads “should not misrepresent the record

of the other side and should clearly distinguish quotes from non-partisan news sources from

standard political rhetoric. The McCain ‘education’ ad fails this test.” [The Washington Post,

9/11/08]

Factcheck.org: McCain ad is a “Factual Failure”: Factcheck.org writes, “A McCain-Palin

campaign ad claims Obama's ‘one accomplishment’ in the area of education was ‘legislation to

teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergarteners.’ But the claim is simply false, and it

dates back to Alan Keyes' failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004. Obama,

contrary to the ad's insinuation, does not support explicit sex education for kindergarteners. And

the bill, which would have allowed only ‘age appropriate’ material and a no-questions-asked optout

policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he was not even a

cosponsor – and the bill never left the state Senate.” [Factcheck.org; 9/10/08]

Congressional Quartely: McCain makes “dubious” claims about Obama’s character. CQ

writes, “McCain appears to be banking on the assumption that he has enough credibility with

voters that he can maintain their faith in his character even if he makes dubious claims about

Obama's…. [T]he underlying suggestion of ‘Education’ -- that Obama favors teaching 5-yearolds

the kind of sex ed taught to high school students -- is a significant stretch.” [CQ, 9/11/08]

We all want to protect our children, and we should be able to agree not to politicize issues that

are critical to the safety and well-being of our children. That is why Senator Obama supported

this bill. With that in mind, I respectfully ask that the McCain campaign stop airing this

misleading attack ad on Senator Obama’s education record, and on the bill itself.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards

President

Planned Parenthood Action Fund