Run the damned NARAL ad!
A lot of people are upset about this NARAL ad against John Roberts, and upset against CNN and some Fox affiliates for running it (see Captain Ed, for example).
We aren’t upset at all. In fact, we are delighted. This ad doesn’t “expose” John Roberts. It exposes NARAL for what they are: radical, extreme, and deeply dishonest (see FactCheck.org’s review). NARAL is in the process of publicly discrediting itself, and making a laughingstock out of its next, over-the-top, set of accusations. This won’t hurt Roberts, and is wonderful news for the next Supreme Court nominee, and the next, and the next……….
UPDATE
The ad is doing a nice job at creating fissures within parts, at least, of the NARAL coalition, via NYT:
Within the larger liberal coalition of which Naral is a part, there was considerable uneasiness about the advertisement, although leaders of other groups generally refused to speak on the record. One who did, Frances Kissling, the longtime president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said she was “deeply upset and offended” by the advertisement, which she called “far too intemperate and far too personal.”
Ms. Kissling, who initiated the conversation with a reporter, said the ad “does step over the line into the kind of personal character attack we shouldn’t be engaging in.” She added: “As a pro-choice person, I don’t like being placed on the defensive by my leaders. Naral should pull it and move on.”
Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration and longtime Naral supporter, sent a letter on Wednesday to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its ranking Democrat, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, respectively. Mr. Dellinger said he had disagreed with Mr. Roberts’s argument in the Bray case but considered it unfair to give “the impression that Roberts is somehow associated with clinic bombers.” He added that “it would be regrettable if the only refutation of these assertions about Roberts came from groups opposed to abortion rights.”
August 10th, 2005 at 11:53 am
James Taranto credits a reader of his “Best of the Web” with
“Freedom of speech is great, it lets you spot the idiot” (paraphase?)
So I am in complete agreement with you. I say let FOX collect the
revenue and then take ad apart on their shows by just reporting
the “FactCheck.Org” posting as news.
And in that same vein, we can welcome MoDo back today.
We missed her. We like the “Useful Idiots” front and center.
Great to have her back!