The Latest Smear Ad From Obama

Barack the Obamessiah's buddies in the media have cleared out the gutter, and now the Obamessiah is moving in and adding on.

The Obama campaign recently released a Spanish ad that is an extremely low blow, and problematic at best. ABC's Jake Tapper, of all people, blows the whistle:

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has launched a new Spanish-language TV ad that seeks to paint Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as anti-immigrant, even tying the Republican to his longtime conservative talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh.

As first reported by the Washington Post, Obama's ad features a narrator saying: "They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with…the intolerance…they made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much."

The screen then shows these two quotes from Limbaugh:

“…stupid and unskilled Mexicans”
—Rush Limbaugh

"You shut your mouth or you get out!”
—Rush Limbaugh

The narrator then says, “John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote…and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain…more of the same old Republican tricks.”

But then Tapper goes on with some devastating details. Excerpts:

There are some real factual problems with this ad, which is titled “Dos Caras,” or two faces.

First of all, tying Sen. McCain – especially on the issue of immigration reform – to Limbaugh is unfair.

Limbaugh opposed McCain on that issue. Vociferously. And in a larger sense, it’s unfair to link McCain to Limbaugh on a host of issues since Limbaugh, as any even occasional listener of his knows, doesn’t particularly care for McCain.

Second, the quotes of Limbaugh’s are out of context.

Railing against NAFTA in 1993, Limbaugh said, "If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine 'cause those are the kinds of jobs NAFTA is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do -- let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."

Not one of his most eloquent moments, to be sure, but his larger point was that NAFTA would mean that unskilled stupid Mexicans would be doing the jobs of unskilled stupid Americans.

I’m not going to defend how he said it, but to act as if this was just a moment of Limbaugh slurring Mexicans is not accurate.

The second quote is totally unfair. In 2006, Limbaugh was mocking Mexican law, and he wrote:

“Everybody's making immigration proposals these days. Let me add mine to the mix. Call it The Limbaugh Laws:

“First: If you immigrate to our country, you have to speak the native language. You have to be a professional or an investor; no unskilled workers allowed. Also, there will be no special bilingual programs in the schools with the Limbaugh Laws. No special ballots for elections. No government business will be conducted in your language. Foreigners will not have the right to vote or hold political office.

“If you're in our country, you cannot be a burden to taxpayers. You are not entitled to welfare, food stamps, or other government goodies. You can come if you invest here: an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. If not, stay home. But if you want to buy land, it'll be restricted. No waterfront, for instance. As a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to the property.

“And another thing: You don't have the right to protest. You're allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our President or his policies. You're a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out! And if you come here illegally, you're going to jail.

“You think the Limbaugh Laws are harsh? Well, every one of the laws I just mentioned are actual laws of Mexico today! That' how the Mexican government handles immigrants to their country. Yet Mexicans come here illegally and protest in our streets!

“How do you say ‘double standard’ in Spanish? How about: ‘No mas!’”

But even if one is uninclined to see Limbaugh's quotes as having been taken unfairly out of context, linking them to McCain makes as much sense as running a quote from Bill Maher and linking it to Obama.

The greater implication the ad makes, however, is that McCain is no friend to Latinos at all, beyond issues of funding the DREAM act or how NCLB money is distributed. By linking McCain to Limbaugh’s quotes, twisting Limbaugh’s quotes, and tying McCain to more extremist anti-immigration voices, the Obama campaign has crossed a line into misleading the viewers of its new TV ad. In Spanish, the word is erróneo.

Kudos to Tapper for telling it like it is.

The negative ads have gotten worse in recent weeks. There's a place for negative ads in political campaigns (showing the opponent in a negative light on a position or issue), but this one clearly leaped over the line into smear. Yuval Levin comments:

There is nothing wrong with attack ads. Pointing out your opponent’s positions, statements, or weaknesses is an entirely appropriate element of political campaigning. But outright lies, let alone race baiting lies like this, are surely not.

Last week, the political press fell into a tizzy about negative ads and called John McCain a liar and libeler. We learned earlier today that 77% of Obama’s ads so far have been negative ads (compared to 56% of McCain’s). If reporters really think negative ads are all that bad, and especially if they want to call out deceptive ones in particular (as they should), here is their opportunity to stand up for honest campaigning.

Peter Kirsanow has a different take on the ad:

The presidential candidate whose campaign purports to transcend race invokes race repeatedly and explicitly. No presidential candidate in at least forty years has played the race card as frequently and overtly as Obama.

Obama's Spanish language ad is an abomination. Not only does it malign and defame Sen.McCain and Rush Limbaugh, but it's calculated to stir racial/ethnic animosity for political gain. Anyone who thinks that an Obama presidency would usher in an era of racial harmony should consider the candidate's casual use of race for political advantage. What evidence is there that he would cease using such tactics upon election? Numerous times throughout the campaign he's suggested his opponents, Democrat and Republican alike, are racists. For twenty years he remained in a church where racialist bilge seemed to flow freely. He dismisses huge swaths of the American public as gun-toting, bible-thumping rubes.

That's a very good point. The candidate who is supposedly above racial politics is the one who regularly uses racial politics for his advantage. I have to agree with the Clintons, who openly protested such racial cards being played, but the Obots in the MSM threw them under the bus. As I've said before, the vast majority of racism in this country actually resides in the minority community itself, not the public at large. This is another example of it.

This ad is a clear case of Obama using race for personal political gain, and it is especially vile when one considers the quotes used in the ad which have been so twisted out of context that the MSM points it out. Anyone who is willing to think for a moment and reflect on the ad cannot deny its purpose and intent.

Obots, are you paying attention? Is this still your man?

There's my two cents.