Kudos to John Bull of the Daily Press for his article about the MoveOn ads in the Drake-Kellam campaign. He makes an attempt to critique the ads’ truthfulness and explain the charges.
MoveOn.org’s first attack on Drake accused her of taking oil company campaign contributions and voting against price-gouging legislation. Actually, she voted for the price-gouging bill, but MoveOn.org said she didn’t vote for amendments that would have strengthened the measure.
The second ad accused Drake of voting to benefit pharmaceutical companies in approving a complaint-ridden drug coverage program aimed at seniors. But she didn’t cast such a vote and wasn’t in Congress at the time.
The latest ad accuses Drake of voting to protect defense contractors who were granted no-bid contracts to manage aspects of the war in Iraq, and which have made huge profits.
The ads claim Drake accepted $27,000 in campaign contributions from defense contractors – including $1,000 from Halliburton, which used to be headed by Vice President Dick Cheney – while voting to protect them from stiffer penalties for overcharging the federal government.
On the other hand, Jon Frank of the Virginia-Pilot, like most journalists, is content to allow the two sides to trade charges without evaluating them.
Bad, Press, Bad!