Cross posted at The Left Anchor. And don't forget to check out the first of our cabinet profiles. Today we look at Joe Biden for Secretary of State.
I recently saw this ad from MoveOn.Org.
I must say that I was rather disappointed by it. While Charlie Black may not be that great of a guy (it's not clear from the ad if he was involved with the lobbying or if it was other people in his old lobbying firm), I really don't think that his past lobbying activity is the biggest problem that this country is facing, nor is it what concerns me most about John McCain.
The fact that John McCain is willing to keep us in Iraq for 100 years and lacks an understanding of the economic problems that this country faces is much more troubling than the lobbying activities of Charlie Black from twenty years ago.
The DNC, of course, has been all over McCain's lack of touch with reality and has been hammering him for his ignorance. Just watch this brilliant DNC ad hammering away at McCain's poor knowledge of the economy.
Here's another one slaughtering him on Iraq.
The ad that MoveOn.Org ran pales in comparison to the masterpieces that the DNC put together. Further, I think that this sort of ad makes campaign ads about Rev. Wright and other Obama associates fair game. If MoveOn.Org is going to keep running these sorts of ads, I'm sure that we can expect the Republicans to start playing clips of Rev. Wright to try to unfairly tie Obama to the radical statements of his former pastor. Now, to be clear, I'm not at all suggesting that Wright or other Obama associates have done anything comparable to working on behalf of dictators, but the MoveOn.Org ad opens up the campaign to distractions as opposed to what the issues are. I would much prefer to hear plans on what to do in Iraq, what to do about dealing with global warming, and what to do with becoming energy independent. The lobbying activities that Black's firm engaged in 20 or more years ago have little to do with solving those problems and I hope that MoveOn.Org will follow the DNC's route and hammer McCain on the issues. I think that is the debate that we want in this country.
-- Raylan Givens