Under pressure to withdraw an advertisement that describes Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as "one whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans," an abortion rights advocacy group announced Thursday night that it would replace the advertisement, which had drawn widespread criticism as being false and misleading.
The advocacy group, Naral Pro-Choice America, announced its decision in a letter to Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a longtime supporter of abortion rights. Earlier in the day, Mr. Specter urged Naral to withdraw the 30-second spot, calling it "blatantly untrue and unfair." . . .
The advertisement had prompted intense criticism from Republicans, a handful of Democrats, an independent watchdog group called Factcheck.org, and even some supporters of abortion rights, who said they felt it was hurting their cause. Mr. Specter made that argument in his letter to Ms. Keenan.
The senator wrote, "When Naral puts on such an advertisement, in my opinion it undercuts its credibility and injures the pro-choice cause."
Some prominent Democrats said they agreed with Mr. Specter. Lanny Davis, a top official in the Clinton administration, said in an interview Thursday that he had been making phone calls to liberal advocacy groups urging them to denounce the advertisement, which he called "inaccurate, filled with innuendo and shameless."
Link.
The ad cost $500,000. That's a lot of cabbage. Hopefully, that translates into a few hundred saved lives.
