Battle of Political Ads Continues
Democrats' TV Spots Blast GOP on Iraq
By JAKE TAPPER
Oct. 26, 2006 —
The election clock is ticking down, and as happens in the world of politics in the closing days, much of it comes down to television ads.
The TV advertisement that riveted the world of politics this week starred Michael J. Fox, now suffering from Parkinson's disease, saying Republicans who oppose embryonic stem cell research should be defeated.
Conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh caused an uproar by accusing Fox of faking his symptoms.
It got so ugly that neurologists got involved, siding with the actor.
According to The Associated Press, John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital, called Limbaugh's claim that Fox was acting "ludicrous."
Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells.
"If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."
Limbaugh apologized for saying Fox was faking, but stood his ground that Fox's ads were wrong.
"There's no question there's exploitation here," Limbaugh said.
One star of Democratic ads this season is President Bush.
An ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that blasts Virginia Senate incumbent George Allen says that Allen supports Bush 96 percent of the time.
Another ad states that New Jersey Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. was "wrong on Bush, wrong on Iraq, [and] wrong for New Jersey."
"A lot of Democrats are using my picture," Bush said in response to the negative ads. "All I ask is that they pick out a good one."
The ads largely focus on Iraq.
Critics point out, however, that while Democrats are poised to do well on Election Day largely because of the war, they do not have a comprehensive, cohesive plan on how to win it.
When asked whether Democrats had been specific enough about a strategy to win in Iraq, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pointed to the fact that Bush will continue to run the Pentagon, no matter who wins control of the House and Senate in 12 days.
"It's very hard to talk about what we can do because we have the same people in charge who have failed consistently now over the last, you know, four-plus years," she said.
That type of answer clearly hasn't inspired "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
"First of all, to accuse the Democratic leadership in this country of being strategic or tactical, well, my friend, I'm sorry," Stewart said during a show. "That borders on libel. & Disorganized and silly perhaps."
But the Democrats' apparent lack of a cohesive, comprehensive plan for Iraq does not seem to be hurting them in the polls, perhaps because voters are fed up with the war.
Critics say that might be good politics, but it isn't leadership.
Even if Democrats take control of Congress in November, the decision on when troops will come home from Iraq is still the president's, Howard Dean told "Good Morning America" today.
"I think what you will see is a Democratic Congress trying to put some restraint on the president," Dean said. "We can alter the course. We can't determine when to bring the troops home."
The Democrats' overall agenda, according to Dean, is to "do better" as a country.
"Our agenda is to reverse the decline that the president has brought us into," Dean said. "We're not interested in petty partisan fights. & We have no interest in partisan fighting. What we want to [do] is change the direction of the country."