McCain Sex-Ed Ad Launched; Obama Camp: "Perverse"

John McCain is out with a response ad to Barack Obama's attacks today on his education policy, accusing the Democratic nominee of not accomplishing a single education-related goal other than to promote "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners. Seriously, it's come to this.

The spot, titled "Education," comes after the two candidates went back and forth over education issues most of Tuesday. It is an attack the Obama campaign should be ready for. The same lines were used against the Senator during his run for office in 2004 by challenger Alan Keyes, and were brought up during the primary by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In essence, Obama supported "age appropriate" sex-education for children as a means of teaching them what was proper or inproper touching, as well as to protect them against pedophiles, his campaign has said. Used in the context of the McCain campaign ad, however, Obama's stance becomes another one of those cultural issues that seems designed to alienate the Illinois Democrat from more socially moderate voters.

And very quickly, the Obama campaign came out with a hard hitting response, pointing to a series of education accomplishments made by Obama, and calling McCain "perverse" for the latest attack.

"It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls - a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Read more: McCain's Ad Cites Articles That Rip Him Worse Than Obama

Here is the script of that ad that the McCain folks say will be airing in "key" states.

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Education Week says Obama "hasn't made a significant mark on education".

That he's "elusive" on accountability.

A "staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly".

Obama's one accomplishment?

Legislation to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners.

Learning about sex before learning to read?

Barack Obama.

Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.

Comments

[Patriotbull]

The ad is in poor taste but I do not see it as a Dukakis moment. I did see Obama show the proper combination of anger and restraint with regards to this foolish "lipstick" controversy.

[elevando]

Wow. Forget about punching, the GOP is going atomic!

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

With the McCaint camp playing the race card like this (the s e x ed to kindergartners ad) the deepest darkest unresolved fears of those women most prone to r a c i s m are kindled to a brightly burning flame. After 400 years of our struggle as black people on this continent, their resort to r a c i s t appeals to undo centuries of hard fought gains and to stamp out Martin Luther King's dream really hurts.

[midnightwriter]

So Obama wants a educational program that would make it easier for children to identify sexual abuse. Wow! what bad family values!

[KISSman]

I live in a swing state getting blitzed with anti-Obama ads, but I swear that I haven't seen an ad by the McCain campaign that tells about anything he would do. Not one. I've heard all these reasons by them in why we shouldn't vote for Obama, but not one reason why we should vote for McCain. How the hell is this guy winning??

[peace1970]

He's not winning...did you see the recent Huff post Re:Polls inaccurate, using more republicans and not newly joined Dem's?? Check it out..

[bodhibabe]

Oh yeah.... McCain promised to run a clean campaign.... uh huh...

[Hereslookingatu]

Okay, so sadly Obama was all checked-out during the serious conversations and votes in the Illinois State Senate on sex-education. And when a federal study measuring the efficacy of comprehensive sex education was canceled, which would have brought millions of dollars in resources to our struggling public schools, Obama was also MIA. I absolutely support Obama's candidacy, but I hardly take him to be our staunchest advocate in coordinated youth health initiatives.

Worse, really, is the changing tone of this message: Wrong For Your Family. Really? Like a physician or banker or estate lawyer or babysitter-- Wrong for your family? But we should continue to believe it's the Republicans who put country first, even when they are responsible for perpetuating the importance of an individual family above collective country. Very, very persuasive.

[LydiaMontague]

this ad is outrageous! republicans are an embarrassment to this country.

[TuffCookie]

I endorse this comment!

[CitizenInformed]

The republican grip on this country the past 8 years has not only made us much worse off, but has even made it difficult to travel outside the country and admit to being American. How sad.

But what's scary is how there appears to be so many people that subscribe to their BS. How is that possible?!!

[ankitkr59]

So what is the Obama campaign doing about this ad? Why are they not fighting back hard enough?

They seemed to be doing better getting their surrogates out during the primaries, than they are doing now. Their high mindedness is turning me off!

Get some tough knuckled guys out there ( Obama does not have to the tough talking all the time). Please, you bunch of losers!

[tonyrich]

All have to say to the McCain camp" when are you goingto come up with an ad about how you ar going to get us out of all the messes we are . Stop the attack ads you said you were going to run an honest campaign. If this is how you would lead this country. I think Europe will be my next home.

[biged242]

If McSame gets elected, I think Europe should get ready for a lot of reverse immigration. I am going to petition Sweden, (that hot-bed of government working for ALL of the people) for a "legacy" re-entry, after Great Great Grandpa John Eriksson came over here back in 1857. Hope they are not too mad that he left in the first place. :-)

[SCVADem]

Mine's a little more recent. Great Grandpa came over in 1912. :)

Though, I wouldn't mind Italy. Lived there for 4 years... the small towns on the coast are nice.

[steamboat]

If he gets elected I'm going to be sorry to see folks like you go. But then again, there are alot of Mexicans, Cubans, Nigerians, Asian nations, and elsewhere wanting to come here.

[allyanaz]

There are folks who are running for vice-president of this country (and their family members) who could have avoided shot-gun weddings if they'd taken a few sex education classes. I'd rather see sex education in the classroom than the back seat of a car.

[steamboat]

Why are you only talking about it now. The inner-cities of America have a 70% born out-of-wedlock birthrate. You needed to speak earlier about this. Also, maybe John Edwards and Jesse Jackson would have heard you.

[flyingdog]

Earlier this year Joe Biden introduced S. 1738, the PROTECT Our Children
Act. At the core of this bill is a computer system that enables
law enforcement to track and document the trading of child pornography in real time.
This system allows the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforces and other
authorized law enforcement officers throughout the country to quickly determine
who the worst offenders are in a given area. The statistics below illustrate how
law enforcement is facing literally thousands of new leads every day. The PROTECT
Our Children Act will create oversight, accountability and cooperation among the
many agencies working to stop this problem and give them the resources, forensic
labs and US attorneys to prosecute these cases successfully. This system
has resulted in a 96% conviction rate without a child ever having to take the stand;
the images, videos and narratives justifying the heinous abuse of children stand
for themselves.

There are several senators who have yet to sign off on this bill. One notable absence
is John McCain.

I am outraged that McCain would use Obama's support of something that is
desperately needed for our nation's children and distort it so blatantly. How he can fail to support Senate Bill 1738 is deplorable.

In an interview with Time, McCain refused to
define the word "honor." Now I know why. Men of honor support our children.
I hope you will join me in supporting our children, our future, in
this next election by supporting true change.

[picard922]

Is it just me or is the tint of Senator Obama's skin just a shade (or three) darker in this ad? Cue Lilly Tomlin, "no matter how much outrage I muster, I never have enough." Or something like that.

[goodneighbor420]

bainville picard?

[juangault]

Drown out the truth with static when it goes against you. The truth is that the Republicans have made a mess of things, for most people, and they know it. Their campaign and much of the media is drumming as loud as it can to the sheep. Most old people try as hard as they can to live as long as they can. The Republicans are reacting in the same sense, but they're going to have to lose for awhile, get rid of the pirates and pigs, (like Rove) and get back to their roots of conservative spending and conservative foreign policy to rebuild their standing. They are clinging to the past. And a lot of people are with them. The future is Obama, but there may not yet be enough younger people to outvote the dying and scared people.

[Tags]

So McCain is against warning kids about pedophiles?