Georgia State Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta) opposed a bill to drug test welfare recipients because he's a drug addict, according to what may be one of the most mendacious political ads of all time.
Holcomb's Republican opponent, Chris Boedeker, has already pulled the ad from YouTube after receiving negative press attention.
Boedeker did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Holcomb's campaign preserved the ad and shared it with The Huffington Post, stressing that by sharing the piece, the campaign isn't waiving its right to sue the people who made it.
"Rep. Scott Holcomb brags about his military experience," the ad's narrator says. "Scott Holcomb talks about using illegal drugs while in the service, which is why he now opposes drug tests for people who receive welfare benefits."
The ad then shows a clip of Holcomb speaking against a welfare drug testing bill on the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives earlier this year. Holcomb said he knew from his own experience in the Army that drug testing could be a difficult process.
"As someone who went through that ... I would always get the call after I had -- you know," Holcomb says in the clip. Ominous music sounds, and the narrator asks, "What is Scott Holcomb smoking?"
In a longer clip of Holcomb's remarks, it's apparent Holcomb's problem was that he always got the call to take a drug test after he had peed.
"I would have to sit there, and drink bottles and bottles of water until I could finally do what I needed to do take the test," Holcomb says in the fuller clip. "It can have a real impact on productivity."
Boedeker's ad doesn't mention that Holcomb tried, unsuccessfully, to amend the drug testing bill so that lawmakers as well as welfare recipients would have to pee in cups. (The bill eventually became law.)
In an interview, Holcomb told HuffPost he didn't want to say the word "pee" on the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives. He also called Boedeker a "coward and a liar" and a "loser."
Holcomb's campaign later released a statement from former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) blasting Boedeker's ad.
"Scott Holcomb is a veteran who has served this nation and state honorably as a soldier and State Representative," Cleland said. "I will not be silent when his impeccable service record is falsely attacked by someone who never served in the military. His opponent is unworthy of public office and the Georgia Republican Party should disavow him."
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