"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.
FactCheck.org's
summary noted...
A McCain-Palin
campaign ad claims Obama's "one accomplishment" in the area of
education was "legislation to teach
'comprehensive sex education' to kindergarteners." But the claim is
simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes' failed race against
Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004.
Obama, contrary to the ad's insinuation, does not
support explicit sex education for kindergarteners. And the bill, which would have allowed only "age appropriate" material
and a no-questions-asked opt-out policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he
was not even a cosponsor – and the bill never left the state Senate.
In addition, the ad quotes
unflattering assessments of the Illinois senator's record on education
but leaves out sometimes equally harsh criticism directed at McCain in
the same forums.