McCain Talks Straight; Obama Attacks

John McCain has come a long way into the hearts and minds of voters. He solidified his hold last night with a great acceptance speech. The McCain/Palin ticket will now be everywhere, thrilling the masses (that would be all of us) wherever they go, starting today in Wisconsin.

But, Obama has not been idle. He is airing radio ads in battleground states, including Wisconsin, which attack McCain’s right-to-life position on abortion. There are some inaccuracies in the ad and this blog could be filled with a lengthy rebuttal. But, it misses the point.

If the McCain campaign is smart, it absolutely should not play defense but use the opportunity to counter and skewer by informing the public about Obama’s incredibly radical abortion and infanticide positions and votes. McCain has done it brilliantly on the stump, and now needs to do it in ads.

Obama clearly timed his attack to correspond with the pick of a right-to-life woman by McCain. Obama’s campaign fears that the highly-desired Hil voters will now go to the McCain ticket and mistakenly believes that women will flock to him because of “choice.” Here’s some big news for Obama. Women are more solidly right-to-life than men. And less than 10% of the public believes that abortion should be legal for all nine months of pregnancy, for any reason, as many times as a woman wants one — a position to which Obama stubbornly clings.

That’s why it is so important for McCain to counter. Some may remember when Assembly Speaker Tom Loftus decided to run against incumbent Governor Tommy Thompson back in the 1990s. Loftus boasted that he was going to whip Thompson using abortion as his wedge issue. Very early in the campaign, Thompson released a fabulous tv ad — I can still see it in my mind to this day. Thompson talked directly into the camera, told the people what his position was on abortion and why he was right-to-life. Loftus quickly dropped what he thought was going to be his most important hammer. End of issue, end of story. Thompson was Governor for 14 years.

Obama has given the McCain people ample material with his radical positions, his incredibly callous votes, and his rhetoric. They would be very, very wise to use it.

Barbara Lyons