Tom McClintock is going after Democratic candidate Charlie Brown in a television advertisement blasting Brown for standing with "anti-war radicals" who erected a provocative display in 2005 depicting a dead U.S. soldier.
The ad starts with Deborah Johns, the Roseville mother of an Iraq war veteran who has become a leading national activist in support of the Bush administration's policy in the war in Iraq.
The camera cuts from Johns sitting with a photo of her son to the image of a hanging soldier's uniform. Bearing a sign – "Bush lied, I died" – it was displayed on the house of a Sacramento anti-war activist, Stephen Pearcy. The ad shows Brown wearing a camouflage jacket at a gathering there.
Transcript
Deborah Johns: Hi, I'm Deborah Johns, proud mother of a United States Marine. Charlie Brown stood with anti-war radicals when a soldier was hung in effigy. That's no way to support our troops.
Citation from newspaper: "Hung a U.S. soldier in effigy from their Land Park home."
Johns: Showing up in uniform sends the wrong message to our veterans, and only helps groups like Code Pink promote their left-wing agenda.
Citation of Pearcy quote: "Brown came to my home wearing his full military uniform."
Johns: Charlie Brown can say he wasn't in uniform but a picture's worth a thousand words. Charlie Brown has some explaining to do.
McClintock: I'm Tom McClintock, and I approve this message.
Analysis
The McClintock ad comes two years after U.S. Rep. John Doolittle's campaign assailed Brown's appearance outside Pearcy's home as evidence Brown was an anti-war radical out of touch with voters in the heavily Republican 4th Congressional District. Doolittle narrowly defeated Brown, 49 percent to 46 percent.
McClintock goes further by showing Brown in his Air Force jacket stitched with his name. Brown was also wearing a T-shirt and jeans – but not a full dress or combat uniform, as the ad suggests. Brown had no involvement in hanging the military uniform and the anti-war message at Pearcy's house.
He was among 300 people – pro- and anti-Iraq war protesters – who appeared at the home on Feb. 15, 2005, after media coverage of the controversial display. Brown, a retired lieutenant colonel who won the Air Force's Distinguished Flying Cross for combat in the Vietnam War, has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.
In his 2006 campaign, he supported a timetable to withdraw American forces from Iraq. His son, Jeff, an Air Force transport pilot, has served four tours in Iraq.
The McClintock ad seeks to tarnish Brown in the mostly conservative 4th District as the Democrat runs patriotic ads on his family's history of military service and support for returning veterans. McClintock never served in the military.
Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.
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