As always, Republicans never let the facts get in the way of trying to make Democratic candidates look bad. According to WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids, MI, a group calling itself 'Freedom's Defense Fund' wants to tie Kwame Kilpatrick to Obama.
The horribly named Freedom Defense Fund announced today that they are planning to run an ad showing Obama praising Kilpatrick at the Detroit Economic club in 2007, long before the text messaging scandal occurred.
From the article:
Freedom's Defense Fund, a Washington-based group that funds Republican candidates' campaigns, says it will spend about $25,000 to air the ads over the next week.
Executive director Todd Zirkle said Friday that it's fair to run the ad, which shows Obama praising Kilpatrick before speaking to the Detroit Economic Club in May 2007. At the time, Kilpatrick was not facing any charges in a text messaging scandal that led to his resignation Thursday in a plea deal involving 10 felony charges.
Obama's Michigan campaign spokesman, Brent Colburn, said Obama made the comments long before the mayor's troubles began. "The ad ... fails to mention that Senator Obama called on Mayor Kilpatrick to resign," Colburn said. On Thursday, Colburn said the campaign welcomed Kilpatrick's resignation because it "is the only way for the city to move forward and get back to business,"
Obama's folks also requested that Kilpatrick not attend the Democratic National Convention, and he did stay away. I'm sure one of the reasons was that they could practically hear Michigan Republicans salivating at the thoughtof a picture of Obama and Kilpatrick together. Too bad for them that they had to settle for inuendo instead.
The ads are being targeted to run in Macomb county. For those of you not familiar with this county's demographic, the voters there are the original 'Reagan Democrats'.
There are thousands of African Americans in leadership positions doing fantastic jobs, without a hint of scandal. Of course, I believe one of the reasons they are running this ad to to try to associate Detroit's crooked mayor with the way we should expect the country to be run with the 'scary black man'™ as president. The only Freedom Defense I see coming from this group is a defense of Republican's freedom to not let the facts get in the way of their campaigning.
Link to the full article: Group to run Mich. ad tying Detroit mayor to Obama