Now then -- the McCain campaign insists that, unlike other provocative "ads" they've run, their newest dilly of pickle is going to run in several states for a while.
Basically, the ad links Barack Obama with sex-ed for kindergartners. It implies that Obama favors teaching these kids dirrrty, explicity, sexual things. The bill in question -- never passed, by the way -- was intended to sanction the teaching of basic boundary lessons to young children, as in: if someone touches you or makes you uncomfortable, tell an adult. Those who oppose this believe that parents ought to be the ones imparting those lessons, so it's not entirely a non-issue.
But the gap between the implication (Obama has liberal, radical views about sexuality) and the reality in this ad is pretty big and fairly consequential.
The question now is whether cable news outlets will help the McCain campaign by running the ad -- or, if the ad crosses the line of taste, help Obama by running the ad.
For the Obama campaign's part, Bill Burton's response provocatively uses the word "perverse":
"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."
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