There are very few people that fire-and-brimstone Democrat Alan Grayson would probably hate being compared to more than conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. But the comparison is apt: Grayson’s latest campaign advertisement pulls the same type of creative editing that landed Breitbart in hot water earlier this summer after a government employee was fired based on out-of-context video. In reality, the employee was saying exactly the opposite of what Breitbart’s video suggested.
So goes Grayson. In his latest campaign ad, the 8th-district incumbent brands his opponent, former state legislator Dan Webster, as “Taliban Dan.” The spot compares Webster to religious extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan, and excerpts video of Webster saying, “She should submit to me. That’s in the bible.”
Viewers are intended to be left with the message that Webster is an anti-woman fundamentalist.
That, though, is exactly the opposite of what Webster was saying in the video Grayson appropriated. Webster’s campaign has released the original footage, which shows him at what appears to be a church function, speaking about the Bible verses he uses to pray for his wife.
“I have verses for my wife. Don’t pick the ones that say, ‘She should submit to me.’ That’s in the Bible, but pick the ones that you’re supposed to do. So instead, ‘Love your wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.’”