Andrew Sullivan is giddy at Jake Tapper’s fact-check:
Glad to see that Jake Tapper is not going to roll over in the face of constant lies from the McCain campaign:
The most controversial item in the McCain ad is the assertion that Obama supports children “learning about sex before learning to read,” and the accusation that Obama’s “one accomplishment” on education was “legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergarteners.” But both claims are false. The idea seems to be to paint Obama as an insanely liberal sleaze ball who wants to teach young kids who don’t even know how to read all about graphic sexual information. That’s not fair and it’s not accurate. One can only imagine what the John McCain of 2004 – who called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads “dishonest and dishonorable” – would say about this ad.
John McCain is dishonest and dishonorable. That much we now know.
You know who else is dishonest an dishonorable? How about Illinois state senator, Obama advisor, and Democratic delegate James Meeks. From the Sun-Times on September 1st:
“I want the whole nation to look at Illinois,” said a defiant Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church and a state senator. “I want the whole nation to ask, ‘Why is Illinois racist?’ I want them to ask, ‘Why is Illinois treating low-income students like that?’ “
Illinois ranks second to last in the country for state funding of public education, according to a recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Speaking on a local level, Meeks derided Chicago’s public schools — many of which serve African-American communities — for valuing sex education programs over academic ones. “And the same school is not teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. How did we get here?”
I think I see a follow-up ad in the near future . . .