I’ve written previously about that penchant of many conservatives to base their moral sense on visceral disgust. As psychologist Jonathan Haidt has demonstrated, [1]this connection is much more readily made by conservatives than by progressives (also, see here [2]).
It is in that context that I must confess that I felt that connection deeply today when I saw John McCain’s latest ad, [3]which makes the shockingly unfair accusation that Barack Obama’s support of a program to protect young children from sexual predators was an attempt to give inappropriate and explicit sex education to kindergarteners.
Here’s the wording of McCain’s ad: [4]
Script For “Education” (TV :30)
ANNCR: Education Week says Obama “hasn’t made a significant mark on education”.
That he’s “elusive” on accountability.
A “staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly”.
Obama’s one accomplishment?
Legislation to teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergartners.
Learning about sex before learning to read?
Barack Obama.
Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.
Truly, this ad is disgustingly immoral. Is a man who endorses this ad fit to be hired as anything at all?
Perhaps some readers thought I was over the top when I compiled a long list of questions the media needs to ask McCain. [5] With this latest ad, however, it is clear that John McCain is a vicious and morally reprehensible person. He has proven himself a fitting partner for Sarah Palin, who has made a blatant lie about the bridge to nowhere [6] the centerpiece of her own persona. Has American politics ever been lower? No, really. Has it ever been lower? This ad is a blatant attempt to scoop lots of ignoramuses into the Republican column in November.
McClatchy [7] has come out calling McCain’s attack what it is: “Out of bounds! McCain Misstates Obama Sex-ed Record.” Let’s see if other media outlets have the courage and integrity to follow suit tomorrow.
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