McCain Ad On Obama's Sex Education Record 'Flat-Out Lies,' NYT Editorial Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology;  Public Health
Article Date: 15 Sep 2008 - 5:00 PST

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A television advertisement released by Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) that criticizes Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) for supporting a comprehensive sex education measure in 2003 while in the Illinois Senate contains "flat-out lies," a New York Times editorial says. According to the editorial, the "most disheartening aspect of a scurrilous Republican ad falsely accusing Barack Obama of promoting sex education for kindergarten children is its closing line: 'I'm John McCain, and I approve this message.'"

Although the ad claims that Obama's "one accomplishment" in education was to favor comprehensive sex education for five-year-olds, the "truth is that as an Illinois legislator," Obama "favored a sensible bill supported by many mainline organizations ... to provide an 'age and developmentally appropriate' sex education curriculum for older students," the editorial says. "At most, kindergartners were to be taught about sexual predators, and parents of children of all ages would have been allowed to withdraw their children from the classes," according to the Times.

According to the editorial, McCain must know "that all that change he's promising for the tooth-and-claw Washington culture must start on the hustings. Yet, the kindergarten ad that he's blessed signals that his goal is shamefully more of the same" (New York Times, 9/12).

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