(Chuck Muth) – Last night, Jon Ralston, host of the statewide political affairs program Face-to-Face, dissected a new television ad being aired by a government employees union in Nevada on behalf of Rep. Dina Titus against her Republican challenger Joe Heck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jon so thoroughly rip an ad a new one as he did this particular piece of garbage:
RALSTON: Welcome back now it’s time for reality check, check out this new ad trying to help Congresswoman Dina Titus
NARRATOR: Warning Nevada women, Dr. Joe Heck is running for Congress and he’s dangerous. Even though nearly 4,000 women die from cervical cancer, Heck voted against requiring insurance companies to cover the vaccine saying they wouldn’t need it if they didn’t engage in risky behavior. What’s more about Dr. Heck, woman’s retirement would be privatized, gambled away on Wall Street. Dr. Heck may have taken an oath to protect us, but his actions are dangerous to women and to all of us. AFSCME is responsible for the content of this advertising.
RALSTON: This ad is paid for by American Federation of Municipal State and County Employees. It has some of the most over the top rhetoric and flat out false accusations of any ad so far this year.
Dangerous to women? C’mon. We hear candidates called liars and extremists, but this is blatant fear-mongering.
That first issue was used against Heck by the state Democratic Party in his failed bid for state senate re-election two years ago. It’s not just misleading, it’s false.
Heck never voted against a vaccine for cervical cancer. He voted against forcing insurance companies to cover a vaccine for HPV – that’s a virus that can be a precursor to cervical cancer. The charge was widely criticized last cycle, including by me.
As for his quote ‘risky behavior’ comment, Heck did say during a committee hearing that it is a ‘philosophical issue’ with the vaccine, because some of the ‘risk factors’ are behavioral. Now many inferred from those comments that Heck believed the HPV vaccine would give women a green light to be promiscuous. And I have no doubt that many women, and some men, too, find that reasoning Neanderthal and offensive.
The claim about Heck supporting Social Security privatization also is false – at least so far as the public record goes. Even in the newsletter the ad cites, Heck says people should be allowed to voluntarily withdraw money and invest it. Here’s what it says: “Since this would be voluntary, any individual who would exercise this option must understand that they are assuming the risks associated with private investments.”
Privatization? I don’t think so.
The ad concludes with the ludicrous, dangerous rhetoric and a snide shot at Heck’s oath as a doctor. But what’s really dangerous is that too many people will believe this manufactured nonsense. This ad gets an F.
And for my friends on the right who never stop complaining that Ralston is a leftie, as opposed to a professional pundit who kneecaps both sides when they’re wrong, his Las Vegas Sun column today ripped Democrat State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford a new one for his pay-to-play fundraising scheme that was exposed last week by the Nevada News Bureau.
“Bemusement? Disgust? Sadness? I have felt all of the above in the week since the state Senate majority leader solicited up to $25,000 from prospective donors – also known as lobbyists or special interests – to become part of ‘Victory Leaders Membership’ circles. The offer, now withdrawn, has to be one of the more spectacularly dumb ideas in recent memory, as if Horsford wanted to put a ‘For Sale’ sign on his door while renting out his committee chairmen – apparently unaware their services, such as they are, were being offered. What Horsford did was crass, heavy-handed and arrogant.”
Yep, there’s an example of real liberal media bias, huh?
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