Wright ad will run, repeats N.C. GOP
DAVID INGRAM & RALEIGH NEWS and OBSERVER
RALEIGH --
A Charlotte television station says it will not air a proposed advertisement from the N.C. Republican Party that uses a sound bite from Barack Obama’s retiring minister.
“I think it’s offensive, and I’m not real comfortable with the implications around race,” said Joe Pomilla, general manager for WSOC-TV in Charlotte. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be on our air.”
Pomilla said the station has declined other advertisements in the past. The station is not under any legal obligation to run the ad, as it might be if a candidate and not a political party were sponsoring it.
Republican Party spokesman Brent Woodcox said he was disappointed by the decision.
“You’re going down a very dark path that could end up saying, ‘These are the kinds of things you can say in a political debate, and these are the kinds of things you can’t,’” he said. “Those aren’t the principles this country was founded on.”
Pomilla said the issue isn’t about limiting debate.
“There are other values that come into play. Ethics come into play,” he said, “and you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.”
WRAL-TV in Raleigh is also not showing the ad. A spokesman for another Triangle station, WTVD, said it had not been asked to air the ad but would have reservations about doing so.
The ad points out that Democratic gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore have endorsed Obama. It calls Obama too “extreme” because of his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and implies that Obama heard Wright’s controversial sermons.
The state GOP made a splash Wednesday when it rolled out the ad for reporters and the public. The Republican National Committee and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain have condemned the ad.
Meanwhile, national Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said McCain should lead his party in protesting the ad.
In an e-mail message to supporters, Dean said if McCain were serious he should have no problem making sure the ad never runs.
“This is a test of leadership for John McCain,” Dean said. “If he can’t pick up the phone and make members of his own party stop airing a television ad he claims to oppose, how can he lead our country through an economic crisis or the war in Iraq?”
He said McCain should discipline state GOP chairwoman Linda Daves for producing the ad.
The state Republicans hoped the ad would help them raise money. But it also has become the focus of a fund-raising effort by state Democrats.
Jerry Meek, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, has sent out a letter to North Carolina Democrats saying the ad shows “just how out of touch North Carolina Republicans truly are.”
“This much is clear: North Carolina Republicans will say anything and do anything to win,” Meek writes.
Meek tells Democrats that they need to raise money to “prepare us for the challenges ahead.” He asks them to send a contribution of $50, $25 or $15.
Read tomorrow's Charlotte Observer for more details on this developing story.
