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New ad slams Udall on terrorism

Group previously aired playful spots against candidate

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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This ad criticizing Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall will make its debut today.

Photo by Freedom's Watch

This ad criticizing Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall will make its debut today.

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A conservative group behind two ads that playfully lampooned Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall is back with a hard-hitting spot that goes after the congressman on terrorism.

The ad, which debuts today, features footage of "radical Islamic terrorists" and dictators.

"We need to be strong and ready," a narrator says, "but Mark Udall voted no against the Patriot Act . . . no to missile defense. And terrorist surveillance? Udall voted no."

"His record is abysmal," said Tim Pearson, spokesman for Freedom's Watch, the group that is spending "in the high six figures" to air the ad for one week.

The group bills itself as a conservative advocacy group.

Udall spokeswoman Tara Trujillo said the ad is a smoke screen designed to distort Udall's record and camouflage the record of his Republican opponent, former Congressman Bob Schaffer.

"These outside special-interest groups are trying to distract from the fact that Bob Schaffer is no friend to our soldiers and veterans," she said Wednesday. "This is the same man who cut an oil deal with the Kurds, despite State Department warnings that it would destabilize Iraq and put our troops in harm's way. That's not leadership and that is why veterans are lining up behind Mark Udall."

Veterans nationally and locally rallied at a Lakewood VFW post Monday on behalf of Udall, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. They praised his record and questioned Schaffer's commitment to veterans.

"I want people in office who are going to be best for the United States and best for the veterans and that is Mark Udall," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who helped train Iraq's military.

Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, said there are clear differences between Schaffer and Udall. "How can you take anyone serious on terrorism who sponsored a Department of Peace?" Wadhams said.

Freedom's Watch ridiculed Udall for co-sponsoring the legislation with an ad that featured a '60s-style van and marijuana smoke. The group's other attack ad on Udall focused on his missing the initial vote on whether to adjourn for the summer.

Comments

  • September 25, 2008

    12:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SL10 writes:

    I call BS here.

  • September 25, 2008

    7:44 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JohnSmith2 writes:

    I seem to remember the leftist blogs going nuts precisely because Udall voted FOR "terrorist surveillance," a/k/a the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

    This former Republican is ashamed of the new depths to which the once Grand Old Party has crawled.

  • September 25, 2008

    7:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JohnSmith2 writes:

    D--- Wadhams is full of it. I, for one, think its a nutty idea to create yet another bureaucracy beyond what we already have (and so does Udall apparently, because he withdrew his cosponsorship years ago), but counterterrorism is a function that would neatly fit under the "peace department" umbrella. The Anbar Awakening, credited for the sharp reduction in violence in Iraq under the "surge" is a program that would likely have been coordinated by the Department of Peace if it were in existence.

    Wadhams knows this, but he chooses to lie anyway.