REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Obama wants TV stations to stop airing 'despicable' pro-Trump PAC ad that misuses his words to attack Biden

Obama's office said the ad was 'straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook'
PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

President Barack Obama has demanded that South Carolina television stations and a pro-Trump PAC stop airing a "despicable" ad that misuses his voice to attack Democratic presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden.

In the ad, which came from the 'Committee to Defend the President' and was aired by local CBS affiliates in South Carolina before the Democratic debate in Charleston earlier this week, suggests the party's candidates are not all that they seem to be.

It opens with, "Joe Biden promised to help our community. It was a lie. Here's President Obama," before playing an audio passage from the former president's 1995 memoir "Dreams from My Father." "Plantation politics," Obama can be heard saying. "Black people in the worst jobs.The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we’d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey."

As Obama speaks, the ad simultaneously displays unflattering headlines that highlighted Biden's iffy history on race before concluding, "Enough. Joe Biden won't represent us, defend us, or help us. Don't believe Biden's empty promises."

The ad has been slammed by Obama's office, which said its lawyers would be sending a cease-and-desist letter to the 'Committee to Defend the President.'

"This despicable ad is straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook, and it’s clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama’s voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers," said Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill.

"In the interest of truth in advertising, we are calling on TV stations to take this ad down and stop playing into the hands of bad actors who seek to sow division and confusion among the electorate."

Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates similarly called the ad a "despicable torrent of misinformation" and showed Trump "and his allies are absolutely terrified that Joe Biden will defeat him in November."

Politifact had reported back in November that the ad distorted Obama's statement, which was him recounting a conversation he had with a barber called Smitty about Chicago's first black mayor Harold Washington.

Smitty was the one who spoke about "plantation politics" and how, before Washington, all the African-American people felt like they would be second-class citizens.

Back then, it had run largely in states with a significant African American population, including Georgia, Michigan, and Louisiana in a bid to sway voters away from the Democratic party.

Its airing in South Carolina is likely to hurt Biden, who has so far lost heavily in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, and was hoping to win the favor of the African-American voters in the state.

But despite his struggles, Obama has refused to endorse his former vice president, with Hill stating that he was not throwing his weight behind any name in particular because "he believes that in order for Democrats to be successful this fall, voters must choose their nominee."

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW