The group Faith in Public Life is behind an effort to make sure both John McCain AND Barack Obama tell the truth in their campaign advertisements and not bear “false witness.” Indeed, both campaigns have had their “Pinocchio” moments.
FaithfulAmerica.org bills itself as an “online community of tens of thousands of citizens motivated by faith” and they are running ads on Christian and Country radio stations throughout Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee leading up to the debate. Listen here and read the script below:
In Mississippi, we teach our kids to let their 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and their 'No' be 'No.' These age-old values are the foundation of a strong and trusting community and are vital to our democracy…because to make the right decisions, we need to know the facts.
Unfortunately, politicians are often more interested in scoring political points and attacking each other than in telling us the whole truth about how they’re going to lead our nation.
But this Friday, Mississippians have a chance to make sure that doesn’t happen at the Presidential debate at Ole Miss.
We are asking voters to flood debate moderator, Jim Lehrer, with requests that he hold both candidates accountable when they bear false witness about themselves or their opponent. You can email Jim Lehrer at Newshour@pbs.org, or get his phone number and find out more at WWW.FAITHFULAMERICA.ORG.
FAITHFULAMERICA.ORG sponsored this ad without approval from a candidate or campaign because our politicians need to understand that the Ninth Commandment wasn’t just a suggestion.
These ads are a great idea. Let’s face it. Nobody has a corner on the truth. Both campaigns are guilty of playing loose with the facts and for a Christian group to call both of them out on this is a smart move. This isn’t about taking sides in a political battle. This is about something much larger than that. It’s a search for the truth.