going cannibal

John McCain wants you to be afraid of Barack Obama, but McCain's the one who's scaring me these days by scapegoating two advocacy organizations - the Annenberg Foundation and ACORN - to score cheap political points.

Okay, ACORN has raised the ire of conservatives as many organizations seeking to politically empower the poor do. Read here to understand why the McCain campaign is attacking them (hint: to set the stage to contest the Nov 4 outcome). And here and here for ACORN's response (hint: McCain's attack is part of the same Republican voter suppression effort that led to the ousting of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove for their role in the illegal firing of seven US Attorneys).

But Annenburg?? McCain has a web ad up claiming that "Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together" referring to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

The Annenberg Foundation has played a vital role in education reform efforts since 1989. I worked alongside them in Philadelphia in 1999 and 2000 while my organization and theirs tried to tackle the dismal situation in Philadelphia Public Schools. They were and are highly respected in the field for their generously funded and reform-minded projects.

Here's what they say on their website about the Annenberg Challenge grants that funded 18 projects around the country, including the one in Chicago:

"Announced in December 1993 at the White House (my emphasis), Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg's $500 million 'Challenge to the Nation' became the largest public/private endeavor in U.S. history dedicated to improving public schools.

Eighteen locally designed Challenge projects operated in 35 states, funding 2,400 public schools that served more than 1.5 million students and 80,000 teachers. Over 1,600 businesses, foundations, colleges, and universities, and individuals contributed $600 million in private matching funds.

Each Challenge project fit unique local conditions and was planned collaboratively by educators, foundation officers, and community, civic, and business leaders."

Hardly the stuff of radicalism and not even considered left-wing. In fact, Founder Walter Annenberg was a lifelong Republican and former ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Richard Nixon. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain and contributed the maximum donation allowed to his presidential bid. She is a MAJOR donor to the Republican Party and its candidates. See here for details.

PolitiFact, a non-partisan fact checking organization, gave McCain's claim that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a radical foundation run by Obama and Bill Ayers a "Pants on Fire" rating, its worst. Read here for more.

As McCain's campaign goes from carnivorous to cannibalistic (first dismissing Republican pundits who've come out against Palin as "Georgetown cocktail party" people and now attacking Republican philanthropists), we can hope that this will come back to bite him. But I'm somewhat horrified to note that Obama slipped in the polls last week amidst the barrage of attacks from McCain/Palin.

Democrats can't take this election for granted and must stand up to the slander and voter intimidation tactics or 2008 will be Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 all over again. Please get the word out so we can set the record straight!