Defense votes
“Tougher” is a 30-second TV ad by George Nethercutt criticizing Patty Murray’s record on defense.
“She thinks Osama bin Laden is beloved for his day-care centers, then maybe that same naïve judgment explains why she voted against $800 billion in defense spending,” Nethercutt says, over video footage of Murray talking to students about how bin Laden has convinced people in the Middle East to support him.
“It was dangerous for her to vote to cut nearly $6 billion in intelligence even after the first al Qaeda bombing,” he says. “And it was just plain wrong for her to skip the official 9/11 observation to hold a fund-raiser.”
He ends the ad by saying he’s tougher on defense and terrorism than Murray.
Murray’s stance “He’s trying to say she’s politicizing 9/11, but there’s only one person in this campaign who’s politicizing 9/11, and that’s George Nethercutt,” Murray spokeswoman Alex Glass said. Nethercutt’s ad says she voted against $800 billion in defense spending, but he left out the fact that Murray has voted for $3.5 trillion in defense spending. Murray’s and Nethercutt’s records on defense spending actually are quite similar, Glass said. She added that Nethercutt voted against a 1996 anti-terrorism bill. | Nethercutt’s stance “She doesn’t want to get rid of the military, but she’s voted to weaken it,” Nethercutt spokesman Alex Conant contends. He denies Glass’ claim that Nethercutt and Murray have similar defense spending records. “George ran for Congress in 1994 on the promise of strengthening the military and that’s exactly what he’s done,” Conant said. He said Nethercutt voted down the anti-terrorism bill because he had concerns about it taking away civil liberties. |
Let’s break this into three pieces. On bin Laden: The clips of Murray’s talk to students about bin Laden were taken out of context. She wasn’t making excuses for the terrorist. She was saying that someone despised in this country became popular in the Middle East because he financed bridges, roads and other basic needs for the poor, and the U.S. did not. But did bin Laden actually build day cares? Peter Bergen, author of a book on bin Laden and professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Seattle Times recently that there’s no evidence of that. Bergen said people are attracted to bin Laden for his anti-American political views, and Murray was right to suggest the U.S. could have given more foreign aid to poor nations. On spending: To make blanket statements that Murray voted against $800 billion in defense and $6 billion in intelligence spending over a 10-year period doesn’t tell the whole story. Once a bill is introduced, it can be amended several times and each amendment requires a vote. In looking at the list of votes Nethercutt referred to in the ad, he’s sometimes counting her votes against pieces of the bills as the legislation evolves. In one case, he counts her vote to table a defense bill but doesn’t give her credit for voting for it three weeks later. Plus, Murray could vote down one version of a defense bill but support another. A vote against a bill also could indicate that she didn’t like one piece of it. One could argue Murray’s camp is guilty of the same claim by bringing up Nethercutt’s vote against the 1996 anti-terrorism legislation. Murray’s vote to cut $6 billion from intelligence refers mostly to an amendment she supported in 1994. It would have shifted money from some intelligence programs, such as a backup military communications satellite, to special education, The Spokesman-Review reported in May. Who sided with Murray on that vote? Future Senate Majority leader Trent Lott and Slade Gorton, Washington’s senior senator at the time—both Republicans. On 9/11: On the morning of Sept. 11, 2003, Murray did attend a campaign fund-raiser. About 10 people were there and she raised $10,000 for this race, Glass said. That evening, the senator attended a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims. Nethercutt attended the U.S. House of Representatives’ 9/11 memorial event that morning, a spokeswoman in his Washington D.C. office said. He met with constituents in the afternoon and didn’t take part in political events, she said. When asked whether Murray regrets attending the fund-raiser, Glass responded, “The real question is, is she working to make our country safer? Yes. Did she commemorate 9/11? Yes.” | |
Ad watch is an analysis of campaign advertising that will run regularly during election season. Contact Megan Cooley at (509) 927-2165 or meganc@spokesman.com | For more information on the election, and to see selected campaign advertisements, visit the online election guide at: www.spokesmanreview.com/elections |