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Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 | 2 a.m.
More Line of Attack stories
- Do Joe Heck’s votes on women’s health make him too extreme for Nevada? (10-8-2012)
- Does John Oceguera waste taxpayer dollars? (10-1-2012)
- Does Dean Heller associate with shady businessmen? (9-23-2012)
- Did Shelley Berkley vote for a new massive energy tax? (9-17-2012)
- Is Danny Tarkanian skipping out on his bills to pay for his campaign? (9-9-2012)
- Mitt Romney ad has hits and misses in the message (9-2-2012)
- Does the GOP want to kill Medicare, outsource jobs and raise taxes? (8-26-2012)
- Does Shelley Berkley have a history of public corruption? (8-19-2012)
- Did Dean Heller let a diamond scam happen under his watch? (8-5-2012)
- Is this really the weakest recovery ever? (8-5-2012)
Line of Attack is a weekly feature in which we parse a political attack, looking at the strategy behind it, how the campaign is delivering it and what facts support or refute it. We’ll assign it a rating on the fairness meter: Legit, Eye Roll, Guffaw, Laughable or Outrageous.
Attack: Rep. Joe Heck has a record of voting against victims of rape.
Method of delivery: Heck’s Democratic opponent, Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, launched the vicious television ad Monday, as first reported by Jon Ralston. It features an advocate for domestic abuse victims asking why Heck voted against a rape crisis center and funding for domestic abuse victims and saying he wanted to restrict rape victims’ access to abortions. “Maybe he’s never had to look in their eyes,” the woman says. “But if Joe Heck doesn’t stand up for them — just who is he standing up for?”
Strategy: This attempt to villainize Heck on rape — which is about as serious a charge in a campaign as you can level — is an appeal to women voters in the district. The ads echo Democrats’ attacks in 2008, when Heck was a state senator, that implied Heck was ambivalent toward cancer because of his votes against requiring insurance companies to cover HPV vaccinations.
Fairness meter: First, the claim that Heck voted against funding a rape crisis center and a domestic violence prevention program. At issue is a bill at the end of the 2007 legislative session. Like almost every other year, leftover money was bundled together in a big bill to fund special projects — sometimes referred to as pork. Among the 42 projects in Senate Bill 579 — which included community centers, park projects, $150,000 for an “Online Nevada Encyclopedia” — was $250,000 for a rape crisis center and $200,000 for a nonprofit group’s domestic violence prevention program.
Heck was one of only two senators to vote against the bill.
Heck, his campaign said in a statement, voted against the bill because it was introduced only a few hours before the Legislature ended.
“While there were a number of quality provisions,” Heck’s campaign said in a statement, “the truth is taxpayers have every right to expect a more substantial consideration of spending bills.”
The second part of the ad is that Heck “tried to restrict rape victims’ access to abortion.”
The ad references House Resolution 3, from 2011, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” That bill, which did not become law, clearly would allow for taxpayer-funded abortions in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother. The bill: "Excludes from such prohibitions (taxpayer funding for abortions) an abortion if: (1) the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.”
Oceguera’s campaign said this bill could have led to the IRS investigating the cause of rapes, pointing to progressive groups’ blog posts.
All in all, there’s scant evidence that Heck’s vote would have restricted access to abortions for victims of rape.
The final charge is that Heck has never had to face a victim of rape. Heck, who was an emergency room physician, “was often the first person to look into the eyes of, treat, and care for hundreds of victims of rape and domestic violence,” Heck’s campaign said.
To accuse someone of being soft on rape is about as inflammatory an attack as we can imagine in a campaign. And if you make that charge, there should be some strong backup. So we label this ad Outrageous.
I do not think Oceguera has looked into many rape victims eyes either, nor has he interviewed them after the fact. Forty-nine pork projects scattered through one bill. Maybe there was a bunch of them he did not like. Why do we have to give so much money away. It is passed the point of ridiculous! Vote for Heck and keep the overpaid ex-fireman out of Washington!
Heck would vote to deny a woman a legal abortion in the case of rape. Oceguera's charge is TRUE!
When did Heck become a Senator? Proofread anyone?
Desperation by Democrat Assembly Speaker John Oceguera
Borders on an immoral attack by Democrat Assembly Speaker John Oceguera
In countries with national health care, true democratic voting (not electoral college crap),strong unions, high taxes on rich people,
FULL protection of women's rights, and many more social programs:
THEY HAVE A STRONGER ECONOMY,
THEY HAVE LESS NATIONAL DEBT PER PERSON,
THEY LIVE LONGER,
THEY ARE HEALTHIER
THEY RETIRE EARLIER,
THEY HAVE MORE VACATION,
THEY HAVE BETTER PENSIONS,
ETC.
Only stupid people swallow the repugnican right wing disinformation lies.
Bob please identify these countries so we can check out your facts.
Now remind me again which best represents the reality of the effects of being a congressperson. What someone feels about a subject or how someone votes.
Seeking truth and integrity in political advertising is an exercise in futility.
What a sad situation we have. The "war on women" is a made up load of garbage put out there by the liberals to enhance their glomming on to votes.
It's like asking someone, "have you stopped beating your wife?", when they honestly have never touched someone. Made up hysteria by the feeble minded guilt swallowing left.
Absolute trash!!
If this is what Oceguera is banking on to get elected he's in trouble. Obviously the charges don't ring true, and there's plenty of time to rebut them. If he really wants to make it a contest, he's going to have to do better than sordid attack lies. Maybe he can try the Big Bird defense too?
Well said, NLV-Indep13..
Heck and Akin are Bird of a feather