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Cheech & Chong Attack Ad On Udall Gets Checked

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Sep 12, 2008 4:45 am US/Mountain

Cheech & Chong Attack Ad On Udall Gets Checked

Reporting
Raj Chohan
(CBS4) Washington D.C. based conservative issues group Freedom's Watch has a new ad attacking Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall. It looks like a Cheech and Chong movie squashed into a thirty-second hit spot. It begins with a hippie-looking character standing outside of a "Spicoli" party-bus.

Ad: Welcome to the Department of Peace. Sure it looks like a van, but with Congressman Mark Udall's help, it could really happen.

 Not exactly. The ad implies that Mark Udall currently supports the creation of a department of peace. He does not. But he did support such a measure as recently as five years ago. In 2003 and 2001, Udall co-sponsored a bill by Rep. Dennis Kucinich which would have established a federal department of peace including a cabinet level position. Udall later backed away from the proposal and has not supported other recent attempts by Kucinich to resurrect the measure.

Ad: Udall wanted to spend millions on a department of peace, and a peace academy

 This claim appears to be true. When Udall did support creating a department of peace he was presumably ready to divert millions from the Department of Defense to pay for it. His campaign says he wanted to send a message to President Bush to encourage the administration to engage in more diplomacy. According to his campaign, Udall changed his mind on the department of peace because he decided it would be too expensive to create a new cabinet level position.

Ad: so Udall voted against funding for our troops

 Here's the spin. The ad implies Udall voted against the troops because he wanted to establish the department of peace. That implication appears to be false. Udall says he voted against an emergency supplemental spending bill because he opposed giving $20 billion in direct grants for reconstruction to Iraq. Instead, Udall says he wanted the money to be transferred in the form of loans. He wrote an editorial to that effect back in 2003. Also as a member of the House armed services committee, he has cast numerous votes to fund the troops since 9/11.

Ad: come on, lets go inside Udall's peace department (smoke comes rolling out)

 Bottom line. Udall did support what appears in hindsight to be a goofy legislative proposal. It's certainly fair game in a tough Senate campaign. However, to imply Udall withheld money from the troops because he wanted it for a department of peace, is a misleading claim unsupported by the facts.

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