Enough mudslinging

Monday, June 16, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

A Republican operative named Floyd Brown has started working against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, a sign that the GOP is ready to once again mire the country in a negative campaign.

Brown was the producer of the infamous “Willie Horton” ad, which helped sink Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 by tarring Dukakis as soft on crime. Brown thinks he can do the same to Obama and is raising money for an ad he has produced and posted online.

The ad links a series of vicious gang crimes in Chicago to Obama. The ad says Obama voted against extending the death penalty to include gang crimes and argues that Obama is soft on crime and would be soft on terrorism. The ad ignores the fact that there was no need for a new law — all the crimes it lists are eligible for the death penalty.

This is not a surprise coming from Brown. The Horton ad slanted the facts and infused race — Horton is black, his victims white — into the issue to try to scare voters. It was so ugly that even George H.W. Bush’s campaign chief, Lee Atwater, later apologized for it.

Brown never has.

He has a well-earned reputation as a conservative knife thrower. In 1992 he set up a 1-900 number to allow callers, for a fee, to listen to alleged phone recordings between then-President Clinton and lounge singer Gennifer Flowers.

By focusing on crime, Brown is going for a visceral reaction while avoiding the issues. (Certainly the GOP ads will fail to mention an FBI report issued Monday showing violent and property crimes were down in 2007.)

Obama’s campaign has, so far, centered on the welcome call for change in American politics. Unfortunately, Republicans have answered the call by throwing mud.

America is fed up with negative campaigns and desperately wants solutions for the serious problems facing the country. A gallon of gasoline averages $4. Food prices are soaring. The housing market has yet to hit bottom. The war in Iraq drags on.

Enough mudslinging. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain should denounce Brown’s ad campaign and pledge to stick to the issues.