WSLS Truth Tracker: Republican ad attacking Perriello

The National Republican Campaign Committee’s ad starts out attacking.

The announcer says in the first line, “New York lawyer Tom Perriello is very liberal. He supports same-sex marriages.“

This is a distortion. Perriello was born and raised in Charlottesville and currently lives there. During his career, he spent less than two years in New York and didn’t practice law there.

The gay marriage statement is false. The ad cites an article in the Christian Science Monitor that originally said, “He’s not donning hunting garb or toning down his support for same sex marriage.“

After the campaign complained that Perriello is opposed to gay marriage, the paper corrected the story to read “he’s not donning hunting garb or endorsing a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage.“

The ad cites an incorrect article. However, it’s easy to see how someone would be confused about Perriello’s stand on this issue.

Consider this interview I did with him in august.

WARREN: “Gay marriage: do you support it or are you against it?“

PERRIELLO: “I think we need more God and less government in marriage. Right now I do think we have a marriage crisis in the country, but frankly I’m less worried in what Adam and Steve are doing in San Francisco than what what’s going on with Adam and Eve right here and the flaws that we have all inherited in our tradition. I think we have to take seriously that we have a culture of convenience in terms of marriage. I think we need to strengthen the institution of marriage and I think the best groups to do that are our houses of worship.“

WARREN: “But if a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage came across that said you are either for gay marriage or not, what would you say?“

PERRIELLO: “I would be against the amendment because I don’t think the problem is with our constitution, it’s with our character.“

Not once did Perriello say he opposes gay marriage. Friday, I asked him why over the phone.

WARREN: “Can you understand how people would be confused by your stance on this issue?“

PERRIELLO: “It depends on how much time they have. The reason I do that, there’s a thin line between evading a question and going deeper than the question. I think the problem with our politics is that we ask the very superficial questions without getting to what the real crisis in marriage is about.“

Finally, he did say, “My belief is that marriage should be defined between a man and a woman.“

The ad finishes with this line: “Perriello founded a liberal advocacy group that ran ads on Arab TV apologizing for the actions of our troops.“

Perriello helped found Faithful America, a faith based group that did run an ad on Arab television expressing regret for the abuses at Abu Graib prison. The copy for the ad read, “As Americans of faith, we express our deep sorrow at abuses committed in Iraqi prisons.“ It went on to say, “We condemn the sinful and systemic abuses committed in our name, and pledge to work to right these wrongs.“

President Bush also apologized for the treatment of prisoners at Abu Graib.

The Perriello campaign called on television stations to pull the ad, citing the factual error on gay marriage. Since then, the NRCC, the sponsors of the ad, have corrected it to accurately show Perriello’s stance on gay marriage. The updated ad is now running.