Dissecting Barbour's First Attack Ad Of 2007

The Barbour Campaign put out a vicious attack ad today that makes several claims. When I saw it I though the claims were rather simplistic and probably one dimensional. I e-mailed the Eaves campaign and left a comment on Y'allPolitics asking for background information. One commenter offered his take and was able to elaborate a little, but not much. With no other response from Y'allPolitics or the Eaves Campaign a friend and I took in on ourselves to do the research ourselves.

What follows is the central claims of the ad and deep background information on the two new claims:

Claim #1: Eaves sued the Navy for conducting training exercises vital to the safety of our troops.

Vieques Island, Puerto Rico is the place this lawsuit concerned.

The Navy used Vieques Island as a live fire bombing range since the Second World War. Over the course of sixty years the Navy bombarded the island -which is a mere 90 square miles- with every type of munition the Navy had in its arsenal. (This included Depleted Uranium a toxic substance which the Navy according to its own regulations was not supposed to use except for in warfare). In the case a former marine testified that they had tested chemicals on the residents of the island without the citizens' knowledge. The results of the Navy's prolonged activities on the Island have resulted in heavy metal contamination of the groundwater, vegetation, shellfish, and marine life which the inhabitants of the Island rely upon. Numerous scientific experts have conducted studies of the Island as well as the effects of the Navy's contamination on the Islanders and have found a direct correlation. In fact the Islanders of Vieques have a 30% higher rate of cancer then the Inhabitants of mainland Puerto Rico which is just 7 miles away from Vieques. The people of Vieques also have higher rates of numerous other disorders which can be linked to mercury, aluminum, cadamium, and other heavy metal contaminants which they were exposed to by the Navy's environmental contamination. In 2005, the Vieques Island site was placed on the EPA's Superfund List of the most hazardous waste sites in the country.

The plaintiffs in the suit, the people of Vieques, are American citizens. "Per capita, Puerto Ricans are amongst the highest in the United States as it relates to volunteering in the armed forces, as it relates to dying in the battlefield, and as to receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor because of their bravery." The people of Vieques were exposed to carcinogenic compounds because of the Navy's negligence. The suit which was brought was solely to compensate the people for the harm done not to stop the Navy's activities. In fact in 2003 - after the war in Iraq had begun - it was President BUSH who ended the Navy's activities on Vieques not Eaves or anyone else.

"There's been some harm done to people in the past. These are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want us there." - Pres. Bush June 14, 2001

Claim #2: Eaves helped "foreigners" sue the Marines.

First in 1998 a Marine Corp fighter pilot flying dangerously and recklessly low to the ground severed a cable which carried a gondola in the Alps. The pilot's actions caused 20 people to plummet 375 feet to the ground and die. The aircraft flown was a EA-6B Prowler and it was not to be flown below a minimum of 1000ft, however the pilot was flying just 375ft above ground. After the event the pilot was charged with involuntary manslaughter, conduct unbecoming an officer along with other charges. The pilot "was sentenced to six months in a military brig and discharged from the service." and the navigator "pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and was also dismissed from the service." Information into the facts of the case can be found in the case Eyskens v. U.S. 140 F. Supp. 2d 553 (2000).

Claim #3: Eaves falsely attacked Governor Barbour.

The Eaves ad that Barbour is responding to and calling false is what the Barbour ad uses to say that Eaves is falsely attacking Haley Barbour. The problem here is that everything in the ad is sourced. If what is said is untrue Barbour should act to remove the appearance of impropriety. He has failed to do so.

Claim #4: Eaves has no vision for Mississippi.

Barbour has issued no new plans, now vision for what he's going to focus on these next 4 years. Eaves has proposed a plan called "Kid Care" which would cover thousands of Mississippi's children who are currently uninsured or under-insured. He has also stated how he would pay for plans to increase teacher pay and has made his positions on issues far more clear than Haley Barbour. We can debate the merits of one health plan or another or whether the public should be concerned with children's healthcare at all, but to say Eaves has no vision is obviously wrong. A vision right, wrong or indifferent is still a vision.

If you've stayed with me this far I congratulate you. You obviously have patience and if you are like a majority of my readers and are conservative you read something that you knew going in you might disagree with. Feel free to share this and again I had NO contact with the Eaves campaign in writing this. (The last line's for Sid; he doesn't take me at my word though I'd be delighted if he'd check my facts.)