"Taliban Dan" Ad Spurs Debate Over Dan Webster

Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson caused a political firestorm this week by releasing an ad in which he dubs his Republican challenger, Daniel Webster, "Taliban Dan."

Some commentators decried the ad, and Webster's wife, Sandy Webster, released a statement in response Monday afternoon. "Mr. Grayson should be ashamed of his nasty smears against my husband," she said. The statement from Sandy Webster and Webster's campaign manager, as Politico notes, decried the ad but did not dispute any of the charges leveled against Webster in the ad.

The ad makes strong, controversial claims about Webster's record on women's issues. Today, a controversy raged over a specific aspect of the ad: An out-of-context clip of remarks by Webster.

The ad features a short clip of Webster saying, "Wives, submit yourself to your own husband." It also repeatedly shows Webster saying, "She should submit to me." The clips were taken from a speech Webster gave at a conference of the nonprofit Christian group the Institute for Basic Life Principles.

The nonpartisan organization Factcheck.org ripped into Grayson's ad, saying Grayson "lowers the bar" by "using edited video to make his rival appear to be saying the opposite of what he really said."

The Institute of Basic Life Principles provided FactCheck.org with a video (watch it below) showing the section of Webster's speech from which the clip was pulled. Webster says:

So, write a journal. Second, find a verse. I have a verse for my wife, I have verses for my wife. Don't pick the ones that say, 'She should submit to me.' That's in the Bible, but pick the ones that you're supposed to do. So instead, 'love your wife, even as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it' as opposed to 'wives submit to your own husbands.' She can pray that, if she wants to, but don't you pray it.

"Webster's positions on abortion and marriage, and his religious views, are certainly fair game," Factcheck.org concludes. "But Grayson crosses the line when he uses manipulated video to cast Webster's views in a false light."

The Orlando Sentinel had a similar take, reporting, "Webster actually was advising husbands to bypass those particular Bible passages, according a longer video clip released Monday."

"Here he goes again," Brian Graham, Webster's campaign manager, told the Sentinel. "Time and time again, Alan Grayson has shown that he cannot be truthful. The people of Central Florida are smarter than this."

In response to the release of the longer video clip, both liberal and conservative commentators decried the Grayson ad.

Ed Morrissey at the conservative blog HotAir.com called the ad "Utterly disgraceful," while progressive blogger Adam Serwer wrote at the Washington Post, "Webster is being smeared, Shirley Sherrod style." (Serwer later went on to explore the issue further here.)

However, upon closer look at the video, liberals came back with the charge that Factcheck.org and the Orlando Sentinel misinterpreted Webster's remarks.

"Webster never spoke out against the notion that wives should submit to their husbands -- in fact, he embraced it," Jed Lewison writes at Daily Kos. "The only thing he spoke out against is that men should pray to biblical verses about their own responsibilities -- not those of their wives or children."

Jewison urges readers to "help Grayson keep this ad on the air" with a $5 or $10 donation.

Sarah Posner at the liberal online magazine Religion Dispatches writes that Factcheck.org "failed to grasp what was crucial about this story."

She refers to remarks from Religion Dispatches contributor Kathryn Joyce, who writes, "While the Grayson campaign can be taken to task for taking Webster's comment out of context, in the larger context, they're correct."

While Grayson may be receiving criticism from both the left and the right for his controversial ad, the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim points out that it has been effective in bringing attention to Webster's very conservative views.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[SocialismDestroys]

It appears CBS is officially dead as a serious news outlet. This headline, an old trick for the liberal news, is horribly deceptive and bias. Then this so called "journalist" is referencing the huffington post and the daily kos?? These are two of the most horribly liberal socialists rags on the Internet ran by people intent on destroying America.

What will be fun is to watch when Capitalism is completely dead and the person who wrote this story is in another occupation or making $700 a month like writers in socialists countries. Explain to me how these people consciously make the decision to shoot themselves in the foot and ruin their career, industry, and country? That's what they have done and what they are doing.

Now you know why the media is in horrible shape financially? Ridiculous articles and writers like this. I do not like repubs or dems but I just made a huge, out of state, donation to Webster.

[Urban_Forager]

Grayson's clip is out of context, but it certainly doesn't imply "the opposite" of what Webster meant. Yes, Webster was advising husbands to pray to fulfill their own Biblically prescribed duties--such as loving their wives--rather than praying that their wives would fulfill their Biblical duties--such as submitting to their husbands. But the longer, unedited clip makes it clear that the he endorses the doctrine of wifely submission; it's just that he happens to be giving advice to husbands, not to wives.

Webster was dispensing this advice at a gathering of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, an organization with which he has been closely associated for decades. The IBLP stresses the importance of obedience to authority, including wives' submission to their husbands. What kind of advice does the IBLP give wives? You can get a sample on this page on the organization's website: http://ati.iblp.org/ati/supportlink/kb/questions/237/How+can+I+help+my+husband+take+on+spiritual+leadership%3F. It cautions wives that "the slightest resistance or displeasure" on their part can undermine their husbands' all-important spiritual leadership.

The import of Grayson's ad -- that Webster adheres to a male-supremacist religious creed that influences his work in government -- is perfectly sound. I'd like to see journalists ask Webster whether he believes that wives should submit to their husbands. In the past, however, he has refused to discuss specifics of his beliefs.

[a1106foothil]

From what I can see, the debate is over Grayson, not Webster. I don't know much about Grayson or Webster and I don't vote in Florida. But after seeing Grayson's childish ads, I would suggest he leave Congress to the adults and think about a career that doesn't require judgment or integrity. At a time when America needs quality people in Congress, Florida has to endure a childish clown. Fortunately, I am sure Florida will take care of that in November. As for CBS, I didn't expect much more from you.

[CBS_is_leftist_agitprop]

CBS News is garbage, as evidenced by their ridiculously misleadling headline. How can you release such crap? The ealier commenters robdiehl2, jwilwade and fairfaxjoelives are right on the money about how intentionally deceptive this headline is.

You are filthy dishonest bastards, CBS News. I'd like an editorial explaining by what logic this headline was chosen, and how it is not slanted.

PS, garbage headline, garbage article, garbage journalists.

[robdiehl2]

I guess it is true. CBS no longer objectively reports news, they push the left wing agenda. What happened to the fourth estate being impartial?

[Arthro2]

ALAN GRAYSON IS A SLIMEBALL!!!

Wake up, Florida! Vote this loser out of office. He is not worthy of represnting you. This is just GROSS.

[Arthro2]

ALAN GRAYSON IS A SLIMEBALL!!!

Wake up, Florida! Vote this loser out of office. He is not worthy of represnting you. This is just GROSS.

[wfw3536]

CBS should be ashamed of the headline of this story as it gives credibity to this lie by Grayson. His ad shows he does not represent the values of most folks who know what is right and what is just a out and out lie. I actual feel sorry for Grayson as he must be a very sad person to sink this low.

[Arthro2]

Don't feel sorry for him. Just get Grayson out of office. Contibute to Webster's campaign. Vote for Webster.

THIS IS JUST WRONG!!!