Pro-abortion NARAL has pulled the false Judge Roberts ad:

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a week of protests by conservatives, an abortion-rights group said Thursday night it is withdrawing a television advertisement linking Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to violent anti-abortion activists.

“We regret that many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts’ record,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

“Unfortunately, the debate over that advertisement has become a distraction from the serious discussion we hoped to have with the American public,” she said in a letter Thursday to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who had urged the group to withdraw the ad.

I got a kick out of Lou Dobbs trying to defend CNN’s broadcasting of this ad on his show last night (pointed out by Rush Limbaugh today):

DOBBS: And CNN, we should point out, its policy on this, even as you reported, the ad is absolutely wrong, according to the Eninburg watchdog there. CNN says, it accepts advocacy advertising from responsible groups from across the political spectrum who wish to express their views and their opinions about issues of public importance. So the viewers can further research claims made within the ads. The messages must identify the name of the sponsoring organization, usually by displaying a Web site address. John King, I want to thank you for helping our viewers ascertain the validity of the claims of that particular ad. We hope you will do so with more to come. I’m sure there will be.

Could NARAL’s credibility be in the tank? Me thinks so. Here is their press release on the ad.

Oh, and because it’s such a great ad, head over to the Progress for America Voter Fund to watch their rebuttal ad. I like the last line:

How low can these frustrated liberals sink?

Heh.

Update (Chad):
From purely an advertising perspective, this was a very dumb move. The ad, no matter how misleading or false it was, gained attention because of the imagery used and the controversey from it. If they had run it just a few more days they could take it off the air and their message would have been served. In my opinion, the two days (three?) it ran are not sufficient to have a decent number of views.

Think about the Paris Hilton and Carl’s Jr. ad. It was a horrible ad and if you didn’t know the controversey behind it, you would have no clue what the ad was for. Well, it was the same with the NARAL and Roberts ad. I’ve only seen clips of it and I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it had I not have heard of the controversey, but I had and I know what their message is.

No, it’s not a message I agree with and it is certainly false, but it is powerful and that is what a commercial is supposed to be. A commercial only has to sell a product or promote a service. This commercial did both.

Update (Mac): Here is the transcript of Rush’s comments today on the NARAL ad.

Update (Chad):
Fallout from the commercial? NARAL’s communication director has resigned.

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