A GOP SMEAR CAMPAIGN...

Today I heard an attack ad against Gabrielle Giffords which accused her of voting to fund Viagra for convicted child molesters.   I didn't catch the names of the sponsors of the ad but the GOP is using this against other Democrats according to Mediaite:

Now Sharron Angle is throwing her hat in the ring with ‘Big Clue,’ an ad attacking Sen. Harry Reid. In thirty seconds, she approves of a number of claims, the most salacious being: “Reid actually voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders.” Um, zing?

Angle’s claim might sound familiar to seasoned news junkies, who will remember an ad from another Republican senatorial candidate, Don Benton of Washington, which said Sen. Patty Murray “voted to use taxpayer money to give Viagra to sex offenders.” That ad, like Angle’s, refers to amendments to the healthcare reform bill on which fifty-seven Senators voted “yea.” Factcheck.org discredited Benton’s Viagra claim, saying:

There was nothing in the new law that would “require qualified health plans to limit the type of benefits that can be offered based on the plan beneficiary’s prior criminal convictions.” But strictly speaking, Murray voted against a Viagra ban, and not explicitly to provide Viagra, as this ad claims.