IL-14: “False” Rating on Jim Oberweis’ “Beautiful Protests” Ad with Discernment

Jim Oberweis

Oberweis exposes Lauren Underwood’s lack of complete honesty, fact many have overlooked including PolitiFact / Better Government Association

Last Sunday (10/11), the Chicago Sun-Times published an article written by Kiannah Sepeda-Miller, who writes for PolitiFact and the Better Government Association (BGA) saying it gave a “fact check” of 14th congressional district Republican challenger Jim Oberweis TV commercial “Beautiful Protests”.

The ad, released on September 18, is thus far the only TV commercial for the fall campaign Oberweis has released. Commenters on McHenry County Blog rated the ad as very effective.

But PolitiFact/BGA rated the ad “False” last Sunday stating Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D, IL-14) did not say rioting was beautiful.

While McHenry County Blog would not rate the ad as “True”, it’s questionable to call it “False”, given how Underwood brought the claim against her on herself through her own lies.

Some context is in order. PolitiFact/BGA has six “ratings” when their staff performs a “fact check”. They are below and are self-explanatory, from best to worst:

  • “True” – the content is 100% accurate
  • “Mostly True”
  • “Half True”
  • “Mostly False”
  • “False”
  • “Pants on Fire”

Given this context, the rating against Oberweis’ ad against Underwood was not the lowest rating PolitiFact/BGA gives.

Now McHenry County Blog does not condone any form of lying in anything, so when Underwood was asked about rioting and looting at the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board interview on September 3, here is the full context per the PolitiFact article from October 11.

While reading, please remember the Sun-Times editorial interview was September 3 and Oberweis’ ad hit the airwaves September 18:

About 20 minutes into the candidates’ joint appearance, the paper’s editorial page editor Tom McNamee asks Underwood twice to address several arguments Oberweis had raised, including the senator’s charge that she has not condemned “rioting and looting.”

“He says you once called him a racist, and he says you have failed to condemn rioting,” McNamee says in the video, to which Underwood responds by explaining she believes ads Oberweis has run during his political career “walk that line that I would call racist.”

When Underwood turns to the second part of McNamee’s question, saying, “I also, with respect to rioting and looting, I think that we have seen many instances of beautiful protests this summer as people have stood up for this cause of justice and equality.”

After that, Underwood makes a reference to Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from her congressional district charged with killing two people and injuring a third in an attack on demonstrators in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

“I don’t think that that kind of violence has any place in our community and certainly in a way to intimidate or disrupt peaceful protest,” Underwood of Naperville says in the Sun-Times video.

PolitiFact, October 11 article rating Oberweis claim “False”, emphasis added

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Lauren Underwood

What Underwood did, with the “…respect to rioting and looting…” dovetail is a form of deflection, which is a form of lying. Underwood, instead of answering the question directly, deflected away from the actual question and cited, in full context “beautiful protests”, or genuinely peaceful protests like was seen at Crystal Lake City Hall over the summer.

Her deflection was a partial change-of-subject.

But Underwood makes it worse with her reference, not by name, to Antioch’s Kyle Rittenhouse and the Kenosha shootings. She kept the violence reference to Rittenhouse’s alleged actions and inferred Rittenhouse was trying to “intimidate or disrupt peaceful protest.”

That is another Underwood lie, and while she can be given the benefit of the doubt she had not seen Rittenhouse’s attorney’s statement from August 28 explaining Rittenhouse’s actions, there was no “peaceful protest” taking place on the streets of Kenosha, WI the night of August 25 when the shootings took place.

So borne out of Underwood’s own lies at the September 3 Sun-Times interview, as political consultant (with a lifetime 85% win ratio), author and blogger Jeff N. Ward of Geneva explained in a column this week:

“Then, the only thing worse than embracing a bad message is creating the kind of messaging vacuum that allows your opponent to define you! And that came [in] the form of Underwood’s refusal to condemn looting and rioting in her Sun-Times endorsement interview.

“That misstep opened the door to an incredibly effective Oberweis TV ad that’s gonna be quite difficult to come back from. Really? Refusing to condemn rioting and looting is just like saying some white supremacists ‘are very fine people.’ I had no idea there was such a large rioting and looting constituency!

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thinking Oberweis will finally go to Congress…”

Jeff N. Ward, “Campaign Lesson #6 – Messaging is paramount!”, The First Ward, 10/14/20

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Predicting Oberweis might win against Underwood is a real switch for Ward. After Oberweis won the nomination with a plurality of 26% of the primary vote in March, Ward predicted Underwood would win by at least 10 percentage points in November.

Since PolitiFact used the joint Daily Herald / Shaw Media editorial endorsement interview a week later as part of its “fact check”, McHenry County Blog can use what Underwood said in her congressional office’s press release about Kenosha violence on August 27:

“That a 17-year-old from our community would have an assault weapon, travel to Kenosha, and allegedly commit grave violence toward protesters is an unspeakably horrific symptom of the toxic hate and division that permeate our country right now.

“This instance is painfully close to home, and it is not reflective of the values we hold dear in northern Illinois: that weapons of war, racism, and hate have no place in our communities, and we should never seek to solve problems through violence.”

Lauren Underwood, statement on Shootings in Kenosha, 8/27/20

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Again, any “protestors” on the streets of Kenosha that night were in violation of curfew, and while it may not have been known fully on August 27, Rittenhouse allegedly shot 3 men whom by all indications on available video (and more released since) meant to do him bodily harm including killing him. There was nothing racist or hateful with what Rittenhouse did, he was defending himself.

That’s not “peaceful protest” and Underwood knows this.

Joe Biden

Finally, in the full context of Underwood’s half-hearted statement, saying “…we should never seek to solve problems through violence.”, prior to the Sun-Times editorial interview, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had released his “Be Not Afraid” TV commercial which clearly stated, in the first 13 seconds:

“I want to make it absolutely clear: rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it, should be prosecuted!”

Later in the same ad, Biden goes on to say:

“Violence will not bring change.

“It will only bring destruction. It’s wrong in every way.”

Joe Biden, “Be Not Afraid” Biden-Harris campaign ad 9/2/20

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There is no doubt where Biden is on violence, rioting and looting, and is very clear, those who do violence, rioting and looting should be prosecuted. Unlike Underwood, who has taken violence/rioting/looting fomented by “white supremacists” and militia groups stance, Biden made no delineation that anyone, regardless of political leaning, who commits acts of violence should be prosecuted.

Nancy Pelosi

Someone all know whom Underwood looks up to is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-12). On September 17, Pelosi took to the floor of the House and addressed her colleagues, which included the following:

“We support peaceful demonstrations, we participate in them, they are part of the essence of our democracy. That does not include looting, starting fires or rioting. They should be prosecuted, that is lawlessness.

“I’m very proud that Joe Biden has presented the clarity of that, making a distinction that I don’t think our colleagues quite understand but the American people do…”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking from the House floor, 9/17/20

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We don’t agree with much Speaker Pelosi says, but Biden’s clarity on violence, rioting and looting verified from his September 2 released TV commercial. Had Underwood been equally clear throughout the summer and early September in condemning violence fully and whole-heartedly, she wouldn’t have found herself with a potential prospect of losing her seat to Oberweis over this issue.

So, after our own “fact check”, McHenry County Blog would give a rating of “Mostly True” to the “Beautiful Protests” TV commercial from the Oberweis campaign. And McHenry County Blog supports the Oberweis campaign’s statement to the Daily Herald yesterday saying the ad will stay up.

Finally and respectfully, anyone doing a “fact check” better make sure their fact-book has enough pages.

External references:


Comments

IL-14: “False” Rating on Jim Oberweis’ “Beautiful Protests” Ad with Discernment — 16 Comments

  1. To Underwood, the looting, rioting and mayhem is quite beautiful.

    She hates whites and Western Civilizations.

    Must be voted out!

  2. Lol. It’s clearly 100% false. Just read or listen to what she saiid.

    That’s all you have to do. Don’t need a wanna be Republican political operative twisting himself into pretzel to fact check the fact checkers.

    Just read or listen to what she said. Jim is a liar.

    Lopez is hack.

  3. That wasn’t much of a counterargument, Oh, and you completely glossed over the fact that Jeff Ward is no MAGA superstar but he too believed Underwood could have had better messaging on that.

    Do you think it’s off in the deep end to simply point out that Underwood could have and should have more forcefully disavowed looting, arson, and general mayhem?

    I thought it was a fairly nuanced take from Lopez.

    He at least admitted that Oberweis wasn’t being totally truthful in his characterization of Underwood’s statement.

  4. Am I supposed to know who Jeff Ward is?

    Just looked him up and he has 212 followers on Facebook.

    I didn’t know his opinion matters.

    He believes her “messaging” could have been better?

    The ad plays something Underwood said followed by a narrator saying, “Riots are not beautiful, they’re ugly.”

    “Vote against rioters, and anyone who enables them. Vote against Lauren Underwood.”

    That’s a bunch of BS.

    She is not calling riots beautiful.

    The narrator clearly unequivocally, suggests in the above quote that Underwood is saying riots are beautiful.

    Lopez didn’t give a nuanced take.

    He tied himself into a pretzel to justify his preconceived outcome.

    But that’s what hacks do.

  5. Oh on, Annie got your gun? Try some viagra.

    And lay off all those hormones in anticipation of your sex reassignment surgery.

  6. If I remember the interview correctly, she was asked about riots and probably in an attempt to change the subject started talking about the beautiful protests that occurred this summer.

    That is a bad move on her part.

    If asked if riots are bad there is only one correct answer.

    Any attempt to avoid the question or change the subject instead of condemning the violence is supporting the riots by downplaying them and trying to pretend they are not happening.

  7. Neal, she can’t diverge from the Soros partly line, even if it’s just to snow some agitated soccer moms in the district who falsely imagine they are so enlightened because they watch “The View” and “Democracy Now” and claim to be part Cherokee.

    When the roving mobs of black mass rapers come, they’ll cry and try to hide their daughters and gender transitioning sons, to no avail.

  8. I would like to nominate ‘Oh’ as the most consistent McHenryCountyBlog troll. I’ll bet ‘Oh’ can troll while brushing his/her/other teeth, while picking lint out of his/her/other bellybutton, while thinking angry thoughts about anyone who dares disagree with the Cancel Culture.

  9. How am I troll? Is this the McHenry County Blog or the McHenry County Republican blog? Is this is McHenry County Conservatives Blog? The TEA PARTY blog? No?

    “This is a journal of news and opinion designed to bring to light matters of public interest and to encourage public participation in the governmental process.

    Emphasis will be on McHenry County, but Illinois state news will be covered. Articles and photos are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without explicit written permission.”

    I don’t see anything about how this blog was designed to re-enforce preconceived notions of conservative/Republican political views.

    I see myself as reaching out to break through to people like you, Richard Rostron, who live in a Fox News right wing media bubble. Not a troll. Just pointing out that Lopez is wrong and this was fact checked.

  10. Richard,

    There is no doubt that PinocchiOh is a woman. No man lives in so much fear of everything and carries on endlessly about wearing masks like some angry old crone because you aren’t doing what you’re told to do.

    No man demands that government has so much control over the people, including being willing to sacrifice free speech in order to shut up those who oppose her.

    No man also carries on about how wonderful suburban female voters are for blindly supporting today’s evil liberal platform. Well, one around here does, but he’s not an actual man (maybe a male).

    No man has so much Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    So, you don’t need to refer to PinocchiOH as “his/her” as though her gender is unknown. It’s pretty clear that she’s an angry radfem. Probably gets even worse than that.

  11. I didn’t even talk about how she’s obsessed with oppression and made-up crap like “systemic racism”.

  12. Some Guy is obsessed with my posts.

    Real and imaginary since I haven’t discussed oppression or systemic racism on this blog.

  13. Anyone who frequently spouts off “racist!” believes in “systemic racism”.

    You fool nobody, PinocchiOH.

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