* Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.’s new radio ad has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Check it out…

Click to download

Believe it or not, the woman who yells: “She voted 88 times with the Republicans and 88 times against President Barack Obama? She’s crazy!!!” is Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL).

The full script…

[Jesse] President Obama and I are working together. Fighting for good jobs paying good wages.

[Rep. Waters]
Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior, fights every day for the people of Chicago and the Southland.

[Jesse] I sat in the Speaker’s chair, leading the fight to pass President Obama’s health care law. But I’ve also fought successfullyto hire more than a thousand nurses, and keep our hospitals open.Because we need jobs, and we need health care.

[Rep. Waters]
His opponent, Debbie Halvorson, has a different agenda. Halvorson voted with the Republicans, opposing President Obama and health care for all. And she voted with the Republicans and the NRA against stopping gun violence.

In fact, Halvorson voted with the Republicans and against President Obama 88 times!

[African-American male] How many?

[Rep. Brown]
She voted 88 times with the Republicans and 88 times against President Barack Obama? She’s crazy!

[Jesse] I’m Jesse Jackson, Junior, and I approved this ad.

[African-American male]
88 times against President Obama is 88 times too many.I’m sticking with Jesse!

[Jesse]
Paid for by Jackson for Congress.

* Some media outlets just gave it the quick he said, she said treatment…

In Jesse Jackson Jr.’s latest ad, the incumbent accuses his challenger Debbie Halvorson of voting 88 times with the Repubican majority and against the president.

He called that “crazy.”

Halvorson is fighting back saying Jackson Jr. is “lying.”

* But the Sun-Times did a good job of fleshing out the truth...

Jackson arrived at his number of “88 Times” by counting the number of votes on which he and Halvorson differed during Halvorson’s two years in Congress. Of those 133, Halvorson voted against the wishes of Congressional Democratic leaders 88 times.

But Halvorson said voting against House Democratic leaders is not voting against Obama. For instance, on ethics legislation to sanction Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, Halvorson voted with Republicans for tougher ethics standards. That was not a vote against Obama, she said.

Asked why Jackson’s ad presented that as a vote against Obama, Jackson spokesman Kevin Lampe said, “Democrats have got to stick together in Congress.”

And…

In fact, Jackson voted against Obama twice as often as Halvorson, according to records compiled by Congressional Quarterly magazine.

Jackson voted against the president more than any other Democrat from Illinois except for Downstate Rep. Jerry Costello, who, like Jackson, voted against Obama 21 percent of the time, according to the CQ statistics for 2010.

Oops.

* Tribune…

In a list of the 88 votes supplied by the Jackson campaign, some were not votes against the president but were procedural in nature. Another vote cited by Jackson was a move by DemocraticRep. Dennis Kucinichof Ohio to immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2010, which was not on Obama’s agenda.

Um, OK.

More…

But Jackson’s campaign said Halvorson voted against the initial House version of Wall Street reforms and against steering $4 billion in Wall Street rescue money for low-interest loans to the unemployed and for neighborhood stabilization. The transfer of funds had been sought by the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Congresswoman Halvorson wants people to believe she’s a progressive Democrat, but she votes like a conservative Republican,” Jackson said in a statement. “She voted against us, the people of the 2nd District and President Obama, 88 times.”

Instead of lying about her voting record, I gotta wonder why they haven’t really played the gun card yet. Halvorson was a major NRA supporter, and the 2nd is not exactly a big NRA district. It sure beats linking her to “political demonic forces”…

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Monday touted the backing of more than 50 ministers, including one who said “political demonic forces” were driving the agenda of Democratic primary opponent Debbie Halvorson.

The congressman’s campaign aides refused to comment on whether they thought the remarks were appropriate. Halvorson called the comments the result of a “desperate” campaign.

* But I’d be careful about tempting fate, if I was Halvorson…

The president has endorsed Jackson in the race. Still, as Halvorson pointed out, the president himself hasn’t said the words publicly, instead relying on aides to confirm his support for the congressman.