Good for them!!

Judy Baar Topinka wants to do away with Illinois’ health-care program for children. Tammy Duckworth would give welfare and Social Security benefits to illegal aliens. You read it here first–or so their opponents would have you believe. But you didn’t.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who’s being challenged by Topinka, and state Sen. Peter Roskam, who’s running against Duckworth in the 6th Congressional District, cite the Chicago Tribune as the source for those claims in televised ads. In both cases, the attribution is misleading.

In the Blagojevich ad, a narrator warns that Topinka “has pledged to dismantle Illinois’ health-care program for kids.” That’s not what Topinka said, and it’s not what the Tribune said she said. The accusation was made by John Filan, Blagojevich’s own budget director, and the story made that clear. The ad, however, cited the source as “Chicago Tribune, 8/18/06.”

If we’re going to play by those rules, then it’s fair to say the Chicago Tribune recently called George W. Bush the devil. Actually, it was Venezuela’s leftist president, Hugo Chavez , who said that, but hey, we quoted him. Same thing.

When Blagojevich and Topinka met with the Tribune editorial board last week, a reporter questioned the ad’s representation of the quote. The governor ducked. “I guess you should talk to the guy that does the commercials,” he said. “I don’t know what the Tribune’s story was talking about.” Now that’s taking responsibility for your campaign.

Roskam’s ad refers to a Sept. 23 story that mentions Duckworth’s support for the U.S. Senate’s immigration bill. The story says the bill “would allow illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship after learning English, staying employed for a prescribed length of time and paying a fine and back taxes.” Not a word about welfare or Social Security. Roskam may think that’s a fair extrapolation, and he’s free to make that case. But those statements are coming from his campaign, and his ads shouldn’t suggest otherwise.