Chicago Tribune columnist Zorn scolds Cong. Bean for deceptive ad

Eric Zorn, a Chicago Tribune columnist--and onetime marathon runner--has some harsh words in his blog about the Democratic incumbent in Illinois' 8th Congressional District, Melissa Bean.

From his Change of Subject weblog:

North Suburban Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean has a new TV commercial that all but dares me to wag my dreaded finger at her again. It says:

The press calls (Republican challenger) Dave McSweeney's attacks on Melissa Bean "a lie," "a gross misrepresentation," " a disgrace."

The on-screen citation is to the end of my Oct. 17 column in which, indeed, I wrote that a claim in a McSweeney ad was "a lie and a gross misrepresentation--a disgrace, a character issue, a forfeiture of McSweeney's right to complain."

Two points of irony. First is that the top 4/5ths of that column was devoted to critiquing a misrepresentation in a Bean commercial. Second is that, in that closing portion of the column, I specifically took McSweeney to task for taking the opinions of one commentator about a Bean commercial and referring to that as the view of "the press:"

Bean unseated the longtime Republican representative of the 8th, Phil Crane, two years ago. The Republican National Committee targeted the 8th as an excellent opportunity for the GOP to take a seat from the Democrats. However, Bean has a comfortable lead in most polls.

McSweeney has a lot of cash on hand for the closing days of the race, so the contest may yet become close.

Related post: Bush in Chicago for House fundraisers

Technorati tags: Chicago Illinois elections Melissa Bean David McSweeney Congress