No On 8 Responds to the "Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?" Argument

Yes on 8 has gotten a lot of mileage out of scare tactics that claim public school students are being indoctrinated by homosexuals, highly publicizing that some first graders attended their teacher's same sex marriage ceremony and running an ad in which two parents wave around a children's book called King and King.

No on 8 responded over the weekend with a new ad featuring California Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell, in which he says that 8 has "nothing to do with schools or kids" and that "our school's aren't required to teach anything about marriage, and using kids to lie about it is shameful." (See above clip.)

Today, No on 8 started running a similar ad with Senator Diane Feinstein.

Both ads are carefully crafted to speak to fence sitters. They make a point of saying "no matter what you think of marriage" 8 alters the state constitution and is discriminatory. Middle of the road voters will have to decide if their discomfort with gay marriage overrides their urge to not be labeled a bigot. At the same time, the ad essentially strikes a deal with the undecided -- vote against 8 because it's the legally responsible thing to do, but retain your more conservative view points if you must.

--Andy Wright