[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 112 (Wednesday, September 20, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H7874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TV AD SHOULD BE PULLED

  (Mr. TALENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TALENT. Mr. Speaker, an independent political group is running a 
television ad in Kansas City, Missouri, that is causing controversy 
that I want to comment on for my 1-minute.
  According to the Washington Post, an actress in the ad portrays a 
mother who removed her child from the public school because ``we didn't 
want him in a place where drugs and violence was fashionable. That was 
a bit more diversity than he could handle.''
  Mr. Speaker, I have not seen the ad. I am not familiar with the group 
that sponsored it. But the statement I read, if it is in the 
advertisement, comes perilously close to bigotry, which is a sentiment 
that has no place in American politics. Since the ad goes on to urge 
people to vote Republican, I think Republicans have a special 
responsibility to denounce it.
  Mr. Speaker, one of my favorite passages from the Bible is from First 
Samuel. It says, ``God does not see the same way people see. People 
look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.'' In 
that spirit, I urge the group responsible for this commercial to 
withdraw it.
  I hope our State and country can go the rest of this election 
campaign with no further appeals to racial fear or prejudice.

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