Rudy Giuliani has recorded a fear-mongering robocall for the McCain-Palin campaign that distorts Senator Barack Obama's stance on mandatory sentences for society's worst criminals. Obama opposes mandatory minimum sentences for some offenses, arguing:
We have a system that locks away too many young, first-time, non-violent offenders for the better part of their lives - a decision that's made not by a judge in a courtroom, but all to often by politicians in Washington and state capitals around the country.
But Giuliani's robocall drops the, rather important, word "minimum," making it seem that Obama opposes mandatory sentences in general:
Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee, because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers. It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008.
HuffingtonPost.com notes that Obama's stance against mandatory minimum sentences is bolstered by several studies of criminal behavior which show that "mandatory minimum sentences are less effective than discretionary sentencing and drug treatment in reducing drug-related crime."
TalkingPointsMemo.com has an audio recording of the call.
