Former President Barack Obama was quoted out of context from his 1995 autobiography, “Dreams from my Father.” (Photo by Isa Foltin/WireImage)
With just a day to go before Georgia’s special election Tuesday, June 20, an outside group supporting President Donald Trump is trying its darnedest to sway support in favor of the Republican candidate.
Great America Alliance, a pro-Trump nonprofit group, has been running a radio ad ahead of Atlanta’s highly anticipated election between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel that takes the voice of former POTUS Barack Obama out of context to contend that Democrats have taken African-American voters for granted, CNN’s KFile reported.
The ad quotes Obama as he reads a passage from his 1995 autobiography “Dreams from My Father.” The ad fails to note, however, that in the excerpt narrated by the ex-president, he’s actually quoting his barber’s views on the Black community and Chicago politics before the city elected its first Black mayor in 1983.
“Plantation politics. Black people in the worst jobs,” Obama is heard saying in the 28-second clip. “The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called Black committeemen came around election time, we’d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey.”
The ad, running just days before the battle between Ossoff and Handel for the 6th District seat left vacant by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, starts with GOP activist Autry Pruitt describing himself as “a fellow Black American working hard every day, just like you.”
“It may seem out of season, but all of a sudden, Democratic politicians have started coming around again. We normally only see them every other November, swarming around and making promises to get our vote. But nothing ever changes for us, does it?,” Pruitt said before Obama’s audio comes in.
“Let’s not sell out for another Christmas turkey,” the conservative activist concludes. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Democrats keep taking our votes for granted.”
Eric Beach, a co-chair of Great America Alliance, told CNN’s KFile that the radio ad was the group’s attempt to run something “outside the box” to “creatively” show Democrats’ history of empty promises.
“It’s like any ad; those are his words and we want to use his words and I’ll leave it at that,” Beach said.
Earlier this month, the nonprofit also ran an ad attacking now-ousted FBI director James Comey ahead of his testimony before Congress.
