White House blasts ‘outrageous’ Clinton ad

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) first television spot drew the ire of the White House on Tuesday, with spokeswoman Dana Perino calling the ad “outrageous.”

When asked about the spot, which claims that many middle-class Americans are “invisible” to the administration, Perino first appeared to decline to jump on a campaign issue.

{mosads}“Well, this is going to be tricky going into the campaign season, when people start running ads, because as tempted as I am to take that head on, I think I will refer to the [Republican National Committee] for answers on the politics of it,” Perino told reporters before continuing by voicing some thoughts: “But as to the merits of it, I think it’s outrageous.”

The spokeswoman forcefully defended Bush’s record on healthcare, an issue that was brought up in the campaign ad, which begins airing in Iowa on Tuesday.

“The president has tried to take on the issue at the root cause of it, and tried to change our healthcare system so that we actually are helping provide less expensive but still great-quality care to people all over the country,” she said.

Perino reserved her strongest comment for another part of the ad, in which Clinton says she never imagined she would see soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan being treated as though they were invisible.

“As to whether or not our troops are invisible to this president,” Perino said, “I think that that is absurd, and that is unconscionable that a member of Congress would say such a thing.”