McCain barbs stirring outcry as distortions
SuzannePjam
Posts: 411
What happened to his pledge to keep the presidential race above the nastiness? His petty and false lipstick smear ads combined with untrue and below the belt ads that Obama promotes sex ed for kindergartners shows a lot about his true character. He'll lie to win and throw his integrity in the toilet to gain in the polls. Just like his voting record, it again sounds like the last 8 years of the Bush administration to me.
McCain barbs stirring outcry as distortions
Republican candidate's attacks on Obama come under fire from all sides
By MICHAEL COOPER and JIM RUTENBERG
Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama’s record and positions.
Mr. Obama has also been accused of distortions, but this week Mr. McCain has found himself under particularly heavy fire for a pair of headline-grabbing attacks. First the McCain campaign twisted Mr. Obama’s words to suggest that he had compared Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, to a pig after Mr. Obama said, in questioning Mr. McCain’s claim to be the change agent in the race, “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.” (Mr. McCain once used the same expression to describe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health plan.)
Then he falsely claimed that Mr. Obama supported “comprehensive sex education” for kindergartners (he supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults).
Those attacks followed weeks in which Mr. McCain repeatedly, and incorrectly, asserted that Mr. Obama would raise taxes on the middle class, even though analysts say he would cut taxes on the middle class more than Mr. McCain would, and misrepresented Mr. Obama’s positions on energy and health care.
A McCain advertisement called “Fact Check” was itself found to be “less than honest” by FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group. The group complained that the McCain campaign had cited its work debunking various Internet rumors about Ms. Palin and implied in the advertisement that the rumors had originated with Mr. Obama.
“The last month, for sure, I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama,” said Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist.
Being called out
Indeed, in recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.
A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, said the campaign had evidence for all its claims. “We stand fully by everything that’s in our ads,” Mr. Rogers said, “and everything that we’ve been saying we provide detailed backup for — everything. And if you and the Obama campaign want to disagree, that’s your call.”
Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer — over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his “Straight Talk” image — to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.
“They just keep stirring the pot, and I think the McCain folks realize if they can get this thing down in the mud, drag Obama into the mud, that’s where they have the best advantage to win,” said Matthew Dowd, who worked with many top McCain campaign advisers when he was President Bush’s chief strategist in the 2004 campaign, but who has since had a falling out with the White House. “If they stay up at 10,000 feet, they don’t.”
For all the criticism, the offensive seems to be having an impact. It has been widely credited by strategists in both parties with rejuvenating Mr. McCain’s campaign and putting Mr. Obama on the defensive since it began early this summer.
Some who have criticized Mr. McCain have accused him of blatant untruths and of failing to correct himself when errors were pointed out.
On Friday on “The View,” generally friendly territory for politicians, one co-host, Joy Behar, criticized his new advertisements. “We know that those two ads are untrue,” Ms. Behar said. “They are lies. And yet you, at the end of it, say, ‘I approve these messages.’ Do you really approve them?”
“Actually they are not lies,” Mr. McCain said crisply, “and have you seen some of the ads that are running against me?”
McCain barbs stirring outcry as distortions
Republican candidate's attacks on Obama come under fire from all sides
By MICHAEL COOPER and JIM RUTENBERG
Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama’s record and positions.
Mr. Obama has also been accused of distortions, but this week Mr. McCain has found himself under particularly heavy fire for a pair of headline-grabbing attacks. First the McCain campaign twisted Mr. Obama’s words to suggest that he had compared Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, to a pig after Mr. Obama said, in questioning Mr. McCain’s claim to be the change agent in the race, “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.” (Mr. McCain once used the same expression to describe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health plan.)
Then he falsely claimed that Mr. Obama supported “comprehensive sex education” for kindergartners (he supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults).
Those attacks followed weeks in which Mr. McCain repeatedly, and incorrectly, asserted that Mr. Obama would raise taxes on the middle class, even though analysts say he would cut taxes on the middle class more than Mr. McCain would, and misrepresented Mr. Obama’s positions on energy and health care.
A McCain advertisement called “Fact Check” was itself found to be “less than honest” by FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group. The group complained that the McCain campaign had cited its work debunking various Internet rumors about Ms. Palin and implied in the advertisement that the rumors had originated with Mr. Obama.
“The last month, for sure, I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama,” said Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist.
Being called out
Indeed, in recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.
A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, said the campaign had evidence for all its claims. “We stand fully by everything that’s in our ads,” Mr. Rogers said, “and everything that we’ve been saying we provide detailed backup for — everything. And if you and the Obama campaign want to disagree, that’s your call.”
Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer — over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his “Straight Talk” image — to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.
“They just keep stirring the pot, and I think the McCain folks realize if they can get this thing down in the mud, drag Obama into the mud, that’s where they have the best advantage to win,” said Matthew Dowd, who worked with many top McCain campaign advisers when he was President Bush’s chief strategist in the 2004 campaign, but who has since had a falling out with the White House. “If they stay up at 10,000 feet, they don’t.”
For all the criticism, the offensive seems to be having an impact. It has been widely credited by strategists in both parties with rejuvenating Mr. McCain’s campaign and putting Mr. Obama on the defensive since it began early this summer.
Some who have criticized Mr. McCain have accused him of blatant untruths and of failing to correct himself when errors were pointed out.
On Friday on “The View,” generally friendly territory for politicians, one co-host, Joy Behar, criticized his new advertisements. “We know that those two ads are untrue,” Ms. Behar said. “They are lies. And yet you, at the end of it, say, ‘I approve these messages.’ Do you really approve them?”
“Actually they are not lies,” Mr. McCain said crisply, “and have you seen some of the ads that are running against me?”
"Where there is sacrifice there is someone collecting the sacrificial offerings."-- Ayn Rand
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
where was this article from?
it's pretty spot on. negative ads are commonplace, but i've never seen anything like the 0 to 100 ugliness mccain has gone for ever since his convention. and it IS hurting obama. i hope people start hearing how much bullshit he's slinging.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26682305/
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
Mohandas K. Gandhi
~I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulette I could have worn.~
Henry David Thoreau
The sex-ed ad, however ... if you read the language of the bill, it did call for teaching sex-ed to kindergarteners beyond "good touching vs. bad touching." It called for teaching kindergarteners explicitly about sexually transmitted diseases, for one .. which I think is a bit creepy.
So, though Obama's intentions might have been pure with this bill ... the end result -- kindergarteners apparently learning that if you stick your wee-wee in a dirty girl's foofie, it might burn when you tinkle -- ain't so pure.
Last I checked, you don't get points for good intentions. So, there's a grain of truth to that McCain ad ,and I don't have a huge problem with it.
The lipstick ad, on the other hand, was false outrage, as Obama put it, and was pretty juvenile.
Good to see Obama countering with the "The Viet Cong beat McCain so bad he can't use a computer, ha ha ha!" ad, though
for the least they could possibly do
I'm sorry but you are so full of shit on this count. The bill does nothing like what you keep repeating.
Do you subscribe to the Rovian idea that if you repeat something enough it will become the truth?
A direct quote from the bill:
"Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV.”
I mean, I'm not a genius like the Messiah ... but I can read.
for the least they could possibly do
Since you love reading so much, here's some material for you to check up on:
(Note that it is from 2 non-partisan and respected websites. You provided an out of context sentence with no link.)
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/off_base_on_sex_ed.html
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/712/
Both conclude that the add was a flat out lie.
2006: Camden I & II, DC
2008: DC, Ed DC II
WELCOME to the board @ AMT.
Well JMcCain has learned very well from Bush Jr what it takes to win the White House. Remember how nasty Bush spoke about McCain in the Republican primaries in 2000, well McCain intends to be as bad or worse to insure that his tuchas gets placed in the White House.
In turn Obama is playing this presidential race like a pussy and appears to not have a backbone to his attacks. I don't nether one of them, where's Kucinich when you need him?
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
You're right. They conclude that Obama's "one accomplishment" wasn't even his accomplishment. Maybe Obama should put up a counter-ad: "The claims of the McCain camp are a bald faced lie. I've never accomplished anything in my life!"
On another note, it seems these sites want to hide behind the ambiguous phrase "age-appropriate" -- which begs the question: What is an "age-appropriate" way to teach kindergarteners about sexually transmitted diseases?
A certain episode of Chappelle's show springs to mind ...
for the least they could possibly do
Until McCain accuses Obama of fathering a white baby out of wedlock, he has been neither "as bad" nor "worse" than Bush in the 2000 primaries.
for the least they could possibly do
seems to be a catch phase based on vague technicalities now...
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Some comparison. Geez, the continuation of stooping down to the lowest of the low.
It is sad statement that both McCain and Bush have to sink down to this type of strategy. Which is very revealing in and of itself. They have nothing to offer so they attack their opponent. Sweet isn't it.
No worries it's coming or worse, desperation causes one to sink to new lows.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Sorry, wrong again. Since you didn't read it the first time, here it is inline:
"His Only Accomplishment?
The ad claims the bill was Obama's "one accomplishment." This is doubly false. Obama was neither a cosponsor nor a sponsor of the sex education bill, which never got past "go" in the Senate. So it was not an "accomplishment" at all. Furthermore, Obama can properly claim a number of real accomplishments.
He was a cosponsor of what became the Chicago Education Reform Act of 2003, which allowed for an increase in the number of Chicago charter schools and required the Chicago Board of Education to enter into a formal partnership with the Chicago Teachers Union to "advance the Chicago Public Schools to the next level of education reform." He was also a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill to help Illinois high school graduates be eligible for in-state college tuition rates even if they weren't U.S. citizens.
On the federal level, Obama sponsored three amendments to The America COMPETES Act, which became law in 2007. All three amendments were passed in the Senate by unanimous consent and became law. One amendment proposed language that would create a mentoring program for women and minority groups during their studies in Department of Energy programs. He also proposed language to support summer learning programs and boost their math curricula. And he put forward a requirement that women and minorities be represented in the President's Science and Technology Summit. Whether or not one considers any of these measures earth-shaking, they're accomplishments nonetheless."
Keep trying though.
Obviously, I was joking about the "one accomplishment" thing ... the "age-appropriate" thing, I think, is fair game.
Look, there's no doubt the McCain ad was a bit dishonest, and I think I made that concession earlier. It takes the most sensational part of that bill and bends it into a National Enquirer-style headline. My only point is that the ad wasn't invented out of whole cloth. The bill Obama voted for did include language about teaching STDs to kindergarteners.
This is basically what campaigns do, and it is the sort of thing that had been happening to Sarah Palin for the past week. You take something that is semi-innocuous and out of context, and give it the worst possible spin. It's been happening in politics since the days of Jefferson.
for the least they could possibly do
Fair enough. I think it was more manipulative than some might think though.
Got to say that although we have differing opinions, most of the time you back up what you're saying. But I must say, no offense, but this explanation is absolutely and completely full of it. There is not "one shred of truth" in the ad as you claim; a complete fabrication; "Teaching sex education to kindergarteners" while showing Obama in front of innocent schoolchildren? What is this, President Pedophile? Is he serious?
Regardless of the candidates (and I think Senator McCain is a honorable man), McCain's campaign has completely surrendered any sense of integrity or honesty in his attempt to win the election. Every Democrat, Independent and Republican I've spoken to about this point has agreed with that statement entirely. I don't see how it's possible to think otherwise, considering it's blindingly obvious.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/13/campaign.wrap/index.html
" Meanwhile, McCain's campaign said a new Spanish language ad set to air in battleground states blames Obama and Senate Democrats for the failure of attempts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.
"Obama and his congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they?" asks the announcer in the 30-second spot, "Which Side Are They On?"
"The press reports that their efforts were 'poison pills' that made immigration reform fail," he continues. "The result: No guest worker program. No path to citizenship. No secure borders. No reform. Is that being on our side? Obama and his congressional allies ready to block immigration reform, but not ready to lead." Watch the ad
But Obama and McCain cast identical votes in the major congressional showdowns on the issue last year.
Both men cast votes in favor of an unsuccessful early June effort to end a filibuster. Later that month, they voted again to end debate on the issue -- but again failed to shut down the filibuster effort, led for the most part by Republican senators.
The ad is set to air in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, all crucial states in November with significant Hispanic voting populations."
I mean, I guess it takes chutzpah to completely and undeniably lie on all of these national advertisements. McCain's definitely is practicing a scorched-earth policy, and will probably notice it when Congress comes back to session when he's President.
They've learned from past campaigns, that there is no punishment for lying or putting deceptive info out there, so they will apparently keep doing it.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
That's the nature of this political business that we're given, it it up to us to decifer what is the truth or not.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Sad but true.
I was so annoyed yesterday and today I actually called and left a message on McCain's line, called the Republican Campaign Office & spoke with some kind young gent who was rather polite though had no power and then left a message with this gent today ...
A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, said the campaign had evidence for all its claims. “We stand fully by everything that’s in our ads,” Mr. Rogers said, “and everything that we’ve been saying we provide detailed backup for — everything. And if you and the Obama campaign want to disagree, that’s your call.” (From the NYTIMES article)
I didn't agree with this so I called him directly. As he wasn't in I shared my opinion via vm and left my number if he wanted to refute my claims. Of course I will never hear from the dude.
The phone number to the RC Headquarters is 703-418-2008 ... if you are left feeling as disgusted as I place a diplomatic call. Can't hurt. Probably won't change a freakin' thing, but a few thousand complaints wouldn't be such a bad thing. : )
You can read, but where does reasoning come in? In kindergarten, this would amount to telling kids that if they got bitten or got someone else's blood in your mouth, eyes, nose, or in a cut, you'd want to get medical attention. Everyone needs to know this. Teachers are given "bite kits" every year to keep them safe from HIV transmission. Why shouldn't our kids be kept safe? I don't think it's creepy to protect kindergartners from misery and death. Just because a disease can be sexually transmitted doesn't mean it has to be. And just because a disease is sexually transmitted doesn't mean you need to be explicit about sex.
Also, good touch bad touch is extremely important. That is part of being sexually educated at a young age. And kids need to know that if they are being touched in a bad way, they could be getting hurt in more than just obvious ways. If you knew how many kids were sexually abused from very young ages on, you might get on the "teach the kids" bandwagon. I've worked in law, and I've worked in education. It is heartbreaking to think of what happens to so many of our kids, and how so many of our kids don't know enough to tell an adult who cares about what is happening to them. Every year, in every grade level there are children being sexually abused. In the law office, I saw a case where a 5 year-old girl was being abused by every male member of her family, including her 3 brothers and her father. That's what I call creepy, and helping protect our kids against that is what every decent person in the US ought to be doing their utmost to do.
John McCain is acting like an enabler, not a crime fighter. And he's doing this in the name of winning an election. The doublespeak express? I don't know. I don't know. If I believed in Satan, I'd say that McCain is so hell bent on getting elected, he's turned to doing Satan's work for him. I do not see how else you could frame protecting children from abuse and disease as something bad by lying about what is being done to protect them.
I'm just to see what will happen and that area code 703 that's a cross state# in VA.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
I first called the Washington Office listed on the RNC site and the gent I spoke with gave me the number directly. So there ya have it. : )
Do you have a source for this? The bill I read didn't say this. Thanks.
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
It was a bad ad. If I haven't already made that clear, I should have. It was sensational, and it was over the top.
I think the ad did have a point to make -- no matter how you slice it, the bill called for teaching STDs to kindergarteners -- but its point was completely obscured in the ridiculous, over-the-top way in which it was presented.
Fail, fail, fail.
for the least they could possibly do
Source??