McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions (
New York Times)
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...
McCain Wrong on Palin Earmarks (
Los Angeles Times)
NEW YORK -- John McCain got it wrong Friday when he asserted that his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, had not requested any earmarks, the spending directives lawmakers insert in spending bills that McCain has vowed to eliminate.
Palin, in fact, requested $198 million in federal earmarks in February, including such expenses as $487,000 to fight obesity in Alaska and $4 million to develop recreational trails.
McCain Lambasted for Inaccuracies (
Seattle Times)
Sen. John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Sen. Barack Obama's record and positions.
Obama also has been accused of distortions, but McCain is under fire for two headline-grabbing attacks. First, the McCain campaign twisted Obama's words to suggest he had compared GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin to a pig after Obama questioned McCain's claim to be a change agent by saying, "You can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig." (McCain has used the same expression to describe Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health plan.)
He then falsely claimed that Obama supported "comprehensive sex ed" for kindergartners. (Obama supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults.)
Palin, McCain Contradict Each Other on Spending (
San Francisco Chronicle)
In a televised interview Friday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defended her request for an estimated $200 million in federal projects from Congress - even as earlier in the day her GOP running mate John McCain insisted Palin had never sought money from Congress.
McCain Wraps Distortions Around One Truth (
Washington Post)
THE AD
He was the world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading. So they lashed out at Sarah Palin. Dismissed her as "good-looking." That backfired, so they said she was doing "what she was told." Then desperately called Sarah Palin a liar. How disrespectful. And how Governor Sarah Palin proves them wrong, every day.
ANALYSIS
This John McCain commercial, which contains two significant distortions, is part of a larger effort to rule criticism of his running mate out of bounds and to paint her as the victim of unfair attacks from both Democrats and the media.
Palin Reviews Are In, and Gibson Got a... (
New York Times)
After taking in some of Charles Gibson’s interviews with the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, Paul Begala sounded ready to cast his vote.
"I thought one person on my television screen looked ready to assume the presidency," Mr. Begala, the CNN commentator, said by telephone on Friday. "It wasn’t Governor Palin."
Fact Check: McCain on Palin and Earmarks (
Dallas Morning News)
For more on John McCain's incorrect claim that Sarah Palin has sought no earmarks as governor, click here. The Associated Press reports that Ms. Palin "asked for nearly $200 million in targeted spending for the 2009 fiscal year."
Along the same lines, McClatchy declares a new Republican ad "out of bounds" for its claim that Ms. Palin "vetoed nearly half a billion dollars in wasteful spending and cut earmark requests by hundreds of millions of dollars." While technically true, McClatchy says, the ad takes the remark out of context enough that its meaning is distorted.
)
