Shifting Winds

While the polls don't yet reflect a change in the Presidental race, the meltdown in the financial market will almost certainly shift the conversation from lipstick to the economy. Also, parts of the mainstream media are starting to put down the McMaverick barbeque, wipe the sauce away, and to write about the dishonesty of the McMaverick/Who? team. Some actually are using the word "lie." Former McMaverick idolizer Richard Cohen is up in arms about the lies. Take it away, Dickie:

"McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician. . .his opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir. . .is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for."

Of course some of us would argue that "all he once stood for" was an act put on to charm and co-opt his media fans. McMaverick is fond of saying that he'd rather (fill in the blank) than be President. No, he'd rather be President than run an honest, honorable campaign.

Just The Facts, Cont'd.

Despite St. John McFibber's claim that running mate Gov. Who? has not requested pork barrel earmarks while governor of Alaska, the Wall Street Journal (!!) notes that Gov. Who? has requested $453 million in earmarks in the past 2 years, including a $4.5 million upgrade for an airport serving fewer than 100 people.

Meanwhile, the conservative U.S. News and World Report carries an article by John Farrell entitled, "John McCain's Journey From Maverick To Liar." Worth the read.

Is there anything the McMavericks are not willing to lie about?

Just The Facts, cont'd.

FactCheck.org, the independent "fact checker" of the nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center, is calling out the McSleaze campaign for its distortions of FactCheck's statements. A McSleaze ad claimed that the Obama campaign was scurrilously attacking Gov. Who?, when in fact the FactCheck claim referred to some anonymous e-mails floating around the internet. The lies are mounting.

Just The Facts

Following up on the talking-to that Paul Begala gave to the media on CNN the other day (our post yesterday at 12:08), he has this post at Huffington. He's right that "subjective" arguments (whether a candidate is more compassionate, whether a candidate identifies with voters, etc.) can be debated with the media looking on. But facts should not be debatable (is the earth flat or not?), and that's where the mavericky mainstream media is falling down on the job by not calling out candidates that don't stick to the facts (bridge to nowhere, turned down pork barrel money, etc.) - - what most people would call "lying."

Campaign Ads and the Liars That Make Them

St. John McMaverick released an ad yesterday that claims that Sen. Obama supported "comprehensive sex education for kindergartners" as an Illinois State Senator. The problem with that ad is its sheer dishonesty. The program that Obama supported was designed in large part to teach kids how to recognize and avoid inappropriate touching and to protect them from pedophiles. Since a number of Rethuglican politicians fall into the pedophile category, this would seem to be a can of worms for them to open. But the strategy is to do the quick hit job, expect that our broken media will spread it without rebuttal, and to put the Obama campaign in the position of explaining why it's a lie.

In this case, the Obama campaign put out a strongly worded statement, but it takes more than that. A political adage goes, "if you're busy explaining, you're busy losing." They need to seize on issues, go on the offensive and hit them hard first.

I'll Have A Whopper

Whopper: That Sen. Obama has requested $1 billion in earmarks, according to St. John McFibber.

Fact: Sen. Obama requested $311 million in earmarks last year, and no earmarks this year.