"Dishonorable?" John McCain's Picture Should Be Next to the Word in the Dictionary

John McCain's latest ad contains not just his usual exaggerations but a flat out lie made by chopping a sentence of Obama's in half and making it seem the opposite of what it really is.

The ad has the announcer begin a sentence with a quote from Obama in the middle:

(Announcer) "He says our troops in Afghanistan are..." (Obama) "...just air-raiding villages and killing civilians..."

The announcer then says "How dishonorable" (using the same whiny voice that makes me cringe whenever I hear it).

What did Obama really say? This:

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there"

He wasn't saying we are JUST air-raiding villages, and he wasn't criticizing the troops at all so much as saying they needed more help.

McCain knows this. He's a liar and the one who really is dishonorable.

McCain is unfit to be president and unfit to even be a U.S. senator. Worse than that, he's a loathesome scum-sucking piece of shit of a human being. And so is anyone who supports or condones his behavior.

John McCain -- Shameless, Unrepentant Liar

In this clip you can see McCain brazenly justifying his distorted ad about Obama's support for a sex education bill, and even trying to defend the infamous "lipstick on a pig ad" despite the fact that he himself has admitted that he knew Obama wasn't referring to Palin.

Sad to see what a despicable, loathesome creature John McCain has devolved into. He deserves to lose this campaign -- by a lot.

Romney: "What's the Heart and the Soul of the Republican Party Going to Be Going Forward?"

Edit: Seems this video is actually from the primaries, it is not recent. Which makes sense since Romney is too much of a Slick Willie to take that sort of principled stance during an election...

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The backlash continues, as conservatives and Republicans continue to repudiate the sick joke that has become the McCain/Palin campaign.

Looks like ol' Mitt is already running for 2012.

Even *Fox News* is Pushing Back on the McLie Campaign

Nice to see.

P.S. I hope there's a Hell, so that people like Tucker Bounds can rot in it for eternity.

If Obama Finally Makes a Good Ad But Nobody Hears It, Does It Make a Sound?

This is the sort of ad Obama needs to keep hitting McCain with. The question remains, however: does anyone even care any more? I think some still do, but will it be enough?

How Do You Know Sarah Palin is Lying? Her Lips are Moving

The Big Lie campaign continues unabated.

Politicians lie enough as it is, without doing so proudly and openly. This woman doesn't deserve to be in the White House even as a tourist.s

Republican Strategist: "Facts Don't Really Matter"

I've said for some time that this election has become a referendum on the intelligence and integrity of the American people. Are they smart enough to see through the blatant lies being peddled by McCain and Palin? Are they moral enough to even care?

What's shocking to me so far this year is not that the Republicans are lying and smearing -- they always do that. It's that they are so unapologetic about it. From today's Washington Post:

From the moment Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declared that she had opposed the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," critics, the news media and nonpartisan fact checkers have called it a fabrication or, at best, a half-truth. But yesterday in Lebanon, Ohio, and again in Lancaster, Pa., she crossed that bridge again.

...

Palin's position on the bridge that would have linked Ketchikan to Gravina Island is one example of a candidate staying on message even when that message has been publicly discredited. Palin has continued to say she opposed a project she once campaigned for -- then killed later, only after support for it had collapsed in Congress.

...

Palin and John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee, have been more aggressive in recent days in repeating what their opponents say are outright lies. Almost every day, for instance, McCain says rival Barack Obama would raise everyone's taxes, even though the Democrat's tax plan exempts families that earn less than $250,000.

...

John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters' opinions of the candidates.

"The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there's a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she's new, she's popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent," Feehery said. "As long as those are out there, these little facts don't really matter." (Emphasis mine.)

And people wonder why I say Republicans are aiming for the "stupid vote"? Obviously not all Republican voters are stupid, but when you run this sort of a campaign you are clearly saying that you are more interested in propaganda than honesty and really discussing issues.

Do Americans really want another four years of this stuff? I really hope not.

I think Obama has to make a choice. Either he decides to go negative himself and attack straight at McCain's whole reputation, or he makes this a referendum on intelligence and integrity, just as I have been saying. His earlier comments about McCain thinking people are stupid, and the hard hit back yesterday regarding McCain's honor (or lack thereof) suggest the latter approach, which would definitely be more consistent with who Obama is. But he must do one or the other, in addition to continuing to press the issues.

Prediction: Look for McCain's first attack ad accusing Obama of lying about something -- whether or not he really did -- as early as today.

The McCain-Palin Lies and the Neil Armstrong Principle

Paul Begala voices some of the frustrations that many of us are starting to feel about the joke that this election is rapidly becoming, thanks to the shameless SOBs running the McCain campaign, the toothless wonder that is today's press, and the incredible sucking sound coming from between our electorate's collective ears:

"But facts ought not be debatable. The media have an obligation to point out when a politician is lying about a matter of fact, but the right-wing attack machine has so cowed some of them you can almost hear them moo. Steve Schmidt, McCain's top dog, is a brilliant and audacious strategist. His candidate has had the most favorable press coverage of any politician of the last century -- fawning, adoring, sycophantic press coverage. And yet he is brutalizing the press, waterboarding them into pretending that whether Gov. Palin supported the "Bridge to Nowhere," or hired an Abramoff-connected lobbyist to secure massive earmarks are somehow debatable.

The real debate is over whether the media will be vigilant watchdogs, sounding the alarm when McCain and Palin lie, or fall back to the role they've played for most of McCain's career: lapdog.

The press is so damned worried about appearing "fair" that they're going to hand a bunch of serial liars and scumbuckets the White House on a platter made from their own obeisance. And if we the people don't do something about it, we will soon get four more years of the government we deserve.

New Obama Ad Pulls No Punches

The "we need to attack" contingent will be happy with this one.

As I said this morning, I think Obama is fine and I don't see this as a big change of strategy. It's more him defending his "change" message from McCain's (very lame) attempt to co-opt it.

It's also important for him to "throw a bone" to his base right now because many of them are getting frustrated.

Dear Barack: When They Lie, Call Them Liars

Steve Almond summarizes perfectly the frustration that many of us are feeling:

Dear Barack,

Next time someone asks what you think of Sarah Palin, please don't just call her a "skilled politician" with a "compelling biography." Call her a liar, too. Here's how that would work:

Reporter: What do you think of Sarah Palin?
You: She's a skilled politician with a compelling biography who lies a great deal.
Reporter: Wow! That's a pretty serious charge.
You: Actually, [insert name of reporter], it's not a charge. It's what certain people in your profession call "a fact."
Reporter (suspiciously): So you're calling her "a liar"?
You: Right. As in someone who lies a lot.
Reporter (gravely): With all due respect, Senator, if you're going to make that kind of accusation, you'd better be specific.
You: Sure. Remember when she said I'd never written a major piece of legislation? That was a lie. And when she said she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere? That was also a lie. And when she said I would raise taxes on American families? Again: a lie. And you know how she talks about opposing earmarks. Given that she hired a Jack Abramhoff-affiliated lobbyist to haul in $27 million in earmarks for her beloved small town, that's a real whopper. So she lies a lot, about my record and her own record. Just as a reminder, though, I'm not running against Sarah Palin. I'm running against John McCain, who is also a liar.
Reporter (even more gravely): Wait a second, so now you're saying --

Click through to read the rest.

To be honest, I'm not sure that would really be smart strategy from a political standpoint, and I greatly respect the instincts of Obama and his team on that score. But it would sure be satisfying to hear...