The latest meme out from the Obama campaign and its willing sycophants in the press and blogosphere is that McCain lied. Down in this thread, I asked what McCain had lied about. The responses were predictable, if sad.
1. McCain "lied" that Barack Obama supported sex ed for kindergarteners. But Barack Obama did, in fact, vote for this legislation. There's debate about what kind of sex ed the kids would receive, but it's still sex ed.
2. Obama will raise taxes on the middle class. It's hard to believe that there are still people out there willing to suspend their disbelief enough to think Obama can give away all the goodies he's promising by taxing only "the rich." But evidently, there are. But even arguing that Obama will only tax "the rich," those taxes will force businesses, investors, and other entities to spend money paying taxes that could otherwise be used hiring people or investing in the business. Dana doesn't buy that Obama will only tax the rich and I tend to agree with him. Haven't we seen this movie already?
3. Iran is a “tiny” country ad. I guess Pandora was referring to this speech:
Even in context, Obama's statement that Iran didn't pose a serious threat to us is ridiculous. Nor does he recognize that the Iranians, who have trained suicide bombers, are not rational regarding war with "the Great Satan" the way the Russians were. Mutually Assured Destruction ensured that neither the U.S. nor the Soviets would launch a first strike. But Iran has leaders anxious to wipe Israel off the map. That Obama fails to recognize the threat a nuclear Iran poses to the world gives us one more example of why POTUS isn't on the job training.
4. Obama would rather go to the gym than visit the troops ad. Democrats seem to hate facts and this is one of them. Obama did not visit troops in Germany when he had the opportunity. Period. He wend to the gym. Period. Obama's ineffective explanations did nothing to counter these facts.
5. McCain is against lobbyists, yet has 159 lobbyists in his campaign. I don't know how big a deal it is if lobbyists or former lobbyists are on your staff, I do know that Obama gets a lot of loot from 'em. I gave Pandora credit for this one.
6. Obama is responsible for the rising gas prices ad. Democrats hate the fact that, since they control Congress, they are in charge of legislation. Which means when they don't support ways to lower gas prices, they are, in effect, responsible for the rise in prices. And since Obama has been against drilling (before he was for it), that puts him in the responsible category.
I wasn't really surprised that it was relatively easy to shoot down all these "lies," since I was pretty sure before I started that they weren't lies, at all. What they are are effective ways of using Obama's words against him. Funny, they don't mind when the shoe is on the other foot.
UPDATE: Byron York gives the facts on Obama's sex education bill.
UPDATE x2: Ann Althouse seems to have some of the same problems I do with the whole "lying" thing.
It seems to me that all the McCain ad does is decline to accept Obama's self-serving characterization of the reason why he voted for the bill. But study the text and the legislative history of the bill, as York has, and try to explain how it can possibly be considered a lie to say that he voted for comprehensive sex education for kindergartners.
What I can get from liberals is that any use of Obama's words that doesn't get him votes constitutes lying. That's not a good enough definition for me.
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