Here is yet another example of biased reporting wrapped as a political story.
McCain’s tactics are drawing the scorn of many in the media and organizations tasked with fact-checking the truthfulness of campaigns. In recent weeks, Team McCain has been described as dishonorable, disingenuous and downright cynical.
A series of ads – ranging from accusations that Barack Obama backed teaching sex education to Illinois kindergartners to charges that Obama called Sarah Palin a lipstick-wearing pig – have provoked a cascade of criticism of McCain’s tactics.
I guess the reporter missed FactCheck.org's article on smears regarding Sarah Palin, or this one on how Obama distort's McCain's record on education, or this one regarding Obama's lies over another McCain position, or this one about how Obama distorted the truth in his acceptance speech, or...well, you get the idea.
In fact, Obama did back teaching sex ed to kindergarteners. Whether you think "good touch/bad touch" is sex ed or not, it is. So, there was no lie there. And while Obama was trying very hard to claim he wasn't calling Sarah Palin a pig, the awkwardly-thrown-in line and the reacton of his audience suggests otherwise.
But more than these examples from the last week, Obama promised a "different campaign." And maybe running a stealth negative ad campaign is different, but only in the two-faced sense. The truth is Obama began running negative ads before John McCain did, but the Obama campaign only became exercised when the famous "Celebrity" ad came out.
When the August “celebrity” ads cut through the clutter and, for the first time in the campaign, put Obama on defense, McCain aides felt they’d got their answer about whether tougher was smarter.
Similar affirmation came when Obama first suggested McCain would bring race into the campaign – and the Republican side smothered the tactic by countering that it was Obama who was playing the race card.
But, in fact, Barack Obama has been the only person talking about his race in the entire campaign (see here and here for my posts on the subject). Granted, that doesn't include the "code words" and "dog whistles" the moonbats find in every criticism of Obama, from calling him "thin" to mentioning his middle name "Hussein." It wasn't the McCain campaign that has brought up race. Barack Obama has tried to use his race as a double-edged sword, one that allows him to attack white people with guilt and carve up Democrats who aren't happy with their candidate. It allows him to describe himself as new and different while practicing the same tactics of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
The Left and the MSM are attacking John McCain for showing Obama as unready to lead because such illumination is effective. If Barack Obama had a true record of reform--the kind he says he wants to bring to Washington--this would be no problem for him. But all Barack Obama has is 2 autobiographies, a handful of questionable friends and associates, and a paper-thin legislative record (and no, slapping your name on legislation that is 15 years old doesn't qualify). All of these things hold him open to criticism and ridicule.
But according to reporters, only John McCain has gone negative. I guess they missed this nasty little ad by Barack Obama:
Oh, that's a knee-slapper! Except that McCain doesn't use the computer much is that a) he has a staff who can do much of that work for him and b) the Vietcong broke his fingers and arms so that it's kinda uncomfortable for him to sit and type for long periods of time.
I understand why the reporter wants to pretend that only McCain runs negative ads, but the truth is that Americans have begun looking closely at Barack Obama and they are more concerned with his lack of judgment than his funny name.
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