rssAnother McCain Ad Dissected by FactCheck.org
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 11:17 am
- 6 Comments
FactCheck.org released another analysis of one of Sen. John McCain’s recent TV attack ads against Sen. Barack Obama late Tuesday. This time, the non-partisan fact-checking Website concludes the ad, titled “Troop Funding,” makes several statements that “are literally true but paint an incomplete picture.” Among the charges is a claim that Obama “never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan — which is true, but not really fair.
Obama, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on European Affairs, hasn’t held any Afghanistan hearings. The full Senate Foreign Relations Committee, however, has held three hearings on Afghanistan during the past two years, and Obama attended one of them.
McCain’s ad fails to mention that his own record is no better. Although he’s the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, he missed all seven of the hearings that his panel held on Afghanistan during the same two years, according to ABCNews.com. (We looked through the transcripts of the hearings from Federal News Service to confirm ABC’s report, and we found statements that showed McCain was not present at two of the hearings, statements from other senators speaking on McCain’s behalf at two more hearings, and no mention of McCain whatsoever at the other three.)
In the ad, Obama’s image appears on-screen with text that reads, “Against Troop Funding” — which would imply what it says, that Obama opposes funding the troops — while the announcer says he “voted against funding our troops.” The analysis notes this statement is true. Obama did vote against troop funding — once. But there is more to the story.
Prior to the sole 2007 vote cited by the McCain campaign as justification for this ad, Obama voted for all war-funding bills that had come before the Senate since 2005, when he was sworn in. So did all other Senate Democrats, except for a few absences. As recently as April 2007, Obama voted in favor of funding U.S. troops again, but this time Democrats added a non-binding call to withdraw them from Iraq. McCain (who was absent for the vote) resident Bush did veto it, and McCain Based on those facts, it would be literally true to say that “McCain urged a veto of funding for our troops.” But that would be oversimplified to the point of being seriously misleading, which is exactly the problem with McCain’s ad.
As we noted yesterday, McCain’s track record for providing the public with accurate information in his campaign ads — which air almost exclusively in swing states, where they can be most effective — is not all that good. This is now the sixth McCain ad in the last month cited by the FactCheck.org for spreading false or misleading information. If this is part of McCain’s strategy, it’s hard to see how he can reconcile this with his frequent pledge to run an “honorable campaign.” On the bright side, the good folks over at FactCheck.org probably don’t have to worry about job security between now and November.
6 Comments
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
You are absolutely right ajm — Obama has been cited by FactCheck.org as well. I acknowledged this in a previous post:
http://washingtonindependent.com/view/factcheck-org
However, it does appear that McCain’s falsities are much more frequent, significant and systematic in nature. I will be keeping track of FactCheck.org’s analyses, and I will update if/when Obama is cited again. Thanks for pointing this out.
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
to “akhajawall”, if you have something intelligent to add about the story on the page which you are commenting, then good, otherwise stop posting the same exact comment on different pages. I saw the exact same comment last week I believe and it had no good reason for being on that page either.
–
With that being said, I love how the internet opens up channels for people to find the truth behind ads like this. And to be fair, Obama has made some less than straightforward claims in his ads too. Sites like FactCheck.org are revolutionizing political campaigns because before this, there were no easy ways for the everyday person to really sort out the degree of truth behind political ads.
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 11:57 am
Dear American Citizens and the Press
As a concerned citizen, I consider it is my duty to bring following message to you all.
“We the citizens of the United States of America have the ultimate responsibility to elect the ” Right Candidate” to lead our nation, out of our huge present and future internal and external challenges as well as opportunities. This is to prevent depression and isolation in-spite of being the only superpower in the world morally, democratically, economically, and militarily.
We need to consider the “critical qualities and characteristics” of our presumptive presidential nominees at the time we vote.
In my personal and professional opinion the critical considerations are as under:
1. Calm, cool, and collected ” temper ” [ Presidential Temperament ].
2. Sound and sustained “Judgment and Caliber”.
3. “Thought-fullness and togetherness” of purpose and positions.
4. Minimum “ex-poser and exploitation” around “Washington and Washington insiders”.
5. Renewed ” Vigor and Vision ” for our Greatgrand Nation.
6. Foreign policy based on ” American Values, Virtuous, Vastness”.
Stay informed, stay involved, and stay engaged. Do not allow some partisan media, pundits, pollsters, and perpetual political opinion makers effect your vote in the wrong direction.
Don’t be effected and duped by “Psychological Terrorism” that is afflicted upon you all the time.
Long live U.S.A and its diverse but democratic people.
Col. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., ABFM., ABDA.
Chief Consultant: World Wide Porfessional Consultants[WWPC]
Colonel, USAR/MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Freedom team.
Consultant Psychiatrist: CA State, Medical Board of California, and Los Angeles Mental Health Department
Address: 7642 Eaglehelm Court Las Vegas NV 89123
PS: it simply says that hon. Senator McCain is temperamental and cognatively challenged.
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 6:57 am
Dear American Citizens and the Press
As a concerned citizen, I consider it is my duty to bring following message to you all.
“We the citizens of the United States of America have the ultimate responsibility to elect the ” Right Candidate” to lead our nation, out of our huge present and future internal and external challenges as well as opportunities. This is to prevent depression and isolation in-spite of being the only superpower in the world morally, democratically, economically, and militarily.
We need to consider the “critical qualities and characteristics” of our presumptive presidential nominees at the time we vote.
In my personal and professional opinion the critical considerations are as under:
1. Calm, cool, and collected ” temper ” [ Presidential Temperament ].
2. Sound and sustained “Judgment and Caliber”.
3. “Thought-fullness and togetherness” of purpose and positions.
4. Minimum “ex-poser and exploitation” around “Washington and Washington insiders”.
5. Renewed ” Vigor and Vision ” for our Greatgrand Nation.
6. Foreign policy based on ” American Values, Virtuous, Vastness”.
Stay informed, stay involved, and stay engaged. Do not allow some partisan media, pundits, pollsters, and perpetual political opinion makers effect your vote in the wrong direction.
Don't be effected and duped by “Psychological Terrorism” that is afflicted upon you all the time.
Long live U.S.A and its diverse but democratic people.
Col. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., ABFM., ABDA.
Chief Consultant: World Wide Porfessional Consultants[WWPC]
Colonel, USAR/MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Freedom team.
Consultant Psychiatrist: CA State, Medical Board of California, and Los Angeles Mental Health Department
Address: 7642 Eaglehelm Court Las Vegas NV 89123
PS: it simply says that hon. Senator McCain is temperamental and cognatively challenged.
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 7:29 am
to “akhajawall”, if you have something intelligent to add about the story on the page which you are commenting, then good, otherwise stop posting the same exact comment on different pages. I saw the exact same comment last week I believe and it had no good reason for being on that page either.
–
With that being said, I love how the internet opens up channels for people to find the truth behind ads like this. And to be fair, Obama has made some less than straightforward claims in his ads too. Sites like FactCheck.org are revolutionizing political campaigns because before this, there were no easy ways for the everyday person to really sort out the degree of truth behind political ads.
Comment posted July 23, 2008 @ 7:42 am
You are absolutely right ajm — Obama has been cited by FactCheck.org as well. I acknowledged this in a previous post:
http://washingtonindependent.com/view/factcheck…
However, it does appear that McCain's falsities are much more frequent, significant and systematic in nature. I will be keeping track of FactCheck.org's analyses, and I will update if/when Obama is cited again. Thanks for pointing this out.
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