McCain surrenders his honor

It's a sad turn of events. John McCain used to be all about honor and country. Now he's all about me, me, me – having demonstrated that he's willing to lie his way to gain the presidency.

I've lost all respect for the guy. As should the voters.

Fortunately, people are starting to wake up from the dream of "McCain, independent maverick." Alarm clocks are buzzing all over the place.

"McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions" The New York Times nails him:

Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama's record and positions.

"John McCain's ads are LIES. Here's the video proof." A You Tube video documents his falsities:

"Why McCain is going so negative, so often" Jonathan Martin explains:

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.. McCain seems to have made a choice that many politicians succumb to but that he had always promised to avoid — he appears ready to do whatever it takes to win, even it if soils his reputation.

"The two faces of John McCain" Old one: proud warrior. New one: lying politician.

And that is the contradiction now confronted by the national press corps, whose members desperately wish to believe in the old McCain they adored rather than the new McCain who nauseates them. Some pretend that what they see is not really happening, or doesn't matter; others wrinkle their noses but cannot quite muster indignation; and a few, very few, realize that the campaign is being debased by the man who once denounced this ugly style of politics and promised reform.

"Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history" That's for sure. Tell it like it is.

"We will take no lectures from John McCain, who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office his is seeking."

"McCain wrong on Palin earmarks" The Los Angeles Times does some fact-checking and lie exposing.

John McCain got it wrong Friday when he asserted that his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, had not requested any earmarks, the spending directives lawmakers insert in spending bills that McCain has vowed to eliminate. Palin, in fact, requested $198 million in federal earmarks in February, including such expenses as $487,000 to fight obesity in Alaska and $4 million to develop recreational trails.

After eight years of George Bush, Americans are tired of being lied to. Yet here comes John McCain, doing more of the same.

What I find amazing is that this is the same John McCain who was so fond of claiming (falsely) that Barack Obama is willing to lose a war in order to win an election. And now McCain is showing that he is willing to lose his honor in order to win the presidency.

There's only one thing for both Obama and voters to do: release some righteous rage. Refuse to play Karl Rove's games again. Stand up for truth, justice, and the American way.

Not John McCain's lying way.

Comments

[condor]

I'm unimpressed. The video is as full of distortions and out of context remarks and statistics as it complains about McCain doing. Dirty pool on both sides. That's politics.

[Randy]

Start hammering the Rovepublicans and trolls like Condor will always show up in comments.

[crallspace]

Unfortunately, he is leading in some polls, and some seem to be hypnotied by the Sarah Palin snake oil.

Our voting populace is largely uneducated and ignorant. The (R)s have manipulated the facts and somehow, too many are ignoring these last 8 years.

[Mardee]

This should be shown on regular tv as most of the people who need to see it won't be looking on utube

[Dan]

Explain to me again how this works...

If you don't agree with what someone says, they are a dirty, stinking liar.

If someone doesn't agree with what you say, they are too stupid to understand the "truth," and are most likely a [insert Karl Rove adjective here] Republican.

Neither R's or D's go to any great lengths to disclose facts that are unflattering to their positions or overall goals. But I guess the ends justifies the means when you are a passionate liberal who is just trying to [insert liberal goal of (1) save the planet, (2) protect the children, (3) impeach any Republican administration for war crimes, or (4) impress Europeans].

[Rain]

What I have begun to wonder, Brian, is do Republicans care about lies? They either seem to deny it, think it's trick photography or say they all do it. Does it matter to them if McCain lies? Maybe it's a virtue if he gets away with it and he's their guy. You wrote about it awhile back that Democrats care how they win and Republicans do not. I am beginning to think that's what you are seeing as McCain's lies are so obvious, so easily checked with tapes and yet Republicans just like him more. Is this what they want??? In our personal lives we'd feel someone we heard lie to someone else would also like to us but somehow that doesn't seem to be a factor in how this is okay.

[condor]

McCain isn't the only liar.

Google "Obama lies" and you will find an impressive supply.

Who do you believe? Neither. They're both liars. It's a fundamental practice in politics, as integral to the game as a racquet in tennis.

If a politician plays it straight up, he can't even play the game. Look at Ron Paul.

Is a basketball player vilified if he/she throws elbows? No, they're called power forwards.

Is a fighter condemned for stepping on his opponent's foot so he can't step back to evade a punch? No, he's called a cagey veteran.

Is a base runner in baseball condemned when he knocks the catcher on his butt sliding into home? No, he's praised for his hustle.

Politics is a rough game and if you don't play rough, you lose. It's too bad it's that way, but that's the way it is.

[Rain]

For the moment, condor, that's not the question. The question is whether it matters to you that McCain lies? When he said, in an ad, that Obama advocated sex education for kindergartners, did it bother you at all that he was advocating teaching them about predators and to be careful? If McCain lies, do you care?

As for Obama's 'lies', are you going by right wing programs or what he actually said? Snopes went into the supposed 50 lies and came up with some that were exaggerations and some that Obama never said. So supposing the right wing lied that he lied, would you care about that?

Sometimes we do interpret our own history to suit ourselves but that's different than the lie about Obama advocating sex ed for kindergarten children. And that's a small part of the lies McCain campaign has put out. Even the major newspapers are talking about it, but I have this feeling that Republicans don't care. He's their liar and it's okay. One though though for you, who are so worried about increased taxes, if he lies to us, why won't he lie to you? Do you know that even Karl Rove said the McCain campaign has gone too far. That's kind of amazing.

[condor]

To clarify, what I meant to say is that McCain and Obama lie, not that they are necessarily liars. They are puppets of their campaigns following the plays of the behind the scenes quarterbacks.

Now, you might say, what's the difference...they lie, but they're not liars? Lying is just politics. It's how the game is played, as I already said.

Is a basketball player with sharp elbows a bully in real life? Maybe, but he could simply be a tough basketball player and really not a bad guy at all. He just wants to win and elbows are part of the game. They'll run him over if he doesn't use them.

The idea in politics is to make your opponent look as bad as poosible. Distorting facts, taking remarks out of context. It's all in the playbook. I've never seen a campaign where this wasn't going on. Why would anyone dispose of a major political tool? You can't tell me democrats don't do this. C'mon. Quit whinning.

Both sides are like kids in a school yard where one goes screaming to the teacher, "It's not fair, he poked me in the eye!" and then when the teacher isn't looking he goes and kicks the kid in the nuts.

You ask if it bothers me that McCain lies. Does it matter to you that Obama lies? Does it bother you that the Obama campaign is trying to do a hatchet job on Palin? Of course we don't like it, but that's just the way it is.

Do you really think either side isn't going to do everything they can get away with to win when the stakes are so high?

Politics is the dirtiest game in town where the end justifies any means. There isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that certain elements in either camp would kill, literally, if they knew they could get away with it.

Land of the free, home of the brave.

[Brian]

Condor, what are the lies about McCain that the Obama campaign are spreading? I'm not aware of any significant ones. Please describe them, with links to factual stories discrediting the supposed lies.

I think you'll find that the McCain campaign is by far the biggest liar.

[condor]

Obama supporters and anti-McCalinistas have been focusing on Sarah Palin for obvious reasons:

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/factcheck-debunks-lies-about-sarah-palin

[mgrfin]

You ain't seen nothing yet.

MCCain and company have an October surprise in store for Barak Obama.

I don't know what it is. Certainly more than the sleeze he has published so far.
Maybe Bush will bomb Pakistan or threathen Russia, or sink that Pirate ship holding the Russian tanker. It will be big, and induce more fear in the American people.

Be ready for it!