McCain Sinks to New Low

Non-partisan web-site FactCheck.org cited the McCain campaign twice today for misleading attacks on Barack Obama. First, FactCheck exposed a false attempt to link Obama to Fidel Castro.

The McCain campaign has been running an under-the-radar Web ad that shows photos of Fidel Castro and Barack Obama, and says, "Fidel Castro thinks he is 'the most advanced candidate.' "

In fact, the quote comes from an article by Castro that was largely critical of Obama. Castro also complained that Obama views the Cuban revolution as "anti-democratic" and that Obama makes the "exact same" arguments used by U.S. administrations "to justify their crimes against our country."

FactCheck then revealed a false insinuation by McCain that Obama put politics and a personal workout before a visit with wounded US troops on his recent trip to the Middle East.

A new McCain ad says Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

McCain's facts are literally true, but his insinuation – that the visit was canceled because of the press ban or the desire for gym time – is false. In fact, Obama visited wounded troops earlier – without cameras or press – both in the U.S. and Iraq. And his gym workouts are a daily routine.

The Obama campaign canceled the visit with wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Obama says, when he learned that the Pentagon would not allow him to bring along a retired Air Force major general who is serving as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Obama says that "triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political."

As even a quick perusal of FactCheck will show, every political campaign exaggerates the accomplishments of its candidate as well as the failures of its opponent. However, as Time's Joe Klein and GOP Senator Chuck Hagel note, McCain has gone over the line. When will the mainstream media blow the whistle on the so-called "straight talker" who repeatedly promised to run a "civil and honorable" campaign?

For those of you scoring at home, our unofficial tally of misleading statements in the campaign according to FactCheck now stands at 14 for McCain to 5 for Obama.

UPDATE: The New York Times and Washington Post both ran articles on McCain's dishonest claims in today's editions.

UPDATE #2: Add Business Week and the St. Petersburg Times to the media outlets calling McCain's ad "a blatant lie" and "a nasty turn into the gutter" respectively.