By Brad Friedman on 9/10/2008, 10:02am PT  

Continuing where Bush/Cheney left off in '04, it's clear that the John McCain campaign will say and do anything to "win." Their latest knowing lie, in an attempt to fool America (again): a new campaign video released today. The ad is a complete lie, and of course, they know it. But they don't care. It's politics first, country last for the McCain/Palin ticket.

The ad not only misrepresents Obama's comments about "lipstick on a pig," it also purposely misrepresents comments from Katie Couric on "sexism." Worse still, the shameless McCain/Palin campaign inaccurately displays the text of the ad on their website, furthering the misrepresentation of Couric's comments on sexism in "this election," as the actual ad says, even though the comment is represented as being on "the election" in the campaign's transcript of the ad.

Breaking it down to answer to the several purposeful lies and distortions within, here's the first part of the ad's script as posted this morning on McCain's website...

CHYRON: Sarah Palin On: Sarah Palin

GOVERNOR PALIN: Do you know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick.

CHYRON: Barack Obama On: Sarah Palin

BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know, you can, you know you can...put...uh...lipstick on a pig...it's still a pig.

First problem, Obama was very clearly not referring to Palin in his taken-wholly-out-of-context comments. Here's what he actually said:

OBAMA: Let's just list this for a second. John McCain says he's about change, too. Except --- and so I guess his whole angle is, "Watch out, George Bush, except for economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics. We're really gonna shake things up in Washington." That's not change. That's just calling some --- the same thing, something different. But you know, you can --- you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.

Obama also went on to say immediately after the above: "This is a guy who supported George Bush 90% of the time. What does that say about somebody's judgment that they agree with George Bush 90% of the time?...You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change,' it's still going to stink."

So far, among all the phony, ginned-up, opportunistic, disingenuous outrage, the McCain camp has not objected to the "old fish" comment.

For the record, last October, as Hillary Clinton was the Democratic front-runner, McCain had used the well-worn lipstick/pig analogy himself, as reported by Chicago Tribune:

McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's health-care plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the early 1990s.

"I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.

Of course, the misrepresented comments from McCain's appalling ad have been presented as a phony controversy all over the so-called "liberal media" for the last 18 hours or so. It apparently began in the Wall Street Journal, was echoed on Drudge, who posted "OBAMA: 'LIPSTICK ON A PIG, STILL A PIG" under a photo of Sarah Palin, and from there, of course, it went viral in the "liberal media" as it always does after they receive their assignments from Drudge. Fox "News," naturally, has been delighted to continue misrepresenting the comments all morning long today, never bothering to offer the actual context (as easily available to them in the previously linked video.)

The ad then goes on to show CBS' Katie Couric discussing the issue of sexism in "This Election," with a clip of Couric saying: "One of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life."

Her comments, however, were actually made in June, in relation to coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign against Obama. Worse still, the McCain website's transcript of the ad misleads readers into believing the comments by Couric were on "The Election," as opposed to "This Election," as the actual video ad claims. A screenshot from the actual ad is at the right. The inaccurate script, as posted misleadingly on the McCain website, continues below...

CHYRON: Katie Couric On: The Election

CBS' KATIE COURIC: One of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life.

And for one last lick of dishonest desperation in the ad, the final bit of irony is found in its tagline that few in the corporate rightwing media are likely to point out. The ad obnoxiously concludes with the assertion that it's Obama who is "ready to smear."

CHYRON: Ready To Lead? No

Ready To Smear? Yes

Obama's response today, of course, had it right when he said:

"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad, because they know that it’s catnip for the media."
...
"It would be funny, except the news media decided that that was the lead story yesterday."

"The McCain campaign would much rather the story be about phony and foolish diversions than about the future."

"This happens every election cycle – every four years this is what we do. We’ve got an energy crisis,...we have an education system that is not working for too many of our children and making us less competitive. We have a economy that is creating hardships for families all across America. We’ve got two wars going on – veterans coming home, not being cared for. And this is what they want to talk about. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about!"

"You know who ends up losing at the end of the day? It's not the Democratic candidate; it’s not the Republican candidate. It's you the American people. Because then we go another year or another four years or another eight years without addressing the issues that matter to you."

"Enough! I don’t care what they say about me. But I love this country too much for them to take over another election with lies, and phony outrage and Swift Boat politics. Enough is enough. These are serious times and they call for a serious debate about where to take the nation..."

"Spare me the phony outrage, spare me the phony talk about change, we have real problems in this country right now."

He was forced to further respond to a questioner and added:

"This whole thing about lipstick...nobody actually believes that these folks are offended. Think about it … everybody knows it's cynical. Everybody knows it's insincere. The media knows it."

"This is a game that we play. It is a game. It's a sport. And maybe if this wasn't such a serious time that would be okay."

He's right, of course. And so is the baby below who seems to understand it all far better than those who are foolish, selfish, and self-loathing enough to continue their support of the reprehensible McCain/Palin campaign...

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Article Categories: Election 2008, Mainstream Media Failure, Barack Obama, John McCain