No More Niceties: News Report Twice Labels McCain Claims Just Plain "False"
Tipping its hand, Saturday's Times contained yet another anti-McCain story which skipped normal journalistic niceties to bluntly label two McCain claims about Obama's health-care plan and sponsorship of sex-ed legislation as just plain "false," in Michael Cooper's"With a Month to Rally, McCain Hones His Attacks."
Senator John McCain is entering the final month of the presidential campaign with his prospects weakened by the nation's deepening financial crisis and persistent doubts about his choice of running mate, but his game plan is clear: sow doubts about Senator Barack Obama by portraying him as liberal and unready to lead.
Thatstrategy was on vivid display here Friday as Mr. McCain released an advertisement claiming that Mr. Obama was "not truthful on taxes," told a crowd that Mr. Obama had "the most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate" and falsely painted Mr. Obama's health care plan as a government-run system.
"Senator Obama wants to stand between you and your family doctor," Mr. McCain said at a town-hall-style meeting. "You watch."
But the day showed how difficult that effort would be. Mr. McCain hammered at Mr. Obama just hours after a report showed that the economy had lost 159,000 jobs in September, the ninth straight monthly decline.
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Mr. McCain's effort to regain the upper hand by portraying Mr. Obama as liberal and unprepared is not new.
He has run advertisements labeling Mr. Obama as a celebrity and other spots saying that Mr. Obama would raise taxes and that he had supported the teaching of sex education to kindergartners, which is false. And the Republican convention was dominated by speeches, some of them laced with sarcasm, that questioned Mr. Obama's readiness. An overwhelming majority of the advertisements that Mr. McCain is running this week attack Mr. Obama.
Cooper has previously charged McCain with falsehoods about Obama's support for the sex-ed legislation, and once again, Times Watch will point to Byron York's investigativejournalism on the Obama sex-ed legislation (something the mainstream media never bothered with), which concluded that McCain's ad was completely accurate.
