Snopes...

[gcomeau]

...as campaign tool.

It has occurred to me just now, as I was forced to yet again go to snopes to provide a link to combat one of those innumerable anti-Obama pieces of fiction circulating through e-mails that there is something there that needs some attention.

Namely, the Obama page has 18 entries, one of which has a green "true" marker next to it.

The McCain entry has 3 entries. 2 trues and an unverified... and both trues are positive messages that are complimentary of McCain!

This must change. People going to that site are getting a skewed impression of what information is out there. I would like to see some work done to increase the number of nice green entries on McCain's page confirming his negatives. Completely 100% factual e-mails that get circulated and eventually forwarded to the snopes people for fact-checking which they then put up for verification for all to see with a great big "yep, that's true all right". No false smears, pure truth.

Who's up for writing up some drafts that we can all start sending around? Possible subjects include:

The Keating five.

His treatment of his first wife.

His whereabout and company on Aug 29, 2005 along with his voting record on Katrina and samples of national news coverage from Aug 28, 27, 26... broadcasting to the nation what was expected to hit New Orleans on the 29th.

His anger control issues (finding some solid sources on this one would be nice, I keep seeing second hand anecdotal stuff).

Etc...

[unpossibles]

1. his military career, the Keating 5, his connection to Abramoff...

there are many to chose from.

According to his military records, he spent about 20 hours in combat, got 28 medals from 23 missions, and none of those medals relate to anything he did on those missions, other than being a POW.

Furthermore, he graduated 790 out of 795 in his class, and lost 5 aircraft during the war. He also was given the nickname "Songbird" while a captive, and not because he was a crooner, although he was a big hit on the enemy radio for 3 years.

No Americans witnessed him being tortured.

He did admit that he broke Article V of the Code of Conduct:

McCain, U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973 wrote:
"I think it was on the fourth day that two guards came in, instead of one. One of them pulled back the blanket to show the other guard my injury. I looked at my knee. It was about the size, shape and color of a football. I remembered that when I was a flying instructor a fellow had ejected from his plane and broken his thigh. He had gone into shock, the blood had pooled in his leg, and he died, which came as quite a surprise to us - a man dying of a broken leg. Then I realized that a very similar thing was happening to me.

"When I saw it, I said to the guard, `O.K., get the officer.'"

"An officer came in after a few minutes. It was the man that we came to know very well as "The Bug." He was a psychotic torturer, one of the worst fiends that we had to deal with. I said, `O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.'"

I respect that he served, but I have a hard time calling him a hero, especially considering how people treated Kerry, who actually earned his medals in combat.

[TahitiNut]

2. Stay away from the Code of Conduct.

That was sucn an appallingly unrealistic requirement (Name, Rank, and Serial Number) that it was modified as beyond any reasonable expectations ... and now says "utmost of my ability." Until that change, accommodation for torture and other coercive measures wasn't made.

[unpossibles]

3. right on nt