John McCain makes stuff up - and no one mentions it

[AZBlue]

Let's just call it what it is: he lies.

For years now, the U.S. political press corps has traveled with John McCain on his “Straight Talk Express,” buying into his image as a paragon of truth-telling. But the real truth is that McCain routinely makes stuff up, as he did on June 11 in lying about Barack Obama’s “bitter” comment.

During a political talk in Philadelphia, McCain claimed that Obama had described “bitter” small-town voters as clinging to religion or “the Constitution” – when the second item in Obama’s comment actually was “guns.”

But the Arizona senator didn’t stop with a simple word substitution. He added that he will tell these voters that “they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope. … That’s what America’s all about.”

In other words, McCain didn’t just make a slip of the tongue. He willfully accused Obama of disparaging the U.S. Constitution, a very serious point that, if true, might cause millions of Americans to reject Obama’s candidacy.

Still, when some of the U.S. broadcast networks – including NBC evening news – played the clip of McCain lashing out at Obama’s purported dissing of the Constitution, they didn’t correct McCain's falsehood.

That fits with a long-standing pattern of the political press corps giving McCain a break when he makes statements at variance with the truth. Even in the rare moments when he is caught in an inaccuracy – such as accusing Shiite-ruled Iran of training Sunni extremists in al-Qaeda – the falsehood is minimized as an unintentional gaffe.

However, McCain actually seems to be following a trail blazed by George W. Bush, saying what’s useful at the time even if it’s not true and then counting on the U.S. press corps to timidly look the other way.

http://www.alternet.org/election08/88101/

I say anytime we see, read or hear the press giving him a pass, we'll write or call that media outlet to point out their ignorance of the facts and let them know we're aware of it. Call them out on it. I know it takes time to do that, but it takes all of 5 minutes maybe - and isn't that a short amount of time compared to 4 more years of Bush?

[opihimoimoi]

1. The Media is Slanted for McClone..its so obvious....

[DesertRat]

2. k&r

[unblock]

3. was the constitution "slip" actually a slip at all?

i suspect it was rehearsed and deliberate. a classic if sinister political tactic, taking an opponent's minor gaffe and turning it into a major one. it gives the gaffe legs and a few more story cycles.

and it's impossible to counter, at least not in any simple and obvious way. you can't say, "hey, he wasn't disparaging the constitution, he was disparaging guns and religion!" at best you win a small technical point that the exact quote wasn't reported faithfully, but you lose by giving the original gaffe even more legs and story cycles as you reinforce and give the negative impression from the original gaffe more credibility.


and no, i don't think mccain's that clever. but we all know the sort of speechwriters and political tacticians republicans associate with....

[skids]

6. It was so obviously deliberate...

...that didn't just appear out of nowhere. Besides he reads everything off a teleprompter. Someone put it on that teleprompter. He'll be the ultimate sock puppet president for the same people who stuffed Dubya in there and let him think he's in charge.

[AZBlue]

8. I doubt it was accidental.

But it should still be called out when the media doesn't correct him on it. Otherwise the Average Joe doesn't know the truth.

[starroute]

4. McCain has been complaining about the Supreme Court and Gitmo ...

Do you suppose he thinks the Supremes are merely bitter in clinging to the Constitution?

[FrenchieCat]

5. Yes, I agree that we can't let the media give him a free ride!

We must call them on each time they practice double standards.

And yes, it takes about 5 minutes.

[AZBlue]

7. Exactly.

It's a small effort on our part but it's so needed right now - we are literally fighting to get our country back.