John McCain Makes Stuff Up

[Joanne98]

Is John McCain like George W. Bush, someone who has learned that the media is hesitant to call a Republican politician a liar?

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.

Through all his misstatements, McCain’s “straight-talk” reputation survives.

Sweeping Denials


In another instructive case, McCain got away with sweeping denials in his reaction to a New York Times article on Feb. 21. The story led with unsubstantiated suspicions among some McCain staffers that their boss had gotten too cozy with female lobbyist Vicky Iseman, but McCain went beyond simply denying any sexual improprieties.

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

[anonymous171]

1. It's up the Obama campaign to fight the "Straight talk" label.

[caledesi]

2. Not this time! NT

[Eric J in MN]

3. Some reporters speculated that McCain meant the 2nd Amendment...

...when he said "Constitution."

Even if so, it's disgustingly misleading for McCain not to at least start out with the accurate quote, and then pivot to talking about the 2nd Amendment.

[glowing]

4. I heard it and caught it.. Fortunately, for a long primary season, and the actual

coments being played over and over and over, most people actually know word for word what Obama actually said AND how many people suppor their BITTER buttons on this board alone.... Sorry, but he can spin, Obama was tested hard already...

BTW are they going to play his Father's Day speach, or am I going to have to YouTube that.. What's up with the non-Coverage of Obama all of a sudden.. and why did they play McCain's sympathies for Russert 2 times before Obama's, when Obama's message was on YouTube next linked on this site.. WHY, they wanted him to look like the first to come to help "mourn" with a nation.. it is sick how they even twisted Timmy's death on GE/ MSNBC.