Factcheck.org: McCain and Palin are Dirty, Filthy Liars

As predicted:

A new McCain ad, “Original Mavericks,” repeats the claim that Gov. Sarah Palin “stopped the Bridge to Nowhere” last year.

We’re here to tell you that no matter how many times she and McCain say it, it’s still misleading. We refer you to our story of last week, GOP Convention Spin, Part II, in which we explain: Congress actually knocked out the earmark for the bridge, which was projected to cost $398 million. The state instead received funds that weren’t designated for specific projects. Palin took the money and then spent it on other items, thereby driving a final stake through its barely beating heart.

Palin had supported the bridge when she was campaigning for governor, and she hasn’t exactly been pure on the earmark issue generally. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she hired a lobbyist with ties to then-Senate Appropriations Committee czar Ted Stevens; the town hauled in almost $27 million in earmarks on her watch. She hasn’t been shy about seeking hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of such funds for the state since she’s been governor, either.

And this:

A McCain-Palin ad has FactCheck.org calling Obama’s attacks on Palin “absolutely false” and “misleading.” That’s what we said, but it wasn’t about Obama.

Our article criticized anonymous e-mail falsehoods and bogus claims about Palin posted around the Internet. We have no evidence that any of the claims we found to be false came from the Obama campaign.

The McCain-Palin ad also twists a quote from a Wall Street Journal columnist. He said the Obama camp had sent a team to Alaska to “dig into her record and background.” The ad quotes the WSJ as saying the team was sent to “dig dirt.”

Update, Sept. 10: Furthermore, the Obama campaign insists that no researchers have been sent to Alaska and that the Journal owes them a correction.

And this:

A McCain-Palin campaign ad claims Obama’s “one accomplishment” in the area of education was “legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergartners.” But the claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes’ failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004.

Obama, contrary to the ad’s insinuation, does not support explicit sex education for kindergartners. And the bill, which would have allowed only “age appropriate” material and a no-questions-asked opt-out policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he was not even a cosponsor – and the bill never left the state Senate.

 And this “lipstick on a pig” commercial? (Fast forward through the semi-literate commentary):

Bullshit:

Let’s start with what the ad gets right. It does seem to be true that Republican v.p. candidate Sarah Palin wears lipstick. And it’s true that she mentioned this particular cosmetic choice at the convention, when she joked that lipstick is the only difference between a hockey mom and pit bull, as the ad shows before it goes completely off the rails. If this were a CoverGirl commercial, we’d be all set.

But it’s not; it’s a political ad. And it goes on to imply that Obama made a personal dig at Palin, calling her a “pig,” and that commentators decried his sexism for derailing the campaign. This is bunk.

I guess this is an admission by the Republicans that the only way for them to get (re)elected is to lie.