Submitted to a Candid World

Within a few hours of the conclusion of last night’s presidential debate, John McCain had sunk to a new low, by questioning Obama’s ability to lead based only on the respectful, consensus-seeking tone the Democratic candidate struck during the debate. That’s right: bipartisan, maverick Tricky Jim, making fun of bipartisanship. That tears it. John McCain is dead, and I don’t much like Robo-McCain the Republicans have put in his place.

But McCain’s ad (titled “McCain is Right”) is more than just abstractly dishonorable and dissonant with McCain’s one strength (bipartisanship). It’s outright dishonest, highlighting Obama’s initial approval of McCain’s principles (responsibility, an end to earmarks, and fair taxes) without noting that, in each case, Obama noted his approval of McCain’s first principle before taking McCain to task for failing to live up to the same. In short, McCain “quote mined” Obama’s “I agree” moments.

Below, the full excerpts from the transcript, with the portions in McCain’s ad bolded, and Obama’s “but McCain’s wrong” moment in blue. You’ll notice that in two of those cases, the “but he breaks his own rule” part immediately follows Obama’s nominal agreement, meaning the McCain video team had to do some snazzy video editing.

• “Well, I think Senator McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility, but we need it not just when there’s a crisis. I mean, we’ve had years in which the reigning economic ideology has been what’s good for Wall Street, but not what’s good for Main Street. . . .  10 days ago, John said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.”
• “Well, Senator McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused . . . . [b]ut let’s be clear: Earmarks account for $18 billion in last year’s budget. Senator McCain is proposing — and this is a fundamental difference between us — $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country, $300 billion. Now, $18 billion is important; $300 billion is really important.”
• “Now, John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right. Here’s the problem: There are so many loopholes that have been written into the tax code, oftentimes with support of Senator McCain, that we actually see our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world.”

At most, Obama can be accused of burying the lead. McCain, on the other hand, has simply opted to continue a campaign based on lies and misinformation. McCain is right? No. McCain is wrong, on so many levels.