And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying

This is getting annoying. It seems Obama's go-to defense is rapidly becoming "they lied", when in fact, "they" aren't lying.

This trend has been going on since at least when, as I've mentioned previously on this blog, National Right to Life pointed out that Obama's been misrepresenting his position on the Infants Born Alive bill to which Obama retorted "[NRTL has] not been telling the truth - and I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying."

The problem is that National Right to Life was accurate in saying Obama was misrepresenting his position. They weren't lying, they were telling the truth. Even FactCheck.org agrees that "documents from the NRLC support the group’s claims."

The latest installment is Obama calling McCain a liar over McCain's "Kindergarden Sex Ed" ad.

The problem once again is that the facts are on McCain's side.

McCain's ad claims Obama voted for / promoted a bill that included comprehensive sex education for Kindergartners. Obama can object if he wants but the the bill's text speaks for itself: "Each class or course in comprehensive sex education in any of grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV."

More on McCain

Yesterday at the corner, Stanley Kurtz asked "A statistic we’ve been hearing a lot lately is John McCain’s 82.3 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. It’s an important piece of information, but inquiring minds want to know more. Specifically, what is John McCain’s ACU rating for the past eight years?"

Ramesh Ponnuru responds:
2000: 81
2001: 68
2002: 78
2003: 80
2004: 72
2005: 80
2006: 65

That's right, every year since 2000 has been below his life time average. And 2000's 68 and 2006's 65 are really concerning.

Ronald Reagan famously said that "that person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally" ... but what about only 65 percent of the time?

Meanwhile, McCain also deals a low - and false - blow against Romney in his latest ad which claims Romney was in favor of a time line to withdrawal from Iraq. His ad is a lie and shameful. For details, see Time, NRO / the AP, or Hot Air.

Smacks of McCain's similar low-blow, attack ad against Bush in 2000.

McCain is not only making me more and more solidly against voting for him the primary, but if he keeps this up, if it's him in November, I may sit on my hands.

Candidates' Christmas Ads - Part 2

The spoof of Hillary's Christmas "holiday" ad by HotAir. Doesn't add much to the political discourse, but it's fun any how. My favorite is the "Jail pajamas for Norman Hsu".

This one's even lower-brow, but the parodies continue:

Update: And how could I have forgotten to include Huckabee's played backwards?

Candidates' Christmas Ads

...or, in the case of some candidates, "holiday" ads...

Let's begin:

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It would be my preference that candidates who won't give a "straight talk" answer as to whether Jesus is his Lord and Savior" wouldn't draw crosses in their Christmas ads.

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My favorite commentary on this ad comes from Ann Althouse:

I would have thought this was a parody attacking Hillary Clinton, but she's Hillary Clinton, and she approved of this message.

Isn't this like when you get presents from family members and you know they charged it on your credit card?

The left sure is getting hard to parody. And I'd rather not have Hillary use my credit card to buy my gifts... I also can't believe she used my favorite Christmas song... sigh.

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Hmm. Well, at least this one is a little bit better:

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To quote Bryan over at HotAir:

Dark lighting, a Christmas tree that’s all but invisible, indistinct background music, certainly no crosses or overt references to Christmas to be found anywhere in the ad so he won’t generate any conspiracy theories. When he ticks off the poverty stats and asks “Who will speak for them?” let’s just say that a silky millionaire trial lawyer isn’t the first person to come to my mind. The ad’s about as sterile and lame as a Christmas ad can get. It really isn’t a Christmas ad so much as an ad that happens to air around Christmas. It’s a flop.

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Rich Lowry calls it "The Christmas Wedge Ad". I don't particularly care for Huckabee, but this might be the only ad of the bunch that I like. I'm sure the call to run the ad involved a political calculation, but I think Huckabee sincerely means his wish of "Merry Christmas". Shrewd plus sincere - an winning combination?

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Except for the whole "we all have a stake in one another" (sounds way too much like "it takes a village"), this one was pretty good too. Kudos to Obama to include "Merry Christmas" at the danger of angering the secularists.

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I don't think Fred or Mitt have release Christmas ads. Which, I think, for Mitt ("Mormons are Christians too!") is probably a negative.

If you are looking for more though, check out the "White House Christmas Spectacular (HT: HotAir).

Political Ads

Watch:

Enjoy. Laugh.


Watch:

Enjoy. Think. Challenge candidates to provide discourse that's, I don't know ... useful?