Win at all costs, the republican way. Looks like they have made a conscious decision to do and say whatever it takes to win this one. They know they are weak on the issues, they know their candidates are weak, so what remains for them to do? Lie, cheat, steal, lie, and lie some more.

Hell, even the 'church' is getting in on the act as reported today on several blogs.

This is truly desperation on their part, but will it work? Unfortunately, yes. McCain leads Obama in some new polls.

What the hell happened to this country?

The word "Lie": Use it!

Why doesn't the Obama campaign do an ad that states: "We all misspeak sometimes or make a mistake and say something that's not true. But when someone continues to utter the same falsehoods, time and time again, after having been persuasively told that they are indeed falsehoods, there's only one word to describe the situation: he or she is lying." Then follow with a series of video from McCain and Palin uttering lies, with correction after correction from the media.

I'm no adman, but I don't see a down side. The Republicans decided that lies told audaciously will stick no matter how many times they are debunked. If they react to being described as liars, they'll have to address the content of their lies; if they don't, the label sticks.

Why do I have the sinking, sickening feeling that we'll lose another election? They call us traitors, and our VP nominee relates anecdotes about having ouzo with the wonderful McCain.
____________________________________________

To support its claim about Palin having "stopped" the Bridge to Nowhere, the ad cites an article from December in the Anchorage Daily News. When one actually looks at the article, we see that the Daily News piece doesn't support the claim.

It's like an Ann Coulter book!
.

McPalin: "I reject your reality and substitute my own."

What's pissing me off today is McCain's claim that change means standing up to your own party and Obama has never stood up to his own party. Leaving aside that pathetic definition and Mr. 90%'s dubious claim to the mantle, what the hell does he think FISA was? The majority of congressional Dems didn't support it, and the Democratic base definitely didn't. Every word from McCain seems to be an outright lie.

Looks like the Dems will have to just start their own lying. "McCain wants to replace the American flag with a piece of bubblewrap" (stolen from Chris Rock).

Look at the McCain campaign over the past month or so. If you assume the electorate isn't particularly bright or well-informed, it's a campaign that makes perfect sense.

Americans aren't rational thinkers when it comes to politics; rather, we rationalize. We look for things to confirm or support our existing beliefs.

McCain's latest ad also says that Obama wants "painful tax increases" on hardworking families.

If this isn't a lie, then I don't know what is.

Obama, Biden, and Democrats in general better stop finding ways to praise McCain's service or Palins oratory skills and get right to the point of attacking the lies the Republican campaign is spreading. There is no way McCain should be on the offensive, but he is.

Where is Biden? Why isn't he saying this? We need him to come out and just flat-out say, "Palin is lying about the facts."

Also, let's assume that Gibson will ask Palin about her support for the bridge to nowhere. I know that's a big assumption, but let's go with it for the sake of argument.

You don't think Team McCain is prepared for that? Look for Palin to have an answer that spins things in such a way that she can still claim she fought the bridge. Of course it will be bullshit, but it won't matter, because your average undecided voter probably isn't following this election closely enough to know the difference. And of course there will be no follow-up from Gibson.

she must assume that her audience either doesn't know that she's lying, or doesn't care

Her audience doesn't know she is lying, and the McCain campaign is going to repeat this so often that it won't matter if it's ever known. This is a big "screw you, you impotent cowards" to the media, because they know that the big players in the media will simply not call them on this or anything else of consequence. If the truth is something negative about Republicans, then the truth is liberally biased. Even a simple discussion of different views is by definition, left-wing, because it doesn't simply present the Gooper party line (viz. the cave to McCain campaign pressure that pulled Mathews & Oberman).

A statement is not a lie if you don't get caught and exposed such that you are forced to admit your deception. A statement is not the truth if nobody believes it. This is the world that Tim Russert has left us.

Clearly the right-wing propagandists have taken over the media. No one in the MSM is even pretending to be a 'journalist' any longer. Unless and until the lies are called lies, and blatant mendacity is challenged forcefully, the liars and the mendacious win. I have little hope. The principles of Goebbels worked well for the thugs in the Third Reich, and they are working well for the Rethugs here 70 years later.

A dumbed-down population, a middle-class under siege, and ownership/control of the media is all that's necessary to create any reality you want.

When even the less than venerable NYT juxtaposes two pictures on its Sunday front page, one showing a lonely looking Obama and another showing McSame/Pitbull in front of an adoring crowd, one has to be do more than wonder.

Sadly, cynical, insulting, and right. Didn't claim to have helped bring the internet into existence, though.

Lying is lying. The McCain campaign knows the truth, but they are disciples of Joseph Goebbels. They believe in the big lie. If Obama/Biden and all the Democrats don't push back hard, harder than we have ever seen any one push back, McCain's lies are going to become truth, just like George Bush's lies became truth in 2004.

Folks, we will lose this election, and with it the future of our nation and our democracy, if we don't hit back hard, hard, hard.

You can't trust an elected official to govern honestly if he couldn't be trusted to tell the truth.

Democrats need to do more than point out these lies, they need to connect the lies to McCain's opinion of the voters.

Lines like "He thinks you are stupid," and "He's laughing at you" and "He thinks he can lie and lie and lie, and you are so dumb you will vote for him anyway. We know that isn't true, which is why we are willing to tell you the truth."

The point should be not that he lies (people think all politicians do), but that he's trying to fool them, because he looks down on them.

Amateurs.

If you're going to lie, go big:

Sarah Palin stopped the spread of Polio in our schools.
Sarah Palin stopped the War of the Roses.
Sarah Palin stopped segregation in the south.
Sarah Palin stopped the Russians from reaching the moon before the U.S.
Sarah Palin stopped me from paying too much for my muffler!

Here's what gets me - we're 60 days out - Obama has a lot of cash. Why isn't it being deployed in the same fashion. Why aren't they making ads that never run but get talked about by the media?

The Obama people are going to get crushed between the outright lies of the McCain campaign and the right-wing churches ready to break the law in their support for Palin.

The only hope that Obama has to beat this is to go on an ugly offensive himself. He doesn't even need to lie, all he has to do is tell the ugly truth. The Dems will go on whining about how the GOP plays ugly, and they will continue to lose.

But no, Obama will go down classy and find himself a nice comfortable university position once his political career is over.

This man doesn't have the stomach for this fight. It's a shame. Make Jim Webb party leader.

Where have the "average" voters received any information that might make them question the McCain/Palin version of this? We are making some assumptions that they have the same information that we do. But we who read this site are likely much more informed about the details on this than 75% of the voters. McCain is betting that things stay this way. The message has stuck.

The Republicans are trying to prove that if you repeat a lie often enough it no longer is a lie.
And, by the time their base realizes they were lied to (if they do), it's too late to do anything about it so they just repeat the lie to make themselves feel better.

Folks, we will lose this election, and with it the future of our nation and our democracy, if we don't hit back hard, hard, hard.

There's nothing "we" can do about it. If Obama and the Democratic party wants to hit back hard, they will. Apparently they don't consider it to be a priority. If you think it's important to "hit back hard," then support candidates who do that sort of thing. If you're supporting candidates because, "I like the fact that he takes the high road," then you shouldn't be shocked when you're sitting around wondering why no one is "hitting back hard" against his opponents.

So many previous lies from the McCain camp were not debunked or called a lie by name, why does it surprise you Steve that they keep reiterating this one?

McCain and Palin know that they can lie with impunity and the corporate-owned mass media will be "deferential".

If the Obama campaign produced an ad calling McCain and Palin what they are -- namely, deliberate liars -- no media outlet in this country would run it.

Hmmm... I think the larger question is who supports earmarks? Obama, as a US Senator, has requested almost $1 billion dollars in earmarks, including money for the hospital where Michelle Obama works/worked.

This is the one lie McCain, can never stop telling. It would destroy his candidacy.

Why?

"Mr. McCain, since it is provably false that Palin is not a pork buster that you and she previously claimed, let me ask: Why did you choose her to be your vice president?"

Rattle that around in your brain for 30 seconds.

Her foreign policy... Nope. Um her, um… Economic… Nope… Moose Burgers…. Ermmmm…. Fuck… Because it was the only cynical pick that would allow me to shake an otherwise lost election… Heh heh… Urm… Sorry, guys. Yeah, I’m 72. This is my last shot at the big time. Fuck it. I’ll say whatever I have to.

Obama people, please: just do a freaking ad. Get it out now -- this afternoon, if possible. Stop this nonsense -- "La la la, we're not listening, we're running against John McCain, not Sarah Palin!" -- and go after her.

Say that she says she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere -- but that was after lobbying for it. And when he project was canceled, her state got to keep the money. (CHING-CHING! Yes, use a freaking cash register sound.)

Any idiot could understand that ad.

Not going after her is this year's not going after the Swift Boat liars.

The McCain campaign has a real reason for continuing to lie as Bob Somberby noted on Friday -- Luntz' focus group found that the only reason the Independent voters found Sarah Palin compelling was because it showed she stood up to Congress. They won't change it because it is the only card they have that makes the case for the independent voters.

The lying strategy is working precisely because we have no press to expose the lies. McCain enjoys total immunity from being called out as a liar. It's something that comes with the "being a POW" package.

This is also just a case of more of the same as Bush. In eight years it is truly amazing that those who voted for Bush increased in number, as if these people actually enjoy being lied to. For the Dumb 00 voters and the Dumber 04 voters, there simply is not a mistake they won't proudly repeat and no foreign policy blunder bad enough to rethink the strategy. As far as I can tell, these people are in fact proud of the War in Iraq, proud of Abu Graihb, proud of the trillions in debt. They are willing to endure any national or worldwide catastrophe in order to be able to say "Victory!"

“A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth gets it’s boots on�.
--Mark Twain

Hmmm... I think the larger question is who supports earmarks? Obama, as a US Senator, has requested almost $1 billion dollars in earmarks, including money for the hospital where Michelle Obama works/worked.

None of this matters. We can't win at their game, we simply refuse to go that low. What matters is what we can do (other than vent).

They bring a knives, we bring Gatling guns.

You know how they say an alcoholic can never push away the bottle until he hits rock bottom? Maybe that's the way America is headed, and maybe that's what's needed. Maybe you have to just keep on picking Republican administrations that turn out to be disasters until you've spent the country's wealth, destroyed its armed forces and wrecked its credibility internationally (too late to stop that one already, I'd say) and the country is a polluted, filthy smoking ruin filled with beggars - all the rich having absconded to Monaco or someplace else nice. Then you can have another revolution, and start over.

orange

Loo, the media is deciding this race. Obama and Biden were all over the Sunday news shows, hammering away. I watched Biden on MTP, and he silenced Brokaw (who I always thought was rather impatial up to now). He said all the things we have been screaming at them to say.

So where's the coverage? Oh, Brittany had a good showing at the MTV awards! The Jonas Brothers wear virginity rings! Tom Brady is out for the season! Brett Favre, Brett Favre! Fish flies out of lake and breaks teen's jaw!

Seriously though,the press has become far too pwoerful, they are driving the issues, and it is they who allow McCain and Palin to get off scott free when it comes to holding them accountable and forcing them to discuss issue in a REALISTIC fashion.

What to do, what to do? Boycott? I am at a loss. This election is so very, very important. We HAVE to change our government if the republic is to last. 4 more years of Republicans will dig us in a hole so deep I just don't see how we can dig out.

Tyro is correct, we need to support fighters, not wimps like Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

I think it's apparent know that the Dems goofed with Obama, Clinton would have been hitting back hard at this point.

Put Clinton or Webb in charge of the senate, please. And get someone else in charge of the house. Pelosi is a freaking joke that we can no longer afford. What has she accomplished in two years with a house majority and an unpopular president? Not much.

to answer one of Steve's questions in his post, this is a "real" ad, not just an effort floated to get free media. I saw it in Iowa last night.

why do average folks believe these lies from such obvious and unrelenting liars?

well, it might be that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton all stood up in front of tens of millions of viewers and said for example "John McCain is an honorable man" (B. Clinton); "John McCain is a good friend of mine" (J. Biden).

When all of the leaders of the Democratic Party have vouched for McCain's honesty, honor and integrity, why shouldn't people believe what comes out of his mouth?

Praising McCain was a decision made from fear after the Wes Clark blowback; it was a road that never should have been taken and will be almost impossible to walk back.

Since Democrats appear to be very poor learners, I note we're now making the exact same mistake with Palin in what I assume is an effort to raise the bar for her future performance.

This really should be an easy election, but I suspect Team Obama is badly overthinking it.

1) Run a series of ads with McCain's 100 years comment, his Bomb Bomb Iran, and his recent Georgia comments and simply ask if there aren't more important needs at home than fighting endless wars; havent we lost enough of our sons and daughters?

2) Run an ad just like the Repubs have run in the past against Dukakis and Kerry: show McCain saying one thing on the left half screen, then literally have the image flip to the right side and show him saying the opposite. Show, dont tell, that he is a liar. Steve has a list of 74 possiblities already assembled for Team Obama to use.

Seriously, this is not rocket science. But when the new USA Today poll shows Obama 10 down nationally with likely voters, there is no more time to waste.

Conservatives have successfully built a parallel universe into which no discouraging word is allowed to be heard. WIth all of their faults, the old major networks during their hey day did serve as referees. Now there are no rules. And when you have a right wing media whose PURPOSE is to make sure conservativism always wins then there really is no penalty for lying. In fact, you'd be a fool not to make up stuff because you know that the regular audience for FOX, Rush and others will swallow it hook line and sinker.

Neither is there a penalty for keeping your VP nominee on ice and out of public view except for scripted events. In times gone past, you'd be laughed out of town for something like that. But today, the only real danger Palin faces is sasying something really, really stupid. So, the press won't get to ask its first question until her handlers feel comfortable that she is up to speed on the issues she would deal with if she actually became VP -- or president.

Doesn't all of this begin to seem really, really scary my fellow Americans~! But in today's political environment, with a reliably partisan Republican press, the GOP knows they can get away with making stuff up or hiding their VP in a closet so long as they can blame it all on a liberally biased press that won't give poor Palin a fair shake.

The bridge was scrapped, not by Palin, but when an embarrassed Congress stopped the project. Even then, Palin took the money and spent it on other Alaskan transportation projects.

"Bridge to Nowhere" is bogus, but not for these reasons.

Congress deleted the earmark, but the funding still went to Alaska. Palin's predecessor allocated some of the funding for the Gravina Island Bridge anyway. Palin was content to let that continue until the price tag increased and Congress refused to give more money. Palin did indeed make a decision to stop the bridge.

Spending the money on other projects is not a knock against earmarks. The problem with earmarks is that members of Congress use them to dish out special favors. The opposite of earmarks is letting states decide how to spend federal funds.

Palin is lying, but not in the way you describe.

My advancing age and distain for violence allows me to avoid many an altercation at my job as a bartender. But every now and then one MUST clean someone's clock and clean it good and proper as you throw their drunken ass to the curb. Can we now get this stinking old fart and his lying little whore out of here before we suffer yet another four years of rich people peeing on our backs and telling us it's raining. JEEZ!

What to do, what to do? Boycott? I am at a loss.

We should have a "blog down" day where all of us get out there and register voters. As we all know only too well, it could boil down to those few thousand votes.

Don't allow this crap to demoralize you. If we go catatonic, they've already won.

"Hmmm... I think the larger question is who supports earmarks?" -Jeran

Nice try at concern trolling. Earmarks are just another Trojan horse from McCain. He uses earmarks just like all the other Senators do. Earmarks are nothing but the grocery list, itemizing what the grocery budget will be spent on. If a congressman says he doesn't take earmarks, it means he or she doesn't ask for anything. Is that the kind of representative you want?

I think the larger question is whether McCain's POW experience has warped his understanding of war and victory so as to render him unfit for the office of president. Although he admits that the War in Iraq was a strategic blunder, he insists we can "win". How do you win a mistake?

Tyro

There is a lot "we" can do about it. Write a letter to your newspaper. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Volunteer. Donate. Just get the word out.

I will tell you what I want changed. I want the lies to stop. I don't want government officials lying to me. I want to trust my government. I want to trust the integrity of our government officials. Don't you.

I am sick and tired of folks saying that solving the problem is the job of the media, or the Obama campaign. Everybody throws up their hands and says "it's not my job, man" or "what can I do?"

It is our democracy. It is up to us to restore it.

You want change, return honesty to government. Make truth telling the norm and not an exception.

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Ron Byers, if you're not willing to support party leaders and elect representatives who do the things you want, then all of your "civic engagement" is just a bunch of wankery performed to make yourself feel better.

It's not my f'ing job to call out McCain and Palin on being dishonest liars on TV. It's Obama's and his surrogates' job. If they can't do that, then it's clear that we've supported the wrong people, and the solution is to replace them, not to write a letter to the editor (unless, of course, it's part of a coordinated effort managed by a group determined to "hit back hard." then it might be useful).

The most unflappable commenter on this issue at the old CBR was Jim Benton, who held (and counseled) faith that Team Obama knew what it was doing and that it iwas critical we not go negative because the whole point of supporting Obama was to change politics.

Prup, I need a little pep talk :)
Do you still have the faith? Or is it time to start worrying?

the base of the party is willing to accept anything to maintain the illusion of right and wrong. Most wingnuts I know, for instance, can look me straight in the eye, without blinking and swear that Nixon did nothing wrong, other than finding himself surrounded by traitors...

but don't get down y'all, grow your own food, and keep you powder dry...

Team Obama knew what it was doing and that it iwas critical we not go negative because the whole point of supporting Obama was to change politics.

Part of my support of Obama was based on the premise that he didn't really believe that, but just knew that he couldn't get anywhere in politics if he appeared to be an "angry black man." Had I thought he really thought such a campaign strategy would be a winning one, I never would have supported him. Generally, though, the Obama campaign seems to know what it's doing better than I do, so I give them the benefit of the doubt.

"Where's Biden?" Unfortunately he's on messsage.
It's Obama and his campaign managers who are calling the shots here. They need to re-assess and quickly.

This is THE ONE LIE McCain, can never stop telling. It would destroy his candidacy.

Why?

"Mr. McCain, since it is provably false that Palin is not a pork buster that you and she previously claimed, let me ask: Why did you choose her to be your vice president?"

Rattle that around in your brain for 30 seconds. Her foreign policy.... Nope. Um her, um… Economic… Nope… Moose Burgers…. Ermmmm…. Fuck… Because it was the only cynical pick that would allow me to shake up a lost election… Huh… Urm… Sorry, guys. Yeah, I’m 72. This is my last shot at the big times. Fuck it. I’ll say whatever I have to.

The McCain gang is willing to gamble that voters either won't hear the truth or that the truth simply doesn't matter anymore.

More precisely: they are gambling that voters won't know the truth if/when they hear it.

Not much of a gamble, if you think about it.

Here's another question that occurs to me, might be a good Obama add....

Alaska recived X Dollars in Pork during Sara Palin's year and a half as governer. Your state recived X Dollars. You really think Sara is a pork buster?

Knowing what I know about Alaska. That number will blow the minds of every swing state in America. And strip the bark of Sara the Pork Busting Queen forever from the mind of voters who count.

Steve - Maybe I missed something in the timeline, but watching the Alaska Gov. debate last night on CSPAN, the question about the Bridge suggested that everyone knew the funding had already been pulled. They question was related to the Road to Nowhere, do you support that project. Palin said she did. The dem and the independent both stated that they felt it was a waste of resources to build a road to a bridge that would never be built. Palin explained that the Alaska delegation had worked hard on the project and she wouldn't oppose it. Not the Bridge, the Road. The Bridge was a non-issue by the time she ran for governing.

Anybody else see the debate? Did I miss something? If no, there is ZERO basis for the claim.

Sorry, I didn't ask the question. Anyone know how to find out the pork consumed in that year and a half for, OH, PA, Missuri, Michigan, Virgina, New Hampshire, NM, NV, ND, SD and other swingers?

The media is complicit in the lie, until November 5th, in which case the election will be over and the hand wringing can begin. Of course, it will be too late to matter, but that's the whole point. You don't have to fool all of the people all of the time, only 50% +1 for one day, November 4th.

As Hilzoy explained over the weekend, after Palin once again claimed to have rejected the Bridge to Nowhere, "She is not just telling lies; she's telling lies that have been exposed as lies, and that have gotten a lot of attention. Assuming she does not actually want to lose, she must assume that her audience either doesn't know that she's lying, or doesn't care.

Actually, I suspect she's hoping that the lie will be heard more often than the truth so that it will be come to be perceived as true, even by people that once believed the actual truth; as long as the media doesn't challenge her every time she repeats the lie, she's probably justified in that hope: most people that know the truth know it from the same media sources they'll here the lie from, and eventually the memory of the truth will fade.

No trolls on this thread. I guess this is one even they can't think up an answer to.

"The McCain gang is willing to gamble that voters either won't hear the truth or that the truth simply doesn't matter anymore."

Option B. The truth doesn't matter anymore.

That's been coming for a while. McPalin just made it a reality. I say this with all sincerity and a whole lot of despair.

Calm down people. not everyone is for Palin and McShame...people are not stupid ..its all the media hype to keep u watching. I click the channel everytime the put McShame and Palin on. That sends the rating down and thats how u show the corp, puppet media that you are no fool.

Nice site you have