Did we just see Air Force One?
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It might be time for a humorous ad on the tall tales of McCain/Palin. There are many ways to do this, whether cowboys around a campfire competing to tell the biggest whopper, to something more folklore-esque. Hell, they could even hire Jon Lovitz to reprise his liar character in an ad. This is a huge opportunity to strip the bark off McCain.

McCain's campaign is putting Davy Crockett and all the other Southwest braggers to shame! -Kevo

When anything connected with the Wall Street Journal says anything like "not quite, not entirely, true" about anything even vaguely Republican, you know the translation is "so big a whopper even life-long liars are shaking their heads in amazement."

You know, reading some of those comments on the WSJ page is scary. I guess since I never venture over to Powerline or NRO or Redstate, I have no idea how stupid people are.

McCain has lied his whole life. He lies about his time as a POW, he lies about his non-stop flip-flops on every...single...issue, he lies when he says he regrets lying. Funny how Mr. Straight Talk always - ALWAYS - lies when it'll mean he gets more attention and power, but when those lies don't work he says he's so vewy sowwy. Sorry is right - McCain is a sorry excuse for a man, or even human being. Whatever soul or character he ever had (which wasn't much) has been eaten by the acid of his own naked incompetence and ambition.

"Lying about a teleprompter is minor ..."

Why do you say this, Steve? I don't think it's minor at all. Lying like this for attempted political gain speaks volumes about her character and her integrity and is a pretty good indicator in and of itself of how honest she is being with the American people generally.

I think that we liberals think too much of "big issues," at least in regards to political theatre. What trips us up is generally the little things that Republicans make into big things. The reason they're made into big things is because little things in the real world are a window into how you think, moreso than grand proclamations of policy.

For that remarkably large group of people for whom personality matters more than issues - for those people who like to look a the "cut of a man's jibb" - this is exactly the kind of thing Democrats aught to be pushing more.

"Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn't lying about?"

Ask the McCain campaign for the time of day and day of the week... see what they say.

That Economy ad using McCain's quote from yesterday is really good. No talk except for McCain's blubbering idiocy and it doesn't come across as a nasty negative advertisement.

It's the economy, stupid!

the teleprompter malfunctioned.

yeah, that's the ticket.

and i sold the plane on e-bay. and i opposed the bridge to nowhere.

yeah, that's the ticket.

i'm sarah flanagan and i approve this message.

There. Right in front of me. A magnificent moose. I didn't hesitate. I didn't blink. I took aim and I blew it away. See guys and gals. I can do it all!

As always in these situations, I recommend re-reading "On Bullshit." While I would class a lot of the McCain side of things (especially the ads) as deliberate lies, Palin seems to be more of a pure BS artist, someone who, like Bush and his crew, doesn't care whether what she says is true or not, only that it "works."

As we've seen for the past eight years, that is much more dangerous in the Executive Branch than a straight-up liar.

Lies told over and over is a propaganda. Those who figures out the lies is not your problem. The problem is how to counter the propaganda. So far, I haven't heard any effective counter measure. So, obviously the lies work for the intended audience.

I guess since I never venture over to Powerline or NRO or Redstate, I have no idea how stupid people are.

I really don't see how we can remain a major economic power when such a large proportion of our population is so fucking flat out stupid.

Obama not only should make hay about this but should tie it to Bush's lies -- Do Americans want another president who doesn't care about the truth?

It never ceases to amaze me how much these folks deny reality, and indeed make up their own reality. Makes you wonder. Do they believe their lies? If so I think the word delusional may apply. If not, then how about criminal?

If they are elected how could we ever trust John McCain or Sarah Palin's word? If we can't trust them, how can they lead?

and I just decided I'd just talk to the people in front of me," she said. "It was Ohio."

huh? It was Ohio. What does that mean?

Steve, I don't know if you saw it on my blog, but John McCain's brother Joe is also telling this story, in an article for Rupert Murdoch's Australian newspaper.

You guys are missing the point. Its not what the Lies are about; their strategy is to simply lie.

This way, anything Obama says starts to sound more and more like a lie as well, since the public will naturally conflate this into "well, all Politicians lie", etc.

It's a strategy, not incompetence. The press will get tired of pointing out the fact that they are lying eventually, and they will continue to say the same untrue things over and over.

But when Obama/Biden stretch the truth even a little, they will screech like howler monkeys about it.

Don't think they don't know they are lying. They just don't care and are using it as a strategic ploy.

You guys are missing the point. Its not what the Lies are about; their strategy is to simply lie.

This way, anything Obama says starts to sound more and more like a lie as well, since the public will naturally conflate this into "well, all Politicians lie", etc.

It's a strategy, not incompetence. The press will get tired of pointing out the fact that they are lying eventually, and they will continue to say the same untrue things over and over.

But when Obama/Biden stretch the truth even a little, they will screech like howler monkeys about it.

Don't think they don't know they are lying. They just don't care and are using it as a strategic ploy.

Am I the only one that thinks that Hillary's Bosnia sniper fire story is what truly sunk her? I know she lost a lot of my respect when that happened. It wasn't a critical story about anything important but her admitting that she "misspoke" about her own experiences-- more than once-- she hurt her own credibility.

It's actually BETTER if the lie that Palin is caught in isn't about Obama-- that is too partisan-- it has to be about herself. She has no problem LYING to the American people about something that happened 2 weeks ago. How can she be trusted??? It's indicative of someone who will lie about anything, even really small things, just to build herself up. That is not moral or ethical or trustworthy. While I don't think this telepromter story is quite it, it gives me hope that something else that is easily provable will come up in the next 50 days.

While I think we do need to talk about McCain, he has received a HUGE boost becaue of Palin. He might actually win this thing BECAUSE of her. If she is exposed as a liar it will ruin his run. Telling the truth and exposing Palin (or McCain) as a liar is one of many paths to an Obama Administration.

I knew those teleprompters were lying.

The lying doesn't matter. Palin has been firmly positioned as one of the 'tribe' for the 'low information' Republican base, and unless she herself does something to change the narrative IN A WAY THAT MATTERS TO THE TRIBE (i.e., something sleazy, preferably sex related, about her or the Dude), their opinion of her is not going to change. For this group, the only thing that matters is if you are one of the tribe. If you are, it is almost impossible to do wrong.

I know the tribe well, since my in-laws are members. One time, my bible-thumping father-in-law called to say he was coming to town to testify as a character witness at the sentencing hearing for a fellow resident of his small town, a state representative who had been convicted of embezzling state funds. When I expressed surprise that he would do so, he looked at me disgutedly and said "Well, YOU wouldn't understand - he's still one of US!" (BTW, after 35 years of devoted to his oldest son, I am still not considered one of them. This is an example what we are up against in trying to change the narrative about Palin.)

The tele-prompter failed. Hmmmmm...just like those Diebold paperless balloting machines eh? Hmmmmm....

McCain and Palin can lie all they want... and this election will still be close. MTP showed a poll showing McCain clearly leading Obama in who's more experienced for the job. This is something Obama needs to fix because people will remember that when they go to the voting booths.

As for McCain and Palin's lying, if people can believe George W. Bush went to war because Saddam Huessein was responsible for 9-11, then Americans will believe anything. THAT'S the scary part.

Claire McCaskill let the genie publically out of its bottle this weekend. The petition asking McCain to release his full health records with the video featuring the doctors is making the on-line rounds. McCain's age and health, I believe, will be a late campaign issue.

McCain and Palin have repeated lied about matters large and small. They've been caught and exposed everytime. They are firmly establishing themselves as dishonest. When McCain is asked about his health will anyone believe what ever he says?

They don't think they are lying. They have their own reality and they're sticking with it.
On Morning Joe McCain said his attack ad on Obama teaching sex education in kindergartens is true, just go to their web site and it will prove it.

I just gotta know....when she told this story at the Ohio fundraiser, was she reading it off a teleprompter?

This is starting to feel like a Vonnegut story, or maybe a political version of Mel Brooks' The Producers. It's like the Republicans really don't want to win the elecion - things are so awful right now, it's like they want to distance themselves from this debacle, let Obama & the Dems take the heat for 4 years. So they run the worst,v lowest, most dishonest campaign in history. They're expending all the goodwill McCain's nurtured from the media (unless they're complicit). They hooked up with the nost inept veep candidate since Quayle (though Lieberman comes close). They're basically setting themselves up to fail. But son of a gun, the base is just too faithful, and now they're energized. The worse they act to turn off voters, the more voters are endeared to them, like abused housewives who know deep down their man is a good man. They can't lose for losing. Hilarious if it weren't so godawful frightening.

The question is not if there is anything the McCain is not lying about,

the question is 'is there anything meaningful the McCain campaign has to tell the truth about'?

And then there's this from WSJ, *Creamerygate*

"On June 16, 2007, Gov. Palin attended a rally by dairy farmers near her hometown of Wasilla who pleaded that the creamery stay open to help them and other members of the local dairy industry. "Things are kind of a mess right now with what's happening with Mat-Maid, and we're going to clean it up," the governor said at the event."

She then sacked the creamery board and replaced it. The new board, headed by one of her childhood friends, ordered the creamery kept open. Six months later -- after the business racked up more than $800,000 in additional losses, according to state officials -- the new board ordered it closed again.

So I told the convention planners "Thanks, but no thanks for that teleprompter". If we want to spew a bunch of utter BS, we'll just do it ourselves.

If she can give an extemporaneous speech when the prompter fails, why is she afraid to hold a press conference. Seems like a good line for the Dems.

I want to see her birth certificate! Why are they hiding it??!!!

She's lied about so much, how do we know if she's telling the truth about where and when she was born? Are we sure she is a 'natural born citizen', as required by Article II of the Constitution?

Do we know her name is really Sarah?

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

....How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/speech/details.aspx?id=38

In other words, Ohio was in the prepared text. Lying when you have a reckless disregard of the truth is bad enough, but this is pathological.

John McCain has become the Basil Fawlty of politicians. The truth is just never good enough.

It's Pit Bullshit.

(CNN) — It appears Barack Obama's teleprompter is hitting the campaign trail.

When she went to Ireland? It was to kiss the Blarney stone...

This reminds me of an article Michael Kinsley wrote in Slate some time ago about the characteristics of different administrations in the way they lied. The funniest observation in the piece:

"Bush II administration lies are often so laughably obvious that you wonder why they bother. Until you realize: They haven't bothered. If telling the truth was less bother, they'd try that too."

It would seem that, like everything else, McCain/Palin is offering us just more of the same.

http://www.slate.com/id/2064466/

So some reporters said the teleprompter issue was "minor," which means Palin is lying through her teeth. I guess the definition of "minor" for those reporters would be important to know. Meanwhile, other observers said it was not so minor, but they are completely ignored and/or written off as partisan hacks. And of course the story is "largely debunked" not "debunked." Seems like the whether the prompter malfunctioned would be black and white, at least to any objective observer...

Consider how insecure one must be to lie about a false teleprompter malfunction at the RNC during a rally in Canton Ohio. How insignificant is it that you can see Russia from your house, or stop over for refueling on the boarder and say you entered into Iraq? As insignificant as the shallow purchase of a tanning bed to look good and the paranoia that prompts one to say it's because you have S.A.D - a very serious illness. So is Sara Palin saying to the American people, she has a mental disorder caused by seasonal depression? Or is she saying she is not on medication as prescribed by most physicians who treat S.A.D?

She continues today with more lies, stating she will show financial accountability of money spent so the American people will know where their money is going when she is VP, but as it stands now, she refuses to show her income tax statements as Biden, McCain and Obama has already done, or show any documents or co-operate on the bi-partisan investigation of troopergate.

But wait! Surely she knows even more about the world financial market than Obama or Biden. After all, she's been living inside her Alaskan Igloo running a densely populated city Government for 20 months now. That is, before being plucked out the gem of America’s heartland (remote Alaska)for her cosmetic appeal to update John McCain's antiquated Washington insider image.

Ask John about his friends, the Keaton 5 back in 1989, he knows a thing or two about finances too.