McCain's 'Fact Check' ad

Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 2:50 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Ads

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray
The McCain campaign is up with a new ad in "key states" called "Fact Check." It hits Obama for sending “a mini-army of 30 lawyer, investigators and opposition researchers” to Alaska to “dig dirt on” Palin.

The ad also claims that “attacks” on Palin “have been called ‘completely false’ … ‘misleading’” by FactCheck.org.

But it’s worth noting that the McCain campaign air-dropped a mini-army of lawyers, investigators, opposition researchers and PR specialists into Alaska after McCain selected her. And news organizations, including NBC News, have “air-dropped” producers and correspondents into Alaska, as well. This is not uncommon in politics, especially regarding someone 99 percent of America didn't know until 10 days ago.

*** UPDATE *** The Obama campaign tells First Read that neither it nor the DNC sent anyone to Alaska and that it has called John Fund for a correction to his cited Wall Street Journal story.

"It’s fiction. It’s made up,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, adding, the claim is “absolutely, unequivocally false.”

To the first point, the McCain campaign cites FactCheck.org’s reference to one post that is about "False Internet claims and rumors" -- that "many are completely false, or misleading" -- not mainstream criticisms of where Palin has potentially distorted her or Obama’s record.

In fact, an earlier FactCheck.org post found numerous factual errors in Palin's much-lauded VP acceptance speech on her record and on what she said about Obama's. That speech is heavily excerpted on the trail, where Palin takes no questions from reporters and does not stray off script. 
 
"Palin trips up on her facts...," Fact Check wrote. Her speech "may have shown she could play the role of attack dog, but it also showed her to be short on facts when it came to touting her own record and going after Obama’s."
 
Her record
1. Bridge to Nowhere
"Palin may have said 'Thanks, but no thanks' on the Bridge to Nowhere, though not until Congress had pretty much killed it already," FactCheck.org writes. "But that was a sharp turnaround from the position she took during her gubernatorial campaign, and the town where she was mayor received lots of earmarks during her tenure."
 
NBC's Lisa Myers also investigated Palin's claims on the bridge and found that despite her repeated line that she said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to the bridge, her exclamations are “not the whole story.” In fact, as Myers reported on Nightly News last night, "First, when Palin was running for governor in 2006, she actually supported the project." 
 
Additionally, another fact-check site, Politifact, titles its Bridge to Nowhere fact check, "A Bridge to Exaggeration."
 
2. Construction of an oil pipeline hasn't begun
FactCheck.org also found that "construction hasn’t begun on the pipeline, and the project isn't quite a done deal" despite Palin proclaiming, "I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence."
 
3. Stood up to Big Oil?
"As for Palin having 'stood up to ... the Big Oil companies,' as she said in her speech,” FactCheck found that “she has on this issue, not on others. Oil is, after all, incredibly important to Alaska’s economy. About 80 percent of the state budget comes from oil and gas taxes and royalties. Palin is in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore areas, a position she shares with oil companies."
 
Palin's accusations of Obama in her speech
1. Not authored 'a single major law or reform'
"Palin’s accusation that Obama hasn’t authored 'a single major law or even a reform' in the U.S. Senate or the Illinois Senate is simply not a fair assessment. Obama has helped push through major ethics reforms in both bodies, for example." The Alaska governor avoided some of McCain’s false claims about Obama’s tax program -- but her attacks still failed to give the whole story." ... "Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was a hit with the party faithful at the GOP convention, but some of her claims were amiss."
 
2. 'Against producing more energy,' etc.
"In attacking Obama, Palin reeled off a few statements that had a nice cadence, but were light on facts," FactCheck wrote, particularly on Obama being "against producing more energy;" on meeting with leaders of "terrorist states" when the Bush administration and Defense Secretary Gates have advocated more engagement of late; and her saying: "Al Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

Script For "Fact Check" (TV :30)
ANNCR: The attacks on Governor Palin have been called "completely false"..."misleading".
And, they've just begun.
The Journal reports Obama "air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers" into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin.
As Obama drops in the polls, he'll try to destroy her.
Obama's "politics of hope"? Empty words.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message

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