Holier Than Thou?

According to an article in the NY Times on Sept. 25th, Senator Obama's campaign complained a couple of weeks ago about misleading and untruthful statements in McCain ads. When he was asked if he would respond in kind, Obama said, “I just have a different philosophy, I’m going to respond with the truth,” adding, “I’m not going to start making up lies about John McCain.” However, Senator Obama has not kept his word.

• An Obama appoved radio advertisement running in Wisconsin and other contested states misleadingly reports that Mr. McCain “has stood in the way of” federal financing for stem cell research; Mr. McCain did once oppose such federally supported research but broke with President Bush to consistently support it starting in 2001.  Sarah Palin does not support it but has vowed to defer to Senator McCain if he is elected.
  

• An Obama approved commercial running here on Thursday morning highlighting Mr. McCain’s votes against incentives for alternative energy misleadingly asserts he supports tax breaks for “one source of energy: oil companies.” Mr. McCain’s proposed corporate tax break would cover all companies, including those developing new sources of power.
  

• A new Obama approved television advertisement playing in areas with high concentrations of elderly voters and emphasizing Mr. McCain’s support for President Bush’s failed plan for private Social Security accounts misleadingly implies Mr. McCain supported “cutting benefits in half” — an analysis of Mr. Bush’s plan shows that the cuts would have applied to upper-income Americans retiring in the year 2075.
  

• A much criticized Obama approved Spanish-language television advertisement wrongly links the views of Mr. McCain, who was a champion of the sweeping immigration overhaul pushed by Mr. Bush, to those of Rush Limbaugh, a harsh critic of the approach, and, frequently, of Mr. McCain. The advertisement implies Mr. Limbaugh is one of Mr. McCain’s “Republican friends,” and quotes Mr. Limbaugh as calling Mexicans “stupid and unqualified.” Mr. Limbaugh has written that his quotes were taken out of context and that he was mocking the views of others. 
  

In all, Mr. Obama has released at least five commercials that have been criticized as misleading or untruthful against Mr. McCain’s positions in the past two weeks. Mr. Obama drew complaints from many of the independent fact-checking groups and editorial writers who just two weeks ago were criticizing Mr. McCain for producing a large share of this year’s untruthful spots (The Spanish language ad was rated “Pants on Fire,” by PolitiFact, the fact-checking Web site of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly. The "Pants on Fire" rating is defined as, "not just false, but ridiculously false".  "False!" FactCheck.org said of his commercial on Social Security.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said, “It’s bad enough that Barack Obama fictionalizes his own record, but it is a disgrace that he lies about John McCain’s.”

Exagerated ads placed by surrogates or the campaign itself are nothing new in American politics, but bald-faced lies directly from a presidential candidate with the intention of deceiving voters speaks volumes about the candidate's character and calls for doubt about the candidate's other verbal promises.