Why Does Barack Obama Continue To Distort His Own Record, As Well As John McCain's?

26 Apr 2008 01:19 Africa/Lagos


Liberal Distortion

Why Does Barack Obama Continue To Distort His Own Record, As Well As John McCain's?

Obama Distorts Own Record

WASHINGTON, April 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by the Republican National Committee:


Today, Obama Claimed That The National Journal's Rating System Inaccurately Labeled Him The Most Liberal Senator In 2007:


Obama: "[T]hey Selected 10 Votes Out Of The Many Hundreds That I've Cast." (Greg Sargent, "Obama: National Journal Rating Of Me As 'Number One Liberal' Is Bogus," Talking Points Memo's "Election Central" Blog, tpmelectioncentral.com (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/obama_national_journa l_rating.php), 4/25/08)


NOTE: "Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Was The Most Liberal Senator In 2007, According To National Journal's 27th Annual Vote Ratings." (National Journal Website, "National Journal's 2007 Vote Rankings," nj.nationaljournal.com (http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/), 1/31/08)


Obama Tried To Distort The Ranking By Saying They Only Rated Him On Ten Senate Votes When They Actually Rated Him On Ninety-Nine:


"[I]n The 2007 Ratings, A Computer-Assisted Analysis... Used 99 Key Senate Votes, Selected By NJ [National Journal] Reporters And Editors, To Place Every Senator On A Liberal-To-Conservative Scale In Each Of Three Issue Categories." (National Journal Website, "National Journal's 2007 Vote Rankings," nj.nationaljournal.com (http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/), 1/31/08)


Obama Also Distorts Sen. John McCain's Record and Words


Obama Claimed He Has Been Accurately Re-Stating Sen. John McCain's "100 Years" Comment:


Obama Told The Today Show's Meredith Vieira That He Has Not Distorted Sen. McCain's Comments. Vieira: "Senator, both you and Senator Clinton have said Senator McCain favors 100 more years of war in Iraq. Sunday in The New York Times Frank Rich wrote, really, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of themselves for libeling John McCain. He felt that the American troops should be a long-term presence, the way they were in Japan and South Korea. Are you willing to admit that you've distorted his statements?" Obama: "No. that's not accurate. We can pull up the quotes on You Tube." (NBC's "The Today Show," 4/8/08)


But Obama Has Repeatedly Charged That Sen. John McCain Wants 100-Year War In Iraq:


Obama: "[McCain] wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Campaign: 'McCain Is Not A Warmonger'," Fox News' "Embeds" Blog, www.foxnews.com (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/05/obama-campaign-mccain-is-not-a-war monger/), 4/5/08)


Obama: "And when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain says he wants to fight a hundred year war, a hundred years he says, as long as it takes." (Mike Dorning, "Obama Fires Away At McCain," Chicago Tribune's "The Swamp" Blog, Chicago Tribune (http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/obama_fires_away_at_m ccain.html), 2/9/08)


Obama: "[W]e are bogged down in a war that John McCain now suggests might go on for another 100 years..." (Sen. Barack Obama, MSNBC Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Cleveland, OH, 2/26/08)


Obama: "[Sen. McCain] says that he is willing to send our troops into another 100 years of war in Iraq..." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks On Primary Results, Houston, TX, 2/19/08)


Numerous Media Outlets Agreed That Obama Has Mischaracterized Sen. John McCain's Position On Iraq:


The New York Times' Frank Rich: "Really, Barack Obama And Hillary Clinton Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves For Libeling John McCain." "Really, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of themselves for libeling John McCain. As a growing chorus reiterates, their refrains that Mr. McCain is 'willing to send our troops into another 100 years of war in Iraq' (as Mr. Obama said) or 'willing to keep this war going for 100 years' (per Mrs. Clinton) are flat-out wrong. What Mr. McCain actually said in a New Hampshire town-hall meeting was that he could imagine a 100-year-long American role in Iraq like our long-term presence in South Korea and Japan, where 'Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.' See for yourself on YouTube." (Frank Rich, Op-Ed, "Tet Happened, And No One Cared," The New York Times, 4/6/08)


Columbia Journalism Review's Zachary Roth: "[L]ately, Barack Obama in particular has stepped up his attacks on McCain's '100 years' notion. But in doing so, Obama is seriously misleading voters -- if not outright lying to them -- about exactly what McCain said." (Zachary Roth, "The U.S., Iraq, And 100 Years," Columbia Journalism Review, 4/1/08)


The [Manchester] Union Leader: "It Is Not Even Remotely True -- And They Know It." "You might have heard from the New Hampshire Democratic Party and Democratic Presidential candidates that Sen. John McCain wants 100 more years of war in Iraq. It is not even remotely true -- and they know it." (Editorial, "McCain's '100 Years': The Democrats' War On The Truth," The [Manchester] Union Leader, 4/6/08)


The New York Times Reports That Democrats "Mischaracterize And Distort" Sen. McCain's "100 Years" Comment. "But the timetables, flippantly tossed out, have been condensed into sound bites by his Democratic opponents, turned into fund-raising appeals and mashed into YouTube parodies. Many of the sound bites mischaracterize and distort what was said in Mr. McCain's six-minute exchange on Jan. 3..." (Kate Phillips, "McCain Said '100'; Opponents Latch On," The New York Times, 3/27/08)


Obama Selectively Quoted Sen. John McCain's Remarks On The Economy:


"Obama Picked Up Comments Senator McCain Made Yesterday On Bloomberg TV That Economic Progress Has Been Made Under George W. Bush." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected- on-economy/), 4/18/08)


"'I Think If You Look At The Overall Record And Millions Of Jobs Have Been Created, Et Cetera, Et Cetera, You Could Make An Argument That There's Been Great Progress Economically Over That Period Of Time,' McCain Said." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected- on-economy/), 4/18/08)


"The McCain Campaign Quickly Sent Out Their Candidate's Full Remarks On Bloomberg, Showing McCain Qualified His Statement. 'But That's No Comfort. That's No Comfort To Families Now That Are Facing These Tremendous Economic Challenges,' McCain Said." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected- on-economy/), 4/18/08)


"Obama Did Not Quote McCain's Addendum, But Minutes Before Hitting The Republican For Saying There Was Economic Progress, Obama Himself Admitted, "Our Economy Actually Expanded Over The Last Seven Years, That's True." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected- on-economy/), 4/18/08)


PDF Format (http://www.gop.com/images/research/042508Research4.pdf)


A Product Of The RNC Research Department


Source: Republican National Committee

CONTACT: Republican National Committee, +1-202-863-8614


Web Site: GOP