New McCain Ad Accuses Obama Of Lying About His Stem-Cell Research Record
The McCain campaign is up with a new radio spot hitting an earlier Obama ad for lying about his record on stem-cell research:
Here's the key text of the Obama ad that the McCain camp is objecting to:
ANNOUNCER: Stem cell research could unlock cures for diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's, too. But John McCain has stood in the way ... he's opposed stem cell research. Picked a running mate who's against it ... And he's running on a platform even more extreme than George Bush's on this vital research. John McCain doesn't understand that medical research benefiting millions shouldn't be held hostage by the political views of a few.
The claim that McCain "has stood in the way" is only true in an extremely narrow sense -- he opposed embryonic stem-cell research before flip flopping on it around seven years ago, and has favored it since.
That said, it's true that the GOP platform opposes embryonic stem-cell research. What's more, McCain's current "fact check" ad indulges in a bit of deception: It implies that the McCain-Palin ticket supports this research. Palin opposes it, as Obama's earlier spot accurately noted.
Late Update: A commenter below notes that by forcing McCain to publicly declare his support for the research, he could be risking alienating religious right voters.
Look Greg, at this point McLame has reversed and then double reversed every position he's ever taken.
You can say just about anything about where he stands and be accurate cause he's all over the place.
The GOP has obstructed stem cell research for a decade at least and it's the most easily demonstrated way in which the GOP has set us back in the sciences and medical research.
September 29, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's called "doubling down" backward!
September 29, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah Palin is an example of why we need "stem cell research."
September 29, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!
September 29, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
The tone of the ad sounds filled with drama.
September 29, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, this is gonna be the dealbreaker!
Crapshooters for mcCain!
September 29, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Guess I'm in a nit-pickity mood this morning. Starting at 0:16:...
It's too important for me and my family? Guess I'd better leave it to the professional pols in Washington.
September 29, 2008 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kind of an "oops", that.
It's too important to people to let go.
If it's too important FOR people, that suggests us people are just too stupid to get the significance.
September 29, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
All the same, it would have been better for the Obama ad to simply say that McCain is running on a platform that opposes stem cell research and that he picked a running mate who's against it. All of which is true.
September 29, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
A distortion like this is just stupid. There's enough fodder out there to lampoon these clowns for the next ten years. Why make up stuff so that he can claim to be a victim. The facts are more than enough to show McLame for what he is.
September 29, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why is there invariably at least one comment like this every time there's a post on an ad about another issue?
Why do you think isn't important? I think it's very important - a large majority are in favor of stem cell research and the GOP has been obstructing it for at least a decade.
What is your problem specifically - specifically - with this?
I am so tired of these cold water comments -
September 29, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
MarcNYC does have a point. The conflation of stem-cell research with embryonic stem-cell research does give the McSame camp plausible deniability.
Could Obama have hit McSame from a different, more vulnerable angle? Probably, but it did get McSame to respond (play defense); that in itself testifies to the effectiveness of BigO's original ad.
September 29, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're tired of anyone who doesn't think Obama walks on water. Supporting him isn't enough. Voting for him isn't enough. You simply want to read unendingly adoring comments about everything that his campaign does.
Hard as it is to believe, not everyone is an acolyte.
September 29, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, you're missing the meta-logic here. This is great politics here. Saying this bring the issues to the public and forces McCain to address it. The more McCain addresses it (presumably saying that he favors it) the more McCain pushes fundamentalists to stay home on Election Day.
September 29, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
In short, if you're playing defense, you're not playing offense.
And the fact that they responded to that radio ad suggests that maybe that radio ad may have pushed the numbers a little bit.
September 29, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, thats it. I think, as Frog Leg suggests, its pretty great that it would force McCain in the next debate (?) to finally take a stand (barf..) in the issue.
September 29, 2008 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Also look at the timing - this leads into the Veep Debate. If this gets enough noise from the MSM, it may slip into the debate. More so, Biden may bring it up. We know Palin isn't going to support it, right? Worse than that, if she's first to respond on a big stage (and the debates are a massive stage given the buzz she creates), she's going to respon far worse than McCain trying to twist around an answer.
There's enough truth in the ad to fly. "He's" = "He has", which is perfectly true. That fact that he's flipped on it is trumped by running on the Republican Platform and picking a Veep strongly against it. Those are recent choices from McCain, much more recent than the last vote he cast on the issue.
John
September 29, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
The key question here is, IF it is proven the embryonic stem cells cures a disease such as cancer or diabetics or blindness, etc... Will you support MORE USE of embryos to be used to save lives?
September 29, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain opposes the use of stem cells obtained from 100-cell embryos about to be discarded. He is all for adult stem cell research--everyone is. There are many types of stem cells, some more promising than others. The Republican platform wants to criminalize any research using embryonic stem cells. It's a tricky issue. Either McCain or Obama would be an improvement over Bush on this issue. Obama would be the greater improvement. Who cares what Palin thinks?
September 29, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Given that Palin's running mate is an erratic 72 year old man with a history of cancer, I CARE A GREAT DEAL about what Palin "thinks".
September 29, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
So do I.
She's in line for the presidency if McLame wins. It's damned important what she thinks.
September 29, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
If, God forbid, she ever becomes President, Congress will walk all over her. She will be ineffectual and worthless. That's why I'm not too worried about where she stands.
September 29, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like that you put "thinks" in quotation marks.
September 29, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just calling it the way I see it. : )
But hey, Billy Kristol in today's Times told me that they're going to let her loose during the debate, and the real Sarah Palin will come out.
Looking forward to that.
No offense to Alaska politics, but the national stage is a bit broader and deeper, and winging it might not be the winner that they think it might be.
September 29, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
O be still my heart - I hope like everything they do let her loose.
I said last night and I mean it - give me the material they're giving her, 4 weeks, and I'll carve her up into little pieces.
I wouldn't so much as climb onto the same stage as Hillary Clinton - she'd kill me in 5 minutes flat. Same with Pelosi, even with Fluffy Hutchison - she's been in the Senate forever. I couldn't debate Fluffy.
But you give me the same shit they are giving Sarah, 4 weeks, and I'll take her apart.
If Katie Couric can do it, any one of us could.
September 29, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
You point out something I hadn't noticed. Palin was announced on August 29. The Couric interview was September 24. Palin should have had close to 4 weeks of cramming under her belt at that point.
And that was the product?
My students could do a better job than that.
September 29, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wouldn't mind her inexperience on some issues so much if she showed any inclination to actually learn about them. I really doubt a lot of cramming went on . I doubt they're feeding her much knowledge, either; probably just the responses themselves, hence why she gets so tripped up.
September 29, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is her problem my dear - she is incapable of really understandi the material. She can memorize responses, but she has no foundation with which to deal with the information.
Lots of people have loads of native intelligence and little education and I have no problem with that - I don't think a degree necessarily means you really know anything.
The thing is, though, if you do go into higher education, what they teach you really is how to think about something. That's all law school is - they rearrange your brain. Her's has never been touched.
She has no basis with which to even bullshit an answer.
September 29, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I really wish this wasn't a VP debate. I would've loved to have seen Biden do his Angry Foreign Policy Professor routine on her. He's going to probably be pretty tame, though.
September 29, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not sure if this is strategy or tactic.
Was Obama trying to get a response from McCain that would needle the fundies right before Palin's big moment? If McCain says Sarah agrees with him on stem cell research, you can bet they will go ballistic. They are hoping she turns him around.
Is Obama's ad and McCain's response setting up Ifill to ask Sarah if she supports stem cell research?
September 29, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why can't Obama's ad simply be an attempt to get the record straight? Why does there have to be some larger "set-up" scenario?
September 29, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Two weeks ago, Obama wasn't playing enough offense! Why didn't he attack McCain? Why is he being so passive?
Now, he's playing offense with this ad. So now the questions are "Why did he do this?"
It gets a bit much at times.
September 29, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Way too much.
September 29, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
A candidate isn't just selling him/herself in a political campaign.
They also have an opponent to deal with.
I've heard it said that the GOP is a 3 legged stool with national security hawks, social conservatives and fiscal conservatives as the 3 legs. The financial mess and bailout has caused a big riff within the party. The GOP stool is tottering. So why not jiggle another leg?
September 29, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
FreeForAlf:
It's leaking out of McDotard's Depends™.
September 29, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
What normal voter is going to stay awake through an ad that whines about the unfairness of one of the opposition's ads? Lame.
September 29, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
The kind that's already going to vote for McCain, come hell or high water?
September 29, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Someone who's commuting in traffic? After all, it is a radio ad.
OTOH, can we blame McSame for the rash of traffic accidents this ad will cause by putting drivers to sleep?
September 29, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish the Obama camp had refrained from mentioning McCain in their stem cell ad. Why not simply say the Republicans? It is more honest and at the same time still forces voters to confront their terrible record on the issue. Mention the GOP platform, but leave McCain out of it. I understand the gamesmanship outlined above, but why risk the charge that Obama is a liar as well? Make McCain own that label like his own private brand.
September 29, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain and Obama have responded to our voter education initiative, Your Candidates-Your Health, at www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org. Both answered our question "Do you support or oppose expanding federal funding for research using embryonic stem cells?"
Also, all candidates for Congress have been asked similar questions, and their responses can be compared to public opinion poll data showing where the American public stands on these important issues.
September 29, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink