Know Only Enough to Be Afraid

I have heard that, whatever Ayers did in the past, he has distinguished himself since as a serious academic and is an unavoidable player in Chicago Democratic politics. However, I can certainly understand concerns about Obama's relationship with him and questions as to how he can associate with a radical terrorist.

That said, this ad is disgusting. Not because it questions his relationship with Ayers, but because it suggests that Obama himself may be a terrorist. Why even mention 9/11, which has nothing to do with Ayers, except to tie Obama directly to Islamic terrorists like Osama bin Laden? And why the suggestion that there's something dangerous we don't know about Obama?



A legitimate ad would be about Obama's unprincipled association with radicals for political gain. This ad goes farther in suggesting that Obama shares Ayers support for terrorism.

I don't think this group wants people to know more about Obama. Then they might not be so scared of him.

Obama is trying to keep the ad off the air. He also has a response ad:

Hot Chicks Dig Obama

Some are accusing McCain of exploiting fears of miscegenation with his new ad:



I'm thinking Obama really shouldn't have said this:

Obama Returns Fire

A very powerful ad airing on radio in Ohio:


Good for Barack. They need to get this thing on TV there.

The McCain campaign is clearly freaked out by it.

McCain's Respectful Campaign

McCain is looking less and less like the candidate of 2000 and becoming more indistinguishable from Bush.



His latest TV ad, "Painful", blatantly lies about Obama on taxes:



Here's that darn chart again:


Newsweek:

McCain released three new ads with multiple false and misleading claims about Obama's tax proposals.

A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people making just $42,000 a year." That's true for a single taxpayer, who would have seen a tax increase of $15 for the year – if the measure had been enacted. But the ad shows a woman with two children, and as a single mother, she would not have been affected unless she made more than $62,150. The increase that Obama once supported as part of a Democratic budget bill is not part of his current tax plan anyway.

A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on "families" making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.

The TV ad claims in a graphic that Obama would "raise taxes on middle class." In fact, Obama's plan promises cuts for middle-income taxpayers and would increase rates only for persons with family incomes above $250,000 or with individual incomes above $200,000.

The radio ad claims Obama would increase taxes "on the sale of your home." In fact, home-sale profits of up to $500,000 per couple would continue to be exempt from capital gains taxes. Very few sales would see an increase under Obama's proposal to raise the capital gains rate.

A second radio ad, in English, says, "Obama has a history of raising taxes" on middle-class Americans. But that's false. It refers to a vote that did not actually result in a tax increase and could not have done so.

These ads continue what's become a pattern of misrepresentation by the McCain campaign about his opponent's tax proposals.

Politicizing Wounded Soldiers

Obama canceled a visit to wounded troops for fear of politicizing the troops, and then his cancellation of the visit was politicized by McCain in a dishonest ad. FactCheck:

The Obama campaign canceled the visit with wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Obama says, when he learned that the Pentagon would not allow him to bring along a retired Air Force major general who is serving as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Obama says that "triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political."

Screw McCain.

Another False Attack Ad from McCain

I had hoped for an honest and honorable campaign from McCain. I guess knowing he's going to lose is making him desperate. FactCheck.org:

The McCain campaign is running a TV ad attacking Obama with statements that are literally true but paint an incomplete picture.

It says he "voted against funding our troops." He did – exactly once. Obama cast at least 10 votes for war-funding bills before voting against one last year, after Bush vetoed a version that contained a date for withdrawal from Iraq.

It says he "hasn't been to Iraq for years." He was headed there at the time the ad was released, however, and had been there in 2006.

It says he "never held a single hearing on Afghanistan." It was the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee, not Obama's subcommittee, that had the hearings on this global hot spot, and Obama attended one of those. Over the same time period, McCain himself attended none of the Afghanistan hearings held by the Armed Services Committee on which he serves.