A New Low

Many of us didn't think it was possible, but the McCain campaign has sunk to a new low. First, they've recently released a new ad that completely distorts Obama's record on education. In fact, Obama has a much more substantive record, as the articles that the McCain ad uses even point out (more info about this can be found here). The worst part, however, is the ad's implication that Obama supported a bill that would teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergarten students.

This is completely inaccurate. The bill in question was actually designed to protect children from child molesters by educating youngsters about inappropriate sexual conduct. This is an effort, I would think, that most parents would support. Apparently Sen. McCain disagrees. The Obama campaign has responded truthfully and forcefully:

"It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls - a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."

- Obama Campaign spokesman Bill Burton

Finally, McCain has released an ad expressing outrage (outrage!) at comments made by Obama at a recent campaign rally. "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink." These comments, of course, were specifically referring to McCain's platform as a whole, and especially his recent claim that he, somehow, some way, represents "change." Instead, the ad suggests that these comments were aimed directly at Gov. Sarah Palin. Given that Obama was talking about McCain's platform immediately before making these statements, it's clear what he was getting at, when looked at in context.

What's even more amazing, however, is that McCain used the exact same "lipstick on a pig" phrase (an old metaphor) himself (video). Apparently, when McCain uses this phrase on Hillary Clinton's health care plan, it's fair, but when Obama uses it to describe the entire McCain platform it's…sexism?

If anyone should be outraged here, it's us. John McCain is insulting our intelligence by assuming that we can't see through this.