FUNDING THE TROOPS…. The McCain campaign probably has a pretty good reason to feel a little panicky this afternoon. The debate didn’t deliver the big win McCain needed, and the campaign is running out of time.
So, McCain, unconcerned about decency or honesty, is doubling down on accusing Barack Obama of not supporting U.S. troops. In a new ad, unveiled this afternoon, the McCain campaign insists, “In the midst of war, Senator Obama voted to cut off funding for our troops.” It concludes that Obama supports “risking lives.”
McCain desperately has to hope voters are fools. Indeed, this came up last night, and Obama explained reality fairly well:
“Senator McCain opposed funding for troops in legislation that had a timetable, because he didn’t believe in a timetable. I opposed funding a mission that had no timetable, and was open-ended, giving a blank check to George Bush. We had a difference on the timetable. We didn’t have a difference on whether or not we were going to be funding troops. We had a legitimate difference.”
What’s really idiotic about McCain’s attack is that, by his own logic, McCain voted to cut off funding for our troops in the midst of a war. That’s an inescapable conclusion — McCain supported troop funding when he liked the conditions of the spending bill, and opposed troop funding when he didn’t. As it happens, Obama did the exact same thing, only in support of different conditions.
If Obama voted to undermine the troops and “risked lives,” then McCain voted to undermine the troops and “risked lives.” It’s as simple as that.
But McCain is counting on voters not knowing the difference between misleading smears and the facts. It’s been the basis for most of the McCain campaign rhetoric all year — treat voters like idiots, and pray they see the ad without seeing the fact-check of the ad.
Maybe this is why McCain wouldn’t look at Obama last night — McCain is ashamed of the hack he’s become.
