McCain’s lying ads have gone “too far” warns … Karl Rove!
September 14th, 2008When a skunk calls you smelly, you must really stink.
Here is the master of political disaster dissing his disciple’s ads on FoxNews today (transcript here):
Don’t worry, forces of darkness. Rove has not suddenly been replaced by his less-evil twin. At the end of the clip, for instance, he says:
You can’t trust the fact-check organizations, with all due respect.
Rove still hates all things fact-based. And you have to love his use of “with all due respect.” Karl Rove is due about as much respect as … oh, I don’t know, what’s that guy’s name, it’s on the tip of my tongue, could it be … SATAN?
The one liners write themselves. TalkingPointsMemo — a must-read for political junkies — says
Wow. This is a bit like being labeled a sleaze merchant by Bob Guccione or Larry Flynt.
I welcome similar zingers from readers.
More seriously, though, even the normally cajones-less media is reeling back in horror at what McCain has become. The just-the-facts Associated Press headlines a piece, “Analysis: McCain’s claims skirt facts, test voters” that opens:
The “Straight Talk Express” has detoured into doublespeak
The piece debunks for the umpteenth time the Sarah Palin lie that she killed the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere — a lie she continues to tell (for the ninth time) as recently as yesterday.
On Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times ran an editorial entitled: “Campaign Of Lies Disgraces McCain,” which opines:
McCain’s straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak. It is leaving a permanent stain on his reputation for integrity, and it is a short-term strategy that eventually will backfire with the very types of independent-thinking voters that were so attracted to him.
I do think this lying is important to focus on here at Climate Progress for three reasons. First, many of the biggest lies involve a core focus of this blog — clean energy (see “Why McCain hates renewables but pretends he loves them” and “No wonder the race is close: Even Apollo Alliance is suckered by McCain’s lies and doubletalk” and “Anti-wind McCain delivers climate remarks at foreign wind company“).
Second, the lies go directly to the character of the person who may be the next president of the United States (and the character of his vice president) and thus whether he is candidate to take on the issue of the century, global warming (see “What are the moral implications of the Palin pick?“).
Third, the biggest challenge we face in the effort to motivate the action needed to avoid catastrophic climate change is the “campaign of lies” by the global warming deniers and delayers. The fundamental challenge facing all of us who work on this issue — how do you win a debate with unrepentant liars in a world where the media only occasionally plays its key role of umpire calling balls and strikes fairly (see “Media enable denier spin 2: What if the MSM simply can’t cover humanity’s self-destruction?“? That will also be the subject of a later post.
If the last 7 years have taught us anything, it is the dangers of entrusting the highest offices in the land to two pathological liars.
Related Posts:
- The difficulty of debunking a myth
- Chris Mooney: Does refuting Deniers only strengthen and empower them?
- McCain tells the mother of all lies about the soccer mom
- In HIS big speech, McCain’s 10 energy lies top Palin’s 4 energy lies
- In her big speech, Palin repeats the GOP’s big energy lie — plus three other energy lies, too
- The Big Energy Lie
September 14th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I believe there would be only one reason that Rove would say that there was lying on the McCain side is because it is part of a larger plan to limit the damage already done or it’s thr next part of their overall plan or something else. He would never tell the truth about something that he would not want out there unless he gets something out of it. So maybe the building backlash is to much and they have to cut that off. But Rove tell the truth just to tell the truth? Never.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Off-topic, but
“Curbing Coal Emissions Alone Might Avert Climate Danger, Say Researchers”:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/ 2008/ 09/ 080910160757.htm
September 14th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Off-topic again, but here is an idea which many could adopt, to financial (and climate) advantage:
http://global-warming.accuweather.com/ 2008/ 09/ changing_the_albedo_of_100_maj_1.html
September 15th, 2008 at 12:16 am
“I welcome similar zingers from readers.”
* This is like being called dogmatic by Phyllis Schlafly.
* This is like being called corrupt by Jack Abramoff.
* This is like being called mousy by Sarah Palin.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Joe, you should hire Eric Roston
Pretty good ones. Not ever watching TV, I have no comment on “mousy”.
(I’ve actually got Roston’s book on my reading pile, but that pile a bit tall still. Tottering in fact.)
September 15th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. And so it seems are many others…
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares, Eve Ensler
September 15th, 2008 at 11:07 am
paulm: You do realize that “Palin” is only an L away from “Pain”, right?
September 15th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It’s interesting how the dems continually slam Karl Rove, until his statements reinforce their vitriol for the republicans. I don’t care what the media says, if you connect the dots, it’s obvious that Obama’s lipstick/pig comment, which came just days after Palin scored points with her pitbulll/lipstick statement, was an ugly sexist response from Obama. Now, Obama is crying that he was misinterpreted, while the media, once again assists him in playing the victim. The deck has been so stacked in favor of Obama, whether it’s the media’s refusal to vet Obama in the first place, to giving Obama free rides with Wright, Farrakhan, Rezko, Ayers, etc.. The media, as well as shows like The View, are continuing to show extreme bias against Senator John McCain, while kissing Obama’s ass.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
That link does not seem to work ….. try below for full article
Drill, Drill, Drill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ eve-ensler/ drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html
September 16th, 2008 at 11:29 am
“if you connect the dots, it’s obvious that Obama’s lipstick/pig comment, which came just days after Palin scored points with her pitbulll/lipstick statement, was an ugly sexist response from Obama”
I suppose you’re right if you use an eight foot wide paint brush to do the connecting. And some super-dooper fill-in-the-blanks paint.
Even McCain has admitted he lied about Obama calling Palin a pig.
I will agree that the media is beginning to show a bias against McCain. But you need to realize that he has earned that bias totally by himself. He started with a very supportive media and threw that advantage away with a series of lies that even the most die-hard right winger has had trouble swallowing.
(The Bridge to Nowhere lie has now been repeated 35 times on the campaign trail since it was demonstrated to be false.)
I can understand that some people like you, Howard, would like a right wing/Republican president. But please ask yourself how badly you want that outcome.
Here you’ve got a guy who has abandoned most of the positions he held as Senator McCain and embraced positions 180 degrees from those as Candidate McCain. Elect him and who might President McCain be? He has demonstrated no commitment to his positions. Will the Senator, the Candidate, or someone entirely different show up for work?
And you can’t ask him what he might do if elected. He just doesn’t give truthful answers since the Straight Talk Express crashed and burned.
Sorry, Howard. You’ve got a very defective candidate this time out.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:46 am
comment, which came just days after Palin scored points with her pitbulll/lipstick statement, was an ugly sexist response from Obama. Now, Obama is crying that he was misinterpreted, while the media, once again assists him in playing the victim. The deck has been so stacked in favor of Obama, whether it’s the media’s refusal to vet Obama in the first place,