What, you say? McCain supports pedophiles? Sure. If you play by McCain's rules. Take his latest ad:
Obama's one accomplishment? Legislation to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners. Learning about sex before learning to read?
Ouch! Only...well...the bill was actually, how shall we say it? A bit different than what McCain implied.
Via Hilzoy, from the Obama camp:
"Barack Obama supports sensible, community-driven education for children because, among other things, he believes it could help protect them from pedophiles. A child's knowledge of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial to keeping them safe from predators."
Interesting, huh? It turns out McCain is sensationalizing and apparently opposing a bill that protects children from child predators. Ergo, McCain must support pedophiles, right?
Well, no. Of course not.
What we have here is a campaign crassly exploiting the inefficiencies and inabilities of the mainstream media to quickly correct a viral and pervasive smear. Heck, I already wrote about this exact same line of attack, on this very same bill -- back July of 2007! That's right, Mitt Romney used the same smear against Obama over a year ago -- and the MSM is still powerless (or unwilling?) to step up and call "foul."
Yes, yes, the whiners lose. So...why not a counter campaign labelling McCain a supporter of pedophiles? After all, he apparently opposes giving children the tools to protect themselves from molestation.
Update: EJ Dionne, "Does the Truth Matter Anymore?":
Is McCain against teaching little kids to beware of sexual predators?
McCain once campaigned on the idea that the war on terrorism is the "transcendent" issue of our time. Now, he's stooping to cheap advertising that would be condemned as trivial and misleading in a state legislative race. Boy, do I miss the old John McCain and wonder what became of him. And I wonder if the media will really take on this onslaught of half-truths and outright deception.
Boy, it looks like there might actually be some backlash from the media against the McCain campaign. Dare I hope? Could it be? Accountability is on its way? |
