Dissecting & debunking the Obama smears

I have to admit, it's pretty hard to listen to the audio (above) from two of the world's biggest liars and not become pretty enraged. But, that's how they play - when the truth doesn't fit their paradigm and ideology (and it often doesn't), then just lie, lie, lie. They must say to themselves, "Hey, if McCain can't get elected on his record (which he can't, in all likelihood, but we'll never find out with jackasses like these two around, among others), then we'll just make shit up, and if we repeat it over and over and over again, then people will soon believe it to be true! Hey, cool!" (See the lie about Al Gore saying he "invented the Internet" for a Hall of Fame reference.)

The right's been doing this for the better part of '08 about Obama - the madrassa smear, the Pledge of Allegiance myth, you name it - the litany of lies keeps coming and coming. It's like Hannity and Limbaugh are two addicts, and lies are their crack. (Oops - sorry Rush, I swear I wasn't referring to your OxyContin addiction, really! Am I the only one who thinks it's funny that a drug addict who used to put down other drug addicts before he got caught is named Rush?!? Just wondering.)

From Media Matters:

From the July 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: So how did Senator Barack Obama's oversea trip resonate with voters? A brand-new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that only Democrats were impressed, with 53 percent calling the trip positive. Republicans overwhelmingly reject -- overwhelmingly rejected the trip, while 41 percent of independents held no opinion at all. The poll also reveals voters are twice as likely to classify media coverage of Obama as unfairly positive rather than unfairly negative, and in the case of McCain, the opposite is the truth, with many more seeing coverage of him as negative.

Joining us now, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mike Gallagher, former [House Minority Leader Dick] Gephardt [D-MO] campaign manager Steve Elmendorf, and Washington Times columnist Tony Blankley.

Mike, you and I talk about this often on the radio. No big surprises here, especially in light of him, you know, abandoning the troop visit because the cameras weren't around -- allowed and the campaign wasn't allowed. I think this is a net negative for him in the end. Your thoughts?

GALLAGHER: Oh, it has to be. I mean, it's -- it's stunning that he's not -- doesn't have a commanding lead right now in the polls. But even with the fawning media coverage, the kernels of truth slip out.

From the July 29 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

SCARBOROUGH: You say that he's stunned by the truth. What is the truth as you see it? Why -- are -- are you suggesting that Barack Obama does not value the service of our men and women in uniform?

DAVIS: No, I'm sure he does. And I'm sure that the men and women in our uniform would've valued the -- the visit that he had indicated early on that he was gonna make, you know, when he -- when he arrived in Landstuhl. I don't know what the truth is, because out of the Obama campaign themselves and Mr. Gibbs in particular, there have been probably 11 separate excuses for why they didn't visit the troops. Now, if they don't know why they didn't visit the troops, I'm sure as heck not gonna figure it out.

Above is video from a recent Hannity & Colmes, with Hannity repeating on camera the same lies he said on his radio show.

Where's the proof, you say? How about NBC's Andrea Mitchell, a reporter who historically hasn't always been very friendly to Obama - she was there, with Obama, unlike Limbaugh and Hannity.

Mitchell's take: "There was any intention, let me make this absolutely clear, the press was never going to go on the trip [to visit the troops in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center].

Oops! I certainly hope people remember this, two months from now, when McCain (or, more likely, 527s and other surrogates who are backing McCain, begin repeating the accusation over and over and over, as if it's a fact that Obama wouldn't visit the troops because cameras couldn't come.) It's not a fact, never has been, and never will be.

But, in a way, the McCain camp (with the help of State TV, Faux News) have scored a small victory, because of course this is all that the press is talking about now, not the very successful trip that Obama had overseas.

It's okay though, because McCain is looking more and more desperate as the days wear on.

Again, Media Matters has much more on this latest Obama smear that's patently absurd, and worst of all, completely false.

We need him, to restore what's been lost

I've written it and alluded to it many times in the past few months, and I'll no doubt say it again many more times over the next 100 days ~ we need Obama. We need him to restore what the last eight years have done to our standing in the world. 

There are many who believe that our standing doesn't matter. I'm certainly not one of them. From getting Osama bin Laden, trade, global warming and treaties to fostering relationships with allies and at least having a dialogue with our enemies, our standing and resolve matter. We cannot and must not elect someone who will give us four more years of mostly the same failed policies, and I do believe that is precisely what John McCain represents.

A great example is the speech that Obama gave a few days ago in Berlin. It was notably apolitical - it wasn't a campaign swing or a "premature victory lap," as McCain characterized it. Not once did Obama mention the words "Bush" or of "McCain." (This contrasts pretty sharply to President Bush all but calling Obama an appeaser in front of the Knesset in Israel a few months ago. Where was the Dixie Chicks outrage? I'm still waiting.) Instead, Obama delivered a stirring and impassioned speech about the challenges we face, how we've overcome them in the past, and how if we work together we can overcome present and future ones, too.

All I hear from McCain is Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, and how much of a genius he is that the Surge is currently working. What's more, his supposed "expertise" in foreign affairs is a total sham, every bit as much as Rudy 9iu1ian1's supposed "expertise" in foreign affairs. Every time McCain opens his mouth, something incorrect comes out of it - he mistakes Iraq for Afghanistan, his time lines are all wrong, and he loves to rewrite history, banking on the fact that many in America have the political attention span of about three days.

Here's hoping that voters this time won't be fooled by a clever PR effort, circa Bush in 2000, and especially in 2004. We simply cannot afford this on so many fronts.

I found this on via Firedoglake - words of eloquence by Obama during his overseas trip. After eight years of Bush's asinine, scripted comments, this is welcome indeed...

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