We liberals are often frustrated by the refusal of the press to call the Republicans or the right when they out and out lie. No claim they make is absurd enough to warrant anything other than “on the one hand, on the other hand” type of coverage. Not to worry, that type of coverage is not universal. The AP proved today that it is perfectly ready to point out falsehoods, but only, it appears if its Democrats that are doing the falsifying. Here’s what the AP had to say about a Democratic ad attacking John McCain:
“The Republican National Committee demanded Monday that television networks stop running a television ad by the Democratic Party that falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq.”
Now, as Editor and Publisher points out, the AP is accepting the Republican spin, it is not saying that the Republicans allege it is false, it is saying that the ad falsely suggests something. Here’s the ad:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ul9iMgmOw[/youtube]
In fact, there is no allegation either way. You can infer what you want. The AP has taken Republican spin as gospel. What else is new though. By the way, there is a Republican politician who disagrees with what McCain says is his position: that we should stay in Iraq indefinitely as we remain in Europe and Korea. That would be straight talker John McCain (2005 version) who had this to say:
Three years before the Arizona Republican argued on the campaign trail that U.S. forces could be in Iraq for 100 years in the absence of violence, he decried the very concept of a long-term troop presence.
In fact, when asked specifically if he thought the U.S. military should set up shop in Iraq along the lines of what has been established in post-WWII Germany or Japan — something McCain has repeatedly advocated during the campaign — the senator offered nothing short of a categorical “no.”
“I would hope that we could bring them all home,” he said on MSNBC. “I would hope that we would probably leave some military advisers, as we have in other countries, to help them with their training and equipment and that kind of stuff.”
Host Chris Matthews pressed McCain on the issue. “You’ve heard the ideological argument to keep U.S. forces in the Middle East. I’ve heard it from the hawks. They say, keep United States military presence in the Middle East, like we have with the 7th Fleet in Asia. We have the German…the South Korean component. Do you think we could get along without it?”
McCain held fast, rejecting the very policy he urges today. “I not only think we could get along without it, but I think one of our big problems has been the fact that many Iraqis resent American military presence,” he responded. “And I don’t pretend to know exactly Iraqi public opinion. But as soon as we can reduce our visibility as much as possible, the better I think it is going to be.”
We will, of course, hear nothing from the “liberal” press about this flip flop, not even from Matthews, to whom he made the statements. Throughout the campaign we will be told that McCain is a guy who sticks to his positions and gives us nothing but straight talk.
