The Whoppers of 2008—The Sequel

Right Change Is Wrong  October 24

Spread the Tax Hooey!  October 26

Obama: Senior Scare
In two TV ads and in speeches, Team Obama made false claims aimed at frightening seniors into fleeing from McCain's camp, to wit: McCain proposes to cut $882 billion out of Medicare benefits and eligibility to help pay for his health care plan. This turkey draws in part from a newspaper story saying McCain would pay for the health plan with "major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid." The story said nothing about cutting benefits or eligibility, though, nor does it say the McCain camp has given a target number. One ad says benefits would be cut 22 percent, and there would be "higher premiums and co-pays."

These claims have a de minimis relationship with reality, if that. The Obama camp borrowed calculations from a Democratic think tank that had piled detailed assumptions and calculations on top of a flat misrepresentation of what McCain's economic adviser had said in the newspaper article. He was quoted as saying Medicare benefits would not be reduced, and reductions would come through "efficiencies."

Obama's False Medicare Claim  October 21

McCain: Obama and the "Terrorist"
A McCain TV ad says Obama "lied" about his association with Bill Ayers, a former member of the radical, bomb-setting, anti-Vietnam War Weather Underground group. In a Web ad, McCain says the two are "friends" who have "worked together for years." GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has said repeatedly on the stump that Ayers and Obama "pal around" together. And in a large-scale robo-call effort, McCain's campaign implied that Obama "worked closely" with Ayers in the latter's earlier, Weather Underground days.

But nothing Obama said about Ayers has been shown to be untrue. All available evidence indicates the two know each other but are not close. They met in 1995, when Obama was asked to head the board of a school reform group, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, that Ayers had helped start. The organization, formed to dispense grants in an effort to improve the city's schools, was hardly radical; its board included a number of well-regarded Chicago establishment types. Also, Obama and Ayers overlapped for two years on the board of another foundation, and Ayers hosted a coffee in his home when Obama was running for the Illinois state Legislature.

Ayers is unrepentant about his past, and Obama doesn't excuse him, calling his acts as a Weatherman "despicable." But in Chicago, Ayers isn't seen as all that controversial. He's now a professor of education and was named a Chicago Citizen of the Year in 1997 for his work on school reform.

"He Lied" About Bill Ayers?  October 10

Robo-Attacks  October 20