Liberal Distortion

Why Does Barack Obama Continue To Distort His Own Record, As Well As John
McCain's?

Obama Distorts Own Record

WASHINGTON, April 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was issued today
by the Republican National Committee:

Today, Obama Claimed That The National Journal's Rating System Inaccurately
Labeled Him The Most Liberal Senator In 2007:

Obama: "[T]hey Selected 10 Votes Out Of The Many Hundreds That I've Cast."
(Greg Sargent, "Obama: National Journal Rating Of Me As 'Number One Liberal'
Is Bogus," Talking Points Memo's "Election Central" Blog,
tpmelectioncentral.com
(http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/obama_national_journal_rating.php),
4/25/08)

NOTE: "Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Was The Most Liberal Senator In 2007,
According To National Journal's 27th Annual Vote Ratings." (National Journal
Website, "National Journal's 2007 Vote Rankings," nj.nationaljournal.com
(http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/), 1/31/08)

Obama Tried To Distort The Ranking By Saying They Only Rated Him On Ten Senate
Votes When They Actually Rated Him On Ninety-Nine:

"[I]n The 2007 Ratings, A Computer-Assisted Analysis... Used 99 Key Senate
Votes, Selected By NJ [National Journal] Reporters And Editors, To Place Every
Senator On A Liberal-To-Conservative Scale In Each Of Three Issue Categories."
(National Journal Website, "National Journal's 2007 Vote Rankings,"
nj.nationaljournal.com (http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/), 1/31/08)

Obama Also Distorts Sen. John McCain's Record and Words

Obama Claimed He Has Been Accurately Re-Stating Sen. John McCain's "100 Years"
Comment:

Obama Told The Today Show's Meredith Vieira That He Has Not Distorted Sen.
McCain's Comments. Vieira: "Senator, both you and Senator Clinton have said
Senator McCain favors 100 more years of war in Iraq. Sunday in The New York
Times Frank Rich wrote, really, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be
ashamed of themselves for libeling John McCain. He felt that the American
troops should be a long-term presence, the way they were in Japan and South
Korea. Are you willing to admit that you've distorted his statements?" Obama:
"No. that's not accurate. We can pull up the quotes on You Tube." (NBC's "The
Today Show," 4/8/08)

But Obama Has Repeatedly Charged That Sen. John McCain Wants 100-Year War In
Iraq:

Obama: "[McCain] wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100
years." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Campaign: 'McCain Is Not A Warmonger'," Fox News'
"Embeds" Blog, www.foxnews.com
(http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/05/obama-campaign-mccain-is-not-a-warmonger/),
4/5/08)

Obama: "And when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain says he wants to
fight a hundred year war, a hundred years he says, as long as it takes." (Mike
Dorning, "Obama Fires Away At McCain," Chicago Tribune's "The Swamp" Blog,
www.chicagotribune.com
(http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/obama_fires_away_at_mccain.html),
2/9/08)

Obama: "[W]e are bogged down in a war that John McCain now suggests might go
on for another 100 years..." (Sen. Barack Obama, MSNBC Democrat Presidential
Candidate Debate, Cleveland, OH, 2/26/08)

Obama: "[Sen. McCain] says that he is willing to send our troops into another
100 years of war in Iraq..." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks On Primary Results,
Houston, TX, 2/19/08)

Numerous Media Outlets Agreed That Obama Has Mischaracterized Sen. John
McCain's Position On Iraq:

The New York Times'Frank Rich: "Really, Barack Obama And Hillary Clinton
Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves For Libeling John McCain." "Really, Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of themselves for libeling John
McCain. As a growing chorus reiterates, their refrains that Mr. McCain is
'willing to send our troops into another 100 years of war in Iraq' (as Mr.
Obama said) or 'willing to keep this war going for 100 years' (per Mrs.
Clinton) are flat-out wrong. What Mr. McCain actually said in a New Hampshire
town-hall meeting was that he could imagine a 100-year-long American role in
Iraq like our long-term presence in South Korea and Japan, where 'Americans
are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.' See for yourself on
YouTube." (Frank Rich, Op-Ed, "Tet Happened, And No One Cared," The New York
Times, 4/6/08)

Columbia Journalism Review's Zachary Roth: "[L]ately, Barack Obama in
particular has stepped up his attacks on McCain's '100 years' notion. But in
doing so, Obama is seriously misleading voters -- if not outright lying to
them -- about exactly what McCain said." (Zachary Roth, "The U.S., Iraq, And
100 Years," Columbia Journalism Review, 4/1/08)

The [Manchester] Union Leader: "It Is Not Even Remotely True -- And They Know
It." "You might have heard from the New Hampshire Democratic Party and
Democratic Presidential candidates that Sen. John McCain wants 100 more years
of war in Iraq. It is not even remotely true -- and they know it." (Editorial,
"McCain's '100 Years': The Democrats' War On The Truth," The [Manchester]
Union Leader, 4/6/08)

The New York TimesReports That Democrats "Mischaracterize And Distort" Sen.
McCain's "100 Years" Comment. "But the timetables, flippantly tossed out, have
been condensed into sound bites by his Democratic opponents, turned into
fund-raising appeals and mashed into YouTube parodies. Many of the sound bites
mischaracterize and distort what was said in Mr. McCain's six-minute exchange
on Jan. 3..." (Kate Phillips, "McCain Said '100'; Opponents Latch On," The New
York Times, 3/27/08)

Obama Selectively Quoted Sen. John McCain's Remarks On The Economy:

"Obama Picked Up Comments Senator McCain Made Yesterday On Bloomberg TV That
Economic Progress Has Been Made Under George W. Bush." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama
Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com
(http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected-on-economy/),
4/18/08)

"'I Think If You Look At The Overall Record And Millions Of Jobs Have Been
Created, Et Cetera, Et Cetera, You Could Make An Argument That There's Been
Great Progress Economically Over That Period Of Time,' McCain Said." (Bonney
Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy,"
embeds.blogs.foxnews.com
(http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected-on-economy/),
4/18/08)

"The McCain Campaign Quickly Sent Out Their Candidate's Full Remarks On
Bloomberg, Showing McCain Qualified His Statement. 'But That's No Comfort.
That's No Comfort To Families Now That Are Facing These Tremendous Economic
Challenges,' McCain Said." (Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected'
On Economy," embeds.blogs.foxnews.com
(http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected-on-economy/),
4/18/08)

"Obama Did Not Quote McCain's Addendum, But Minutes Before Hitting The
Republican For Saying There Was Economic Progress, Obama Himself Admitted,
"Our Economy Actually Expanded Over The Last Seven Years, That's True."
(Bonney Kapp, "Obama Says McCain Is 'Disconnected' On Economy,"
embeds.blogs.foxnews.com
(http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/obama-says-mccain-is-disconnected-on-economy/),
4/18/08)

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A Product Of The RNC Research Department

SOURCE Republican National Committee

Republican National Committee, +1-202-863-8614