MoveOn Ad: McCain’s Escalation

McCain spokesman Danny Diaz managed to squeeze in 5 separate lies in a brief 51-word statement responding to the ad. "MoveOn.Org is an out-of-the-mainstream organization that has a long history of airing inflammatory material, even comparing the President to Hitler. It is not surprising that a liberal group opposed to military action after September 11th would attack Senator McCain's conservative values, as well as changing strategy and securing victory in Iraq." • "out-of-the-mainstream organization" - this is what psychiatrists call projection; it is plainly self-evident that McCain is the one "out-of-the-mainstream" with 70% of the public opposed to his views • "long history of airing inflammatory material" - only if the definition of "inflammatory material" means something supported by 70% of the public • "comparing the President to Hitler" - an ad which made the comparison, submitted to an open-to-the-public competition, was yanked from the competition by MoveOn contest organizers, in an express repudiation of the comparison alleged • "opposed to military action after September 11th" - just plain false • "attack Senator McCain's conservative values" - nowhere in the ad is there any criticism of "values"