John McCain’s "straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak,” said the St. Petersburg Times in an editorial. His recent TV ads, especially his “grotesque distortion” about an Illinois bill on sex education and his “faux chivalrous outrage” over Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment, will backfire with “independent-thinking voters” who once liked him.
The press is in “an agitated-to-furious state” about McCain’s campaign, said Peter Wehner in Commentary, but it’s not helping Obama—just “unmasking” its own bias. Where was the media's “fury at false attacks” when Obama was misrepresenting McCain’s 100-years-in-Iraq quote?
Even the “Yoda of dirty politics,” Karl Rove, says McCain has stepped far “beyond the 100 percent truth test,” said Tommy Christopher in AOL News. For McCain, that’s like winning “the World Series of Slime.” But McCain can afford to “sacrifice his honor”—his base loves the smears and “the watercooler set doesn’t read FactCheck.org.”
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