Who needs a 527 to ‘swiftboat’ Obama when the McMedia will do it for you?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have previously reported John McCain’s false and dishonorable attack ad impugning false motives to Barack Obama for canceling a visit to wounded troops in Germany. Blog For Arizona: McCain lies using wounded troops to smear Obama

Even Mrs. Greenspan (Andrea Mitchell) at NBC, who can barely contain her enthusiasm for McCain, has reported that the ad is false McCain: Ratcheting up the rhetoric – First Read – msnbc.com:

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports that there was never a plan for Obama to take the press to Landstuhl, despite the claim by McCain folks and others. The plan was to go with his military aide, retired General Scott Gration. The Pentagon said Gration was off-limits because he had joined the campaign — violating rules that it not be a political stop.

Obama had gone to see wounded troops in Iraq earlier in the week, without even confirming he’d been there. No press, no pictures. He has done the same when he goes to Walter Reed — never any press.

Remember when McCain promised that he would run an "honorable campaign" and that he would discourage 527 independent ‘swiftboat’ organizations from advertising on his behalf?  Yeah, he lied.

And remember when the media promised us at the beginning of this campaign that they had learned their lessons from 2004, and that they would not be used by ‘swiftboat’ groups again?  Yeah, they lied too.

The fact is that McCain has decided to run his own ‘swiftboat’ operation with the assistance of the McMedia who are hopelessly addicted to reporting attack ads.

As reported by Greg Sargent, Evan Tracey who tracks media buys at the Campaign Media Intelligence Group, took a look at the McCain ad buys and discovered that the troop visit attack ad is only running in Denver and Washington, D.C. TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Claim: Ad Attacking Obama For Canceled Troop Visit Mainly Intended For Media  "So, the bogus troop-visit attack ad’s primary goal is to get reporters and pundits to talk about it. The McCain campaign is counting on the media to amplify the message for them."

And the McMedia did not disappoint.  The McCain ‘swiftboat’ ad was discussed on all of the network and cable "news" (sic) programs on Monday.  That the McCain ‘swiftboat’ ad had been debunked as completely false was barely touched upon, and even considered irrelevant.  Rather, the question the chattering class wanted to discuss among themselves was, "was the ad effective?" 

The intended purpose of McCain’s ‘swiftboat’ ad was to get the McMedia to talk about it, so the answer to the question is "yes," the ad was effective.  It achieved its intended purpose. This is how ‘swiftboating’ works. Tell a lie and let the media amplify the lie through ad nauseam repetition.  If people hear the lie repeated often enough, pretty soon enough people will start to believe it is true.  Another name for this is "propaganda," and it is illegal under U.S. law. 

Of course, the media will never condemn the liar for his lies, because it’s sporting to talk about the ‘swiftboat’ lies and it’s content for their brain-dead "news" programming.  The media has completely failed the American people. They are themselves to be roundly condemned.

Both Senator Jack Reed and Senator Chuck Hagel, who accompanied Senator Obama on his trip, have been particularly critical of McCain’s dishonorable ‘swiftboat’ ad. 

On Face the Nation, Senator Hagel stated: "I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives and when we start to get into, "You’re less patriotic than me. I’m more patriotic… it’s just not responsible to be saying things like that. " 

With respect to the canceled hospital visit in Germany, Senator Hagel supported Obama:

CHUCK HAGEL: Let me add to that. As you know, Bob, the congressional delegation that you referred to ended when we parted in Jordan. At that point, it was a political trip for Senator Obama. I think it would have been inappropriate for him and certainly he would have been criticized by the McCain people and the press and probably should have been if on a political trip in Europe paid for by political funds-not the taxpayers-to go, essentially, then and be accused of using our wounded men and women as props for his campaign. I think the judgment there-and I don’t know the facts by the way. I know what you’ve just read. No one has asked me about it other than what you’ve just asked about. But I think it would be totally inappropriate for him on a campaign trip to go to a military hospital and use those soldiers as props. So I think he probably, based on what I know, he did the right thing. We saw troops everywhere we went on the congressional delegation. We went out of our way to see those troops. We wanted to see those troops. And that’s part of our job to see those troops, by the way, and listen to those troops, Bob. And we did.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think that ad was appropriate?

CHUCK HAGEL: I do not think it was appropriate.

BOB SCHIEFFER: You do not.

CHUCK HAGEL: I do not.

As I’ve said before, John McCain is the only one using wounded troops as props in his campaign.  He is dishonorable.  And he is shameless.