http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_unleashes_misl.phpMcCain Campaign Unleashes Misleading Attack On Obama Over Iran
By Greg Sargent - July 9, 2008, 2:38PM
With the news today that Iran's Revolutionary Guards test-fired nine medium and long-range missiles, the campaign battle shifted today over to what to do about Iran. And just moments ago, the McCain campaign misleadingly attacked Obama for allegedly opposing the designation of the Guards as a terrorist organization.
On a conference call with reporters just now, McCain senior foreign policy adviser Kori Schake hit Obama, saying he "opposed calling them a terrorist organization." The basis for the charge? Obama's opposition to the Kyl-Lieberman amendment.
The McCain camp repeatedly labeled Obama as "consistently weak on Iran."
But Obama has in fact supported labeling the guards a terrorist org, and explicitly said at the time of the Kyl-Lieberman vote that he opposed it for other reasons.
As the Obama camp was quick to point out, in October of 2007, Obama co-sponsored the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which called on the Bush Administration to "designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a Foreign Terrorist Organization."
And back in September of 2007, Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton explicitly said that his opposition to Kyl-Lieberman was rooted not in the designation of the Guards a terrorist org. Rather, iwas rooted in his opposition to the amendment's claim that the restructuring of America's military commitment to Iraq would have critical long-term consequences for Iran's ability to threaten the region.
Here's how FactCheck.org put it: "McCain's claim that Obama's opposition to the bill was based on an unwillingness to label the IRGC as terrorists is false."
Not that facts matter, of course.