Politifact: McCain's new attack ad is false

[babylonsister]

Who knew?

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/580/



"Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump? O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!"

John McCain on Monday, July 21st, 2008 in a TV ad
Sure, and blame Obama for bad tomatoes, too
False


A new television ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign seeks to exploit anger over gas prices by directing it toward his opponent.

"Gas prices: four dollars, five dollars, no end in sight," says the narrator in the advertisement, which the McCain campaign released July 21, 2008. "Because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America."

Oil drilling goes on all the time in America. What Sen. Barack Obama and others oppose is certain new drilling off the coasts. But let's leave that aside.

Some in Washington, the ad continues, say "no to independence from foreign oil." Almost no one opposes the notion of independence from foreign oil. The dispute is over how to get there. But let's leave that aside as well.

The ad culminates with this question: "Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?" Then we hear a chant familiar to anyone who has watched a fevered Obama rally: "O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!" So the central claim of the ad, and the one we decided to check, is that Obama is to blame for rising gas prices.

In its news release announcing the ad, the McCain campaign cited everything from Obama's criticism of McCain's electric car contest to Obama's reservations about nuclear power. But in our view those things don't sufficiently back up McCain's sweeping contention that the junior senator from Illinois is to blame for rising gas prices.

snip//

What the ad pins on Obama — and others who are "saying no to (new offshore) drilling in America" — are the price increases the country is currently enduring. That saddles the Illinois senator with a lot more influence than he has had. If one were to line up all the leaders in Washington who share some responsibility for the offshore drilling moratorium — the first President Bush, the Republican leadership of Congress, the Democratic leadership of Congress, the Florida delegation — there would be quite a few people ahead of Obama. We find McCain's claim to be False.

[annabanana]

1. I think this is a non-starter. It shows their desperation....

Blaming Obama for the gas prices is totally counter-intuitive. In order for a lie to gain traction it has to be at least plausible.

[BlueStater]

2. McCain hasn't a clue what he's doing.

He's widely attacking Obama over everything desperately hoping something will stick.

[zbdent]

7. you're over-estimating the critical thinking capabilities of the intended audience ...

puh-leeze ...

[Vinca]

3. False and idiotic. Even the dimmest bulb knows Obama

doesn't run big oil. McBush is making a fool of himself.

[mwb970]

4. Ludicrous. How are gas prices Obama's fault?

In July, mccain gave a speech saying that our energy problem has been building up for the last 30 years. mccain has been in Congress since 1983, that's...let's see...by golly, that's 25 years! The old guy has been in Congress almost the entire time the problem has been developing, and he did exactly what about it? Nothing! But Obama's been there three years and it's all his fault. Jesus. How "low-information" are mccain supporters?

We also hear a lot about how new and inexperienced Obama is, how he hasn't accomplished anything, etc. Yet he somehow has the magical power to single-handedly cause gas prices to go up! This kind of stupid idiocy makes Gramps look like a fool.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Harold Ford's response was dead-on

The GOP seems to be giving Obama an amazing amount of power to somebody who has only been in the Senate for only 4 years. Although it's not quite as amazing as Bill Clinton's ability to remain in charge of the entire country for the past 7+ and be responsible for all of W's mistakes.
It is amazingly ridiculous to blame Democrats (and Obama in particular) for the mess we're currently experiencing in regards to gas prices when, prior to 2006, the GOP was in charge of Congress for 12 years and had a President from their own party supposedly in charge of setting our energy policies for the final 6 years. Nobody knows what solutions Cheney's mysterious "energy task force" came up with because he has steadfastly refused to make most of those records public but the Bush (mis-)administration doesn't appear to have any new bold ideas for long-term energy independence and security other than more drilling here at home. Also, nobody seems to be questioning why major oil and gas companies have done such a poor job maintaining their own facilities and why they appear to be sitting on several leases for exploration and possible drilling that they don't appear to be taking full advantage of.

[woodsprite]

6. I I saw that commercial when watching the news earlier this a.m.

I think the station cut it off early, but not early enough that they didn't show Obama's face.

[AtomicKitten]

8. It's not only false, it's laughable.

[zulchzulu]

9. Sean Hannity thought the ad was "really good"

The former bartender/construction worker then rattled off that Obama is "against oil, against coal, against nuclear and doesn't want the electric car..." Colmes was stumped.

:puke:

[babylonsister]

10. "Colmes was stumped."

:rofl: Same as it ever was!