In all the hullabaloo about the investment banking meltdown (also known as the day I kissed my retirement goodbye), John McCain more or less admitted the lies in his most recent ads and claims to a collection of reporters in Florida. Reports the AP:
Did Barack Obama really call Sarah Palin a pig, as a John McCain ad leads people to believe? "No," McCain said Monday. The Republican presidential nominee defended the ad anyway, saying Obama "chooses his words very carefully."
So, all the bluster last week that anyone called Sarah Palin a "pig" wasn't really based in truth, McCain admits. Yet, he never stopped his campaign from lying.
He was asked about nearly $200 million in congressional pet projects Palin requested for 2009 for her state, despite her boasts that she opposes such projects and his claim that she didn't ask for any. McCain responded by criticizing Obama for seeking more than $900 million in these earmarks, by one count.
Once again, McCain sidesteps the question and says, "Yeah, but look at Obama!" Except what he's pointing to really is a stretch. It is true that Palin asked for almost $200 million in earmarks this year. Obama? He hasn't asked for any, this year. Over the course of his Senate career, Obama has asked for hundreds of millions, but McCain makes it seem like this year, Palin asked for $200 million and Obama $900 million. That's just not the case -- not by a long-shot.
McCain cut off a question about the "Bridge to Nowhere," which Palin claims to have killed in Alaska even though Washington pulled back money for the project before she turned against it.
"The important thing is she's vetoed a half a billion dollars in earmark projects..."
Again, a tacit admission that the Bridge to Nowhere line is a lie.
I guess today would be the day, when it almost is guaranteed no coverage, for McCain to back off the lies his campaign has been telling. The question remains, though, if John McCain knows these are lies, and can't even bring himself to defend them anymore, will he continue to sell his soul in his quest for power? Will he continue to "approve these messages" the next time a new lie is presented to him?