McCain-Palin Tactics: How Long Can Lying Work?

Photo from source, SFGate

I have this funny feeling that John McCain's tactic of throwing out negative ads, largely devoid of the truth, is about to come around and bite his campaign in the backside. The rate at which he's thrown out attacks has only accelerated, and he's bought himself quite a bit of time by getting the media to focus on something other than what McCain has to offer the country.

But how long can it work? Since Sarah Palin was picked as his running mate, she's given several variations (barely) on the same campaign stump speech. And that's it. She's given no interviews, though she has agreed to sit down with ABC's Charles Gibson, for what is widely believed to be a puff piece. In the meantime, several attack ads have been issued against Barack Obama, full of innuendo--and little else.

I'm starting to think that McCain is taking yet another page from Karl Rove and George Bush's playbook: run out the clock. Keep the media busy with scurrilous attacks, keep Palin out of question and answer sessions until she's been schooled, and hope that they can eat up enough time that the clock runs out. Is that all Sarah Palin was? A stalling tactic? A political stunt?

I'm thinking yes. But it might not work. The media seems to be waking up, and it's about time.

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Lies, Half-Truths and Contradictions: Now McCain is Lying About Factcheck.org

FactCheck.org is one of those (few!) nonpartisan sources where anybody can check out the truthiness in a political advertisement or on-the-trail rhetoric. Everybody trusts them, so they're often cited in campaign ads. . .

Read more at: SFGate