The Facts Attack Back

Saturday, September 13, 2008 | 10:20 PM

By Sarah Scully
Our friends at FactCheck.org are working overtime, disentangling the truth from the barrage of ruthless attack ads and caustic rumors circulating the blogosphere. So far, the McCain campaign seems to be racking up the most demerits for misleading ads, though Obama's camp has put out a couple of their own. McCain's attacks, part of a new strategy helmed by Steve Schmidt, have set a new bar for negativity. The "liberal blogosphere" is making up for Obama's dearth of deceptive ads by perpetuating (though sometimes retracting, to be fair) conspiracy theories about Palin's past. FactCheck has most recently debunked assertions that the Alaskan Governor cut aid for special needs children, fought for Alaskan succession and pushed for teaching creationism exclusively. Though advised not to take the Palin bait, the Obama campaign is positioning their latest Palin blast (see earlier post) as a critique of McCain's judgment and the integrity of his campaign. And this just in... A new Swift Boat revival group is preparing to release a series of anti-Obama TV spots.

Put on your flack jackets because there are no signs of a cease-fire!