Fact-Checking Obama's New Ad 'Pocket'

The McCain campaign sent out one of those helpful memos today that contains pre-packaged "research" for bloggers and reporters, this one aimed at debunking Barack Obama's new "Pocket" ad. You can see the ad here via Greg McNeilly.

While everything in the ad is technically true, the ad does contain what the McCain campaign calls "distortions." In the parlance of our times, Obama's slacks, while not aflame, are at least poaching in a light syrup.

While the McCain campaign has been blasted by the press for flat-out lying in its ads, I don't subscribe to the "two wrongs make it right" school of thought. Obama should come clean. Here's my favorite from the memo:

OBAMA AD MYTH: John McCain has proposed additional tax breaks for oil companies.

FACT: Barack Obama's claim that McCain favors a $4 billion tax cut for oil companies is totally misleading. John McCain has proposed cutting the tax rate on all American businesses across the board from 35 to 25 percent. Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain favors no special deal for big oil or anyone.

· PolitiFact: Obama's Statement "Barely True," As Obama Is "Cherry-Picking" On Tax Cut, As "The Corporate Tax Rate Reduction Would Apply To ALL Corporations." "Obama is cherry-picking here. The corporate tax rate reduction would apply to ALL corporations. Yes, Exxon Mobil, but also to Wal-Mart, General Motors and Home Depot, to name a few of the other Fortune 50 biggies. Even everybody's favorite, Starbucks, would get the same tax break. Obama's statement is technically true, but singling out oil companies suggests McCain has targeted oil companies for tax breaks. He hasn't. We rate Obama's statement, and the claim in the ad, Barely True." ("Big Oil, Like All Companies, Would Get Tax Break," PolitiFact.com, Accessed 8/4/08)

See? Obama makes it seem like a $4 billion giveaway, when it's really a small part of a much bigger giveaway. Maybe Obama was trying to take it easy on McCain.

You know your campaign is in trouble when your defense is more damaging than your opponent's attacks.