McCain's latest outrageous lie. (Updated)

This latest McCain advert is yet another example of the way in which the McCain campaign deliberately lie in order to try and hurt Obama's image.

This is a deliberately misleading accusation. It came hours after the Obama campaign released a TV ad critical of McCain's votes on public education. As a state senator in Illinois, Obama did vote for but was not a sponsor of legislation dealing with sex ed for grades K-12.

But the legislation allowed local school boards to teach "age-appropriate" sex education, not comprehensive lessons to kindergartners, and it gave schools the ability to warn young children about inappropriate touching and sexual predators.

Republican Alan Keyes tried to use Obama's vote against him in the 2004 U.S. Senate race. At the time, Obama spoke about wanting to protect young children from abuse. He made clear then that he was not supporting teaching kindergartners about explicit details of sex.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Tuesday of McCain's ad: "It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls."

Penalty: 15 yards for the McCain campaign's deliberate low blow.

But you can guarantee that, rather than call the McCain team out for this outrageous falsehood, the US media will go on to have "a debate" over what Obama's vote actually meant.

They are giving Palin a free pass on her numerous lies regarding the bridge to nowhere and earmarks, and I bet they'll give them a free pass on this latest outrage.

It's reprehensible. As is McCain's ad.

UPDATE:

Joe Klein calls McCain's ad "one of the sleaziest ads I've ever seen in presidential politics". In an article entitled "Apology Not Accepted" he states:

Back in 2000, after John McCain lost his mostly honorable campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, he went about apologizing to journalists--including me--for his most obvious mis-step: his support for keeping the confederate flag on the state house.

Now he is responsible for one of the sleaziest ads I've ever seen in presidential politics, so sleazy that I won't abet its spread by linking to it, but here's the McClatchy fact check.

I just can't wait for the moment when John McCain--contrite and suddenly honorable again in victory or defeat--talks about how things got a little out of control in the passion of the moment. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.

Tags: McCain, Obama, Biden, Palin, US election 2008, lies, fabrication