Sex, Lies & Nowhere, Alaska (…And More Lies)

Sarah Palin removed her lie about opposing the “Bridge to Nowhere” in a recent speech in Alaska. Has she finally come to her senses and retired this rhetorical turd? Apparently not.

Gov. Palin dropped her “Bridge to Nowhere” lie from her stump speech during her trip to Alaska last week, presumably because too many locals knew about her actual role as a major supporter of the project. So I’d been wondering whether the line would return once she returned to the lower 48. Sure enough, today in Carson City, Nevada, she’s back at it.

We have to stop rewarding lies and deceit in this process. I hear so many people blow it off with a “that’s politics,” but it’s only business-as-usual because we continue to reward this behavior. Even if you consider yourself a conservative, I’d have to think you feel just a little bit dirty supporting someone this dishonest and opportunistic. Republicans should be furious right now at who represents them. I can see why Ron Paul got so much support this year, many conservatives are sick of these awful wolves-in-GOP-clothing, pretending to represent conservativism.

Can’t we all agree we need to stop rewarding candidates who play dirty and dishonestly, even if it means using your heart instead of your brain for one or two election cycles? Candidates would run very different campaigns if we punished them for running this sort of campaign, rather than rewarding it every time.

When confronted with his lies, McCain excused his ads by saying “there’d be a much different tenor to this campaign if Obama would’ve just agreed to do the town halls with me.” That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a campaign full of ridiculousness—as if that excuses his despicable and deceitful attack ads. That’s grade-school level shit.

I’m not saying Obama’s hands are completely clean in this, but he’s run a much more respectable campaign (so far, word is he’s finally decided to show some real teeth, we’ll see how that goes), with a much more honest tone, and he’s sticking to policy. McCain on the other hand, has been in the gutter for months now.

The St. Petersburg Times gets it exactly right…

This nation is facing real challenges on the economy, health care, jobs and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are significant differences between how Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain would address them. But McCain’s recent campaign ads suggest the most vital issues are whether Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergarten children and whether he derided the Republican’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by talking about lipstick on a pig.

McCain’s straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak. It is leaving a permanent stain on his reputation for integrity, and it is a short-term strategy that eventually will backfire with the very types of independent-thinking voters that were so attracted to him.

Read the rest of the article, and the truth about the kindergarten and lipstick ads, here.