I've been a pretty harsh critic of CNN's pathetically sloppy journalism, particularly their habit of using claims from political ads as their headlines without mentioning that they are from an ad. But good behavior should be rewarded, and to my surprise, they did a good job covering McCain's latest ad.
Shocking, I know, but apparently McLame's new ad contains lies! Ok, now that you've all recovered from your fainting spells... CNN.com actually has put a "fact check" section at the bottom of their article and debunked the claims in the ad. Oh, you're back on the fainting sofa again.
Not only is CNN's headline McCain ad hits Obama over the economy instead of something that I'm used to seeing them write, like Godless Liberal Obama Will Literally Tax You to Death, they include a refutation from the Obama campaign in addition to the fact check section. The ad continues to peddle the lies that Obama will raise taxes on the middle class:
"Obama and his liberal Congressional allies want a massive government, billions in spending increases, wasteful pork. And, we would pay — painful income taxes, skyrocketing taxes on life savings, electricity and home heating oil."
Well, we've heard them say it a million times and have learned that John McCain has lost all of his integrity (maybe he left it in a house that he doesn't even know he has), so we shouldn't be surprised. But what did surprise me was that CNN is actually fact checking at all, and the effectiveness with which they did it:
According to a CNN fact check, Obama's tax plan would increase taxes in 2009 on the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while offering tax cuts for the other 80 percent. The largest increases would be on the top 1 percent of earners, according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group whose staff of experts includes former economic advisers to the White House and Congress under both Republicans and Democrats.
By comparison, the Tax Policy Center analysis says McCain would offer tax cuts across the board. Those at the top end of the scale would get the biggest percentage cuts under McCain, while households with the lowest incomes would receive the largest percentage cuts under Obama's plan.
Really, McCain wants big tax cuts for the rich and Obama wants tax cuts for the middle and lower classes? I've never heard of such a thing. Oh god... the room is spinning... I think I might...
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So in the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I commend CNN for meeting the incredibly lowered bar of journalistic ethics!