Garling Gauge

Obama ‘Truth Squads’ Rankle Conservative Liars

Lying vs. free speech.

Republican’s and conservatives would like you to believe that the Obama campaign is hindering their free speech.

Fox News and various websites are peeved that the Obama campaign has formed truth squads, working with lawyers and law enforcement officials to ensure the McCain campaign and soft money groups obey the law with their statements and advertisements, to siphon off any lies about Sen. Obama that violate ethic laws.

“What?!” scream conservatives. ”We cannot lie about Obama?!.” Apparently, in some states you can’t. In Missouri, for example, there are laws in place and flat out lying about a candidate could potentially get you in trouble, as the following video explains:

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News story about Missouri truth squads

Republicans have been putting out so many lies about Sen. Obama that the Obama campaign has responded with truth squads aimed at quelling these falsehoods. Here’s a couple examples:

FactCheck.org find[s] the NRA has cherry-picked, twisted and misrepresented Obama’s record to come up with a bogus “plan.”

And then the sex education ad, aimed at scaring parents about Obama. First the ad with written video commentary, then a counter ad:

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McCain sex education attack ad

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Obama response ad

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Obama talking about sex education

Disagreeing with someone and stating your position is one thing, but the McCain campaign has lowered itself to the dregs of honesty. That conservatives would be upset or intimidated about truth squads ensuring they do not violate ethic laws is as telling as it is sad.

Obama certainly said he wanted to change the way politics works in America.

Republicans appear to be so rooted in lies and deception that being forced to obey the law has come as a shock, so they are retreating to a Second Amendment argument. Perhaps they didn’t think Obama was serious about rising above politics as usual, or perhaps they thought he would wait until he was elected before combing over the election system.

Either way, it is an interesting development, and a look back on the effectiveness of these truth squads should provide some insight into how well the legal system works, and how much dishonesty the American people can absorb.

The Obama campaign isn’t the panacea of politics, but ensuring a campaign isn’t flat out lying about another candidate doesn’t seem like a bad start.

More on lies and truth squads: here, here, here (this guy seems pissed), and especially here.

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