Fact-Checking the End Game Smears

As the election cycle enters its final week, the lies coming from the McCain campaign are multiplying both in their numbers and in their sleaziness. Chances are you've heard one or more of the ones listed here. Please click the links for further information if you have any doubts on just how false they really are.

ALSO, please forward this information to everyone and anyone! We need to get the truth out. We can't afford to elect "leaders" who will say or do anything just to hold power and further their own political ambitions. Now is the time to hold them accountable. Once they are in office, there is little we can do to stop them (see: George W. Bush).

Driver's Licenses, Social Security, and Healthcare for Immigrants

Ad accuses Obama of wanting to give driver's licenses to illegals (including terrorists), healthcare to illegals, social security to illegals...

• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_license_to_kill.html

"Hardly a word in the ad is true. … despicable terror-pandering of the highest order."

Obama is Going to Take Away the Guns!

An ad accuses Obama of voting to "deny citizens the right of self-protection", and that he would make the homeowner a criminal in cases of home-invasion. All he voted for was to uphold a previously existing local gun ban in a small town, which had a maximum penalty of a $750 fine.

• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_rifle_associations_true_story.html

Obama's Tax Plan is Bad for Small Business Owners

In fact, it would benefit the vast majority of small businesses.

• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/09/fact-check-obama-tax-plan-and-small-businesses/
• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/21/fact-check-would-obama-hike-taxes-on-small-businesses-that-employ-16-million/
• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/right_change_is_wrong.html

Obama is a "Socialist" who wants to "Spread the Wealth"

Ridiculous right-wing lying and fear-mongering at its finest.

• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/18/fact-check-obama-said-he-would-spread-his-wealth-around/
• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamas_welfare.html
• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/spread_the_tax_hooey.html

Obama and "congressional liberals" want to raise taxes on families making $42,000

It's just false. This is not now and never has been part of Obama's tax proposals.

• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html
• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/15/fact-check-did-obama-vote-to-raise-taxes-for-people-making-as-little-as-42000/
• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/spread_the_tax_hooey.html

Obama voted 94 times to increase taxes.

Again, not even close.

• http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/tax_tally_trickery.html

McCain and Palin are Socialists!

Actually this one is true. Well, in as much as, they support the same type of "wealth-spreading" policies that they are accusing Barack Obama of.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27424491/

Does Liberalism = Socialism?

The following was taken from comments posted on FoxNews.com after the second presidential debate. It was so refreshing to see a rational thinker on that site, that we decided to repost it here. (Our apologies to the author!)

As a critical Independent, I’d like to give my lock-step Republican friends out there some advice. When you refer to liberals as "commies" or "socialists," every subsequent word or point you try to make will have little validity in the minds of thinking people. By recklessly labeling people who support universal health, for instance, as "commies" or "socialists" YOU end up sounding like an idiot and an unbalanced extremist.

The U.S. often takes a socialist approach when it comes to the well-being of our citizens. If you support your local police force, your local fire fighters, your public library, does that make YOU a socialist? If you drive on public roads or use the U.S. Post Office, does that make YOU a commie? If you send your kids to public schools, does that make YOU an enemy of capitalism? Of course not... so stop pretending that we’re incapable of supporting capitalism AND some social programs at the same time. We always have.

Furthermore, most of the emotional ties we have to the terms "socialist" and "commie" are Soviet in nature, which is what makes those terms so derogatory... but nonsensical too. Again, supporting universal health care does NOT make a person a Soviet sympathizer.

And while you're chilling out on those terms, also consider how ridiculous you sound when you call Obama a "Muslim extremist" or a "Chicago thug" or the "Anti-Christ", or liken Obama to Hitler. This kind of talk is normally limited to idiots that get their news from manipulative email blasts and extreme pundits, but that's a sizable contingency. Disagreeing with a politician's politics is one thing, but embracing and perpetuating hatred is another. Again, as soon as you refer to Obama as a Muslim or a thug, your credibility as a thinker gets shot down and ultimately devalues any good arguments you might be able to make. In an effort to sway Independents, please stop with this silliness... you’ll have no hope otherwise. Democrats are not innocent either... self-described liberals referring to Republicans as “Nazis” are jerks too.