R.I.P. "Straight Talk Express"

The press had a field day with the McCain campaign yesterday, calling out the continued lies and distortions of facts advertised by McCain in his election ads. Having turned his campaign into one of Gutter Politics, the irony here is not lost, given Gutter Politics was the voodoo George W. Bush used to demolish John McCain in the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.

The ladies on "The View" were the most hard-hitting (imagine that!) and probing interviewers of McCain all week... nay, all election season thus far.

"MAVERICK" TO MUDSLINGER, cries the Huffington Post:

From the HuffPo:

In arguably his toughest interview yet, co-host Joy Behar asked McCain, "There are ads running from your campaign... Now we know that those two ads are untrue, they are lies. And yet, you at the end of it say you approve these messages. Do you really approve these?"

Barbara Walters then threw in her condemnation, telling McCain: "You, yourself, said the same thing about putting lipstick on a pig..." (Apparently, Meghan McCain wasn't offended by the porcine lipstick remark. Daddy uses that phrase all the time, she says)

McCain was also pushed on his stance on abortion, that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Noting his pledge to nominate justices who "strictly interpret the constitution," Whoopi asked if that meant she'd be returned to slavery. (oh snap!) [click here to see McCain spin the lies]

From the NYT:

In recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.[...]

Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer -- over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his "Straight Talk" image -- to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.

Your Rovian overlords have trained you well Darth McCain: Smear. Lie. Repeat. Smear. Lie. Repeat.

Unfortunately, Senator McCain finds himself squarely faced with an internet rife with truthful reporting and organizations like FactCheck.org to help sift through his shameful attempts at distorting the truth.