Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Campaign Lies

Yesterday, November 4th 2008, a Democrat who is a Black man named Barack Obama was elected to be president. Of course he will be sworn in during the inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2009 Inauguration day. But this campaign was unlike any other. There were the lies and innuendo, which we do normally experience. But this time, we actually had a fact check to mark the lies. John McCain, the Republican candidate told quite a few out right lies. Of course my list only has a few of the false, misleading, lies. I only went as far as one month's worth.

John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin called Obama a Socialist. They said over and over again that Obama was going to share their supporters wealth and distribute their income to others. They had a Joe the plumber who they paraded around as proof because Joe the plumber said that Obama's tax plan sounded like Socialism.

Well Fact Check called that misleading (a lie). According to Fact Check During the panel discussion, Obama talked about court rulings and "redistributive change" from a historical legal perspective but there's no indication that he was advocating "redistributing wealth and income" which McCain and Governor Palin lied about. That also means that Joe the Plumber whom McCain and Palin had campaign with them also lied when he said that Obama's tax plan sounded like socialism.

John McCain and Sarah Palin claimed that Obama has Political links to Khalidi whom they claim is a Muslim terrorist.
What was the verdict from Fact Check regarding John McCain's claim against Obama? The verdict was considered misleading (a lie), since John McCain chaired the IRI which funded the CPRS which was co-founded by Khalidi.

And what was the verdict from Fact Check regarding Sarah Palin's claim against Obama? The verdict was considered misleading (a lie), While Khalidi eight years ago hosted a political fund-raiser for Obama, the two men strongly disagree over the Israeli-Palestinian issue and there's no evidence of a continuing political relationship.

John McCain made the statement: "According to the independent Center for Data Analysis, Barack Obama's new policies will destroy nearly 6 million jobs over the next decade."
What was the verdict from Fact Check regarding John McCain's claim against Obama? According to Fact Check the verdict is False (a lie). The study does not say Obama's plan would "destroy" jobs.

John McCain said that Obama and Biden are inconsistent on who will get the tax cuts. According to Fact Check the verdict is False (a lie). What McCain is doing here, in part, is comparing apples and oranges. He compares two different aspects of Obama's tax plan as if they were the same. And Biden never said people making less than $150,000 are the "only" people who would get a tax cut under Obama's policies.

McCain's VP running mate Governor Sarah Palin stated that Obama only served 300 days in the Senate before he became a presidential candidate.
What was the verdict? According to Fact Check that statement was false (a lie). Actually Obama served 743 days in the Senate working. Now 304 of those days he worked while the Senate was in Session. But the Senate works in the Senate even when the Senate is not in Session. So again, according to Fact check Sarah Palin lied.

McCain made said, "Sen. Joe Biden, Obama's VP running mate, had this cockamamie idea about dividing Iraq into three countries."
What was the verdict? According to Fact check it is false (a lie). Biden proposed decentralizing Iraq's government, but not breaking up the country.

Change Is Here

I have witnessed many things in my life time. At 4 years of age in 1957 in Chicago Illinois, I witnessed my father being told that he had to sit in the back of the bus, but because I was white looking the bus driver told my father that I could sit in the front. Even then I had the good sense to grab my father's hand and say, "Daddy, I want to sit with you."

At the age of 12, I remember watching TV at a peaceful civil rights march led by Martin Luther king in Chicago South Side in the 1960's. I watched in horror as white men, their wives, and their children were throwing bottles and bricks at the peaceful marchers as the Police stood on the side lines and did nothing. And as the civil rights marchers were being hit by the bottles and bricks thrown at them, I witness the blood as the marchers fell.

One news reporter captured a Chicago police officer saying, "We don't want their kind here."

Yes, I have witness many things in my day. But I never thought I would ever witness a Black man elected President in my life time. God Bless the United States of America. God Bless Barack Obama. God Bless the Obama family. And God Bless the Biden family.