As a Matter of Fact

The Obama campaign is trying to milk the media criticism in a commercial ( ad watch here), and by sending around excerpts of various editorials and columns.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The volume and audacity of lies pouring from the McCain campaign is startling and even historic."

St. Petersburg Times: "McCain's straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Is it worth winning an election if it means forfeiting your soul on the altar of political expediency?"

But does any of this matter? As I say in the ad watch, voters are accustomed to seeing politicians accuse each other of lying in their advertising.

Marc Ambinder examines the question:

"Some former administration officials will admit that one of the biggest conceptual flaws of the Bush administration was to treat the truth as a fudgable convenience; confidence isolated decision-makers; when real things happened -- Katrina, say -- rhetoric didn't exactly do the job. The Obama campaign remains convinced that McCain isn't paying a penalty for deliberately, knowingly and willfully misleading people.

" The Press Has Turned-- The press has decided that McCain's distortions are more consequential than Obama's distortions, and they are calling McCain out for them. A 'narrative' has been created. This turn has been accompanied by cheers from the pundit class that Obama has gotten meaner. Conservative activists may retrench."

HuffPost's Tom Edsall says it's McCain who is pushing the envelope:

"The McCain campaign, in running TV ads which defy prior political standards, is gambling that the traditional rules governing what is permissible in presidential contests -- as defined by the mainstream media -- can safely be discarded this year.

"The normally cautious and even-handed Associated Press on Thursday declared, 'Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week.' . . .

"So far, based on polling over the past two weeks, McCain's roll of the dice has paid off. Not only has McCain made substantial gains, pulling modestly ahead in most national polls, but his assaults on Obama appear to have damaged the Democratic Party as well, raising Republican hopes of minimizing House and Senate losses."