Have you no shame, John McCain?

Wow.  Whatever integrity John McCain may have once had has surely all been tossed overboard in his desperate attempts to defame Obama in order to win the presidency.  Here's his latest ad:

It says:

?Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan,? the
ad?s announcer says. ?He hadn?t been to Iraq in years. He voted against
funding our troops. And now, he made time to go to the gym, but
cancelled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn?t
allow him to bring cameras. John McCain is always there for our troops.
McCain: Country first.? It concludes with the candidate?s voice: ?I?m
John McCain and I approve this message.?

Of course, it is not actually true. 

As Steve Benen puts it:

There are eight sentences in this campaign commercial, and the only honest one was McCain approving of this message.

The claim about Senate hearings is wildly misleading. The attack about voting against funding the troops is ridiculous. The argument about Obama not spending time in Iraq is disingenuous. The notion that Obama would rather go to the gym than visit wounded troops is insane. The claim that Obama would only visit troops if he could bring cameras is an inflammatory, transparent lie. The notion that McCain is ?always there for our troops? is demonstrably false.

I?m not trying to tell campaign reporters how to do their job. Actually, scratch that. I am trying to tell campaign reporters how to do their job.

The McCain campaign is airing an intentionally deceptive ad, hoping
that a) voters won?t know the truth and can be easily misled; and b)
the media won?t raise a fuss about the campaign lying to the public.

By refusing to do even the most basic level of fact checking, news outlets are encouraging the McCain campaign to engage in its most cynical and dishonorable tactics.

Greg Sargent also has a nice deconstruction.

I'm not surprised to have these ridiculous and scurrilous charged levelled against Obama.  What honestly surprises me, as that John McCain is lowering himself to be the messenger.  This is what I expected from the RNC.  If things continue at this rate, John McCain will not have an ounce of integrity or honor or decency left when this campaign is complete.

Olbermann sticks it to McCain here.