USA Today reported on ad attacking Obama over troop-funding vote but left out key facts about McCain's voting record
SUMMARY: USA Today reported that a Vets for Freedom ad "says [Sen. Barack] Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up 'to vote against emergency funding for our troops' " and went on to assert: "Obama and [Sen. John] McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq." However, USA Today did not report that McCain himself voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In an October 1 article, USA Today reporter Fredreka Schouten asserted that "Vets for Freedom has emerged as one of the bigger players in this election" and added that a "Vets ad, titled 'Skipped,' says [Sen. Barack] Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up 'to vote against emergency funding for our troops.' " Schouten went on to assert: "Obama and [Sen. John] McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq." However, Schouten did not report that McCain himself voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as Obama noted during the September 26 presidential debate.
During the debate, McCain stated that Obama "did the incredible thing of voting to cut off the funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Obama responded: "Senator McCain opposed funding for troops in legislation that had a timetable, because he didn't believe in a timetable. I opposed funding a mission that had no timetable, and was open-ended, giving a blank check to [President] George Bush. We had a difference on the timetable. We didn't have a difference on whether or not we were going to be funding troops."
Schouten did not note that McCain voted against a March 2007 bill that would have funded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and would have provided more than $1 billion in additional funds to the Department of Veterans Affairs -- along with all but two of his fellow Republican senators.
In addition, Schouten uncritically reported the Vets for Freedom charge that "Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes" without noting that McCain leads the Senate in missed votes and is the only senator who has missed over half of the Senate's votes (64 percent), as documented by The Washington Post's Votes Database.
From Schouten's October 1 USA Today article:
Vets for Freedom has emerged as one of the bigger players in this election.
The group, which bills itself as the nation's largest group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, has spent more than $5 million on TV ads, chairman Pete Hegseth said.
The Vets ad, titled "Skipped," says Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up "to vote against emergency funding for our troops."
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt called the ad "a despicable distortion" of Obama's record.
Obama and McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq.
The group operates under a section of the tax code that does not require it to identify its donors. The donors who appeared on the most recent IRS statement for a now-defunct arm of the group included several major GOP contributors, such as Virginia developer Bob Pence.
Posted Oct. 16, 2006 in Huffington Post regarding the founding of the so-misnamed "Vets for Freedom":
It looks to me as if you are against freedom, Mary. You sure took up a lot of space admitting it.I will consider this a confession, and I hope you have noticed that I am trying out that non-contraction style that is so popular with the kids.
Now Col, you know you are not going to be able to keep this up. The apostro-free group have much more experience and screen names. They could go on like this for many a day.
I also wish to point out that I am not against freedom; in fact I belong to the "Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose Foundation" and am a big donor.
The Vets for Freedom are for freedom. It is right there in their name. If you smear them, you obviously hate freedom. I do not understand how you can not see that.
Now Col, you are a hater. You hate haters of freedom whether they exist or no, and I do say this: and I can not say this enough, the flag pins of freedom that are made in China leave a puddle in my eye which can not be wiped away with any cloth.
They go on your lapel, not in your eye. Even on my lapel, my flag pin leaves a huge reservoir of pride that can not be absorbed by a million Sham-Wows.
Gee, a million Sham-Wows. Golly, that is a lot of them. Anyway, how can we carry on like this, when at the bottom of this thread Wesley is bravely carrying on with his monologue about fill in the blanks. It is enough to make a grown man weep a trail of tears no septic tank could hold.
Every time i see Steve Buscemi in the Sham-Wow infomercial i can't help but think that it's beneath him. I know he probably gets paid handsomely, but what ever happened to artistic integrity.
I did place an order the last time i saw it though.
Wouldn't it be a lot easier on the media if mmfa just posted a form with fill in the blanks on what must included in every story...then they would have time for more important duties.
These shoddy reporters from these nickel and dime operations like USAToday could just fill in the blanks...cut and paste...and sign their name and be on their merry way...without having to feel the stings of mmfa's mighty pen.
OOO nice & snarky, Wesley. Now one must assume that you have no problem with a group calling itself "Vets for Freedom" that is yet another misnamed right wing smear machine?
bush and mickey c. both belong to a secret organization called:
Freedom Under Conventional Kakistocracy
I am NOT a member of this nefarious outfit as I do not want to bump into Darth cheany
I think that organization is obscene as an acronym ;-) Is Kissinger a member? He looks like Jaba the Hut these days...
WOW!!! I never noticed that. OMG, I wonder if they know? K. is the father of Jaba and Jaba has a daughter in my town. and if you saw her you would have to change undies. As a poster it would be a great diet aid. Thats just terrible. God, forgive me.
All right wingers are members. Yhey have an auxillary. Just put: Youth Organization Understanding at the end.
If you're going to write an article about a presidential candidate NOT voting to fund the troops, and then not include that the other presidential candidate NOT voting to fund the troops, don't you think that this should be something that is put out there for all to see? As in, they're furthering conservative misinformation, as in saying that Obama did not vote to fund the troops (when he did), and mentioned not a thing about McCain. And then they said he missed half of his votes in the Senate, when he didn't, and McCain missed THE most out of ALL senators...
Again, MMFA is not saying WHAT they should put in their articles, they can write what they want to, but MMFA can correct them, as they did here, and put in the rest of the actual, you know, facts for them.
You seem to be confusing criticism with telling them what to do again.
-- but MMFA can correct them, as they did here, and put in the rest of the actual, you know, facts for them. -- magnolia
That's what I'm talking about...a fill-in the blank form would make it so much easier on everyone. All the facts that mmfa thinks are important are covered and no one gets their feelings hurt...this liberal thing is starting to make sense.
-- Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt called the ad "a despicable distortion" of Obama's record.-- USAToday
A fill-in the blank form would be so much better than this lame attempt by USAToday's reporter in letting Obama's camp respond to the Vets. We wouldn't have to guess what is despicable and what is a distortion...in fact...we wouldn't even have to think...we could just let mmfa tell us what is important and be perfectly happy to snooze away our lives.