McCain uses loaded ad

A McCain television spot running in Reno distorts an Obama stance on an emotionally loaded issue—civilian deaths in U.S. wars.

Brazen even by the standards of political campaigns, the McCain spot shortens an Obama sound bite to reverse its meaning. Obama’s original comment dealt with the need to get U.S. troops out of Iraq for use in Afghanistan in order to avoid over-use of air power that causes civilian deaths in Afghanistan. The McCain spot portrays Obama as accusing troops of killing civilians.

Here is Obama’s full comment: “We’ve got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.”

This is the use McCain made of the quote: “Who is Barack Obama? He says our troops in Afghanistan are [in Obama’s voice:] '. . . just air-raiding villages and killing civilians.’ [Narrator:] How dishonorable. Congressional liberals voted repeatedly to cut off funding to our active troops. Increasing the risk on their lives. How dangerous. Obama and Congressional liberals. Too risky for America.”