The Volokh Conspiracy - McCain Campaign Response to Obama Speech:

Immediately after Obama concluded his acceptance speech, the McCain campaign release a statement calling the speech "misleading" and providing a list of seven allegedly misleading claims made by Obama. McCain's people probably should have spent a bit more time on the response rather than rushing it out the door, because much of this rebuttle doesn't make sense at all (the claims aren't the type that are even subject to being misleading) and much of the rest is pretty unconvincing. Out of seven allegations of "misleading claims," by my count, only one really hits its target. It is a pretty poor performance, indeed, if you can't successfully identify more than one misleading claim in a 50 minute political speech, much of which focused on criticizing the opposing candidate.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #1: Barack Obama Can Bring Democrats and Republicans Together."

It remains to be seen whether he can, of course, but the claim is aspirational, not factual. A claim that he had a record of bringing Democrats and Republicans together would a factual claim, but no such claim was made in the speech. The supposed evidence that the "claim" is misleading are a series of quotes from sources that say Obama takes liberal positions and has a liberal voting record.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #2: Barack Obama Will Ensure That Our Troops On The Ground Have The Equipment They Need In Battle."

It is hard to see how this promise made by Obama during his speech could be true, false, misleading or not misleading, since it is a claim about the future. The supposed evidence is that Obama voted against a particular war funding bill.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #3: Barack Obama Has Not Supported The President."

I'm not sure what to make of this "claim". I think it is a typo, and what is meant is that John McCain has not supported the president, but it is hard to tell because at least one of the pieces of evidence offered to demonstrate that the claim is misleading seems to me to be attempting to suggest that Obama was a frequent supporter of Bush.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #4: John McCain Believes We've Made Great Progress And Families Aren't Hurting."

At least this claim logically could be misleading, but is it? Obama did allege that McCain said he believes the economic has made great progress under Bush. He didn't say that McCain said families were not hurting, although one could infer that from the context of the speech. Interestingly, none of the evidence offered by the McCain campaign on this point even implies that McCain does not in fact believe that economic progress has been made during the Bush years, only that McCain recognizes some people are hurting. If McCain's actual position is that there has been great economic progress but he recognizes some families have suffered, this is only slightly inconsistent with Obama's claim. I don't think Obama was really trying to imply that McCain thinks every single person in the entire country is better off now than 8 years ago, but rather that McCain thinks there has been economic progress generally during the Bush years whereas Obama thinks that there generally has been economic decline.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #5: Barack Obama Will Pay For His Massive Spending."

Fair point here for McCain. The sources that Obama claimed during the speech would pay for his spending priorities certainly would be insufficient to do so.

"MISLEADING CLAIM #6: Under Barack Obama, We Will Achieve Energy Independence."

Obama said he would set a goal of energy independence in 10 years. I can't understand what could be misleading about this. Certainly the McCain response does not challenge the claim that Obama would set such a goal if elected. Sure, this goal might be difficult to achieve, but it was obviously meant to be aspirational. What is misleading about what Obama said?

"MISLEADING CLAIM #7: Barack Obama Will Cut Taxes." Obama claimed that he will cut taxes for 95% of working families. This could potentially be a misleading statement, but the McCain response doesn't argue that Obama's policy proposals would not, in fact, do this. Instead, the evidence cited is that, in the past, Obama voted to raise taxes on middle income workers. Maybe this evidence suggests that Obama could be lying when he promises to cut taxes, or is likely to change his mind, but it doesn't suggest that there is anything misleading about what Obama said during the speech.

	[Russell Korobkin, August 29, 2008 at 2:59am] Trackbacks McCain Campaign Response to Obama Speech: Immediately after Obama concluded his acceptance speech, the McCain campaign release a statement calling the speech "misleading" and providing a list of seven allegedly misleading claims made by Obama. McCain's people probably should have spent a bit more time on the response rather than rushing it out the door, because much of this rebuttle doesn't make sense at all (the claims aren't the type that are even subject to being misleading) and much of the rest is pretty unconvincing. Out of seven allegations of "misleading claims," by my count, only one really hits its target. It is a pretty poor performance, indeed, if you can't successfully identify more than one misleading claim in a 50 minute political speech, much of which focused on criticizing the opposing candidate. "MISLEADING CLAIM #1: Barack Obama Can Bring Democrats and Republicans Together." It remains to be seen whether he can, of course, but the claim is aspirational, not factual. A claim that he had a record of bringing Democrats and Republicans together would a factual claim, but no such claim was made in the speech. The supposed evidence that the "claim" is misleading are a series of quotes from sources that say Obama takes liberal positions and has a liberal voting record. "MISLEADING CLAIM #2: Barack Obama Will Ensure That Our Troops On The Ground Have The Equipment They Need In Battle." It is hard to see how this promise made by Obama during his speech could be true, false, misleading or not misleading, since it is a claim about the future. The supposed evidence is that Obama voted against a particular war funding bill. "MISLEADING CLAIM #3: Barack Obama Has Not Supported The President." I'm not sure what to make of this "claim". I think it is a typo, and what is meant is that John McCain has not supported the president, but it is hard to tell because at least one of the pieces of evidence offered to demonstrate that the claim is misleading seems to me to be attempting to suggest that Obama was a frequent supporter of Bush. "MISLEADING CLAIM #4: John McCain Believes We've Made Great Progress And Families Aren't Hurting." At least this claim logically could be misleading, but is it? Obama did allege that McCain said he believes the economic has made great progress under Bush. He didn't say that McCain said families were not hurting, although one could infer that from the context of the speech. Interestingly, none of the evidence offered by the McCain campaign on this point even implies that McCain does not in fact believe that economic progress has been made during the Bush years, only that McCain recognizes some people are hurting. If McCain's actual position is that there has been great economic progress but he recognizes some families have suffered, this is only slightly inconsistent with Obama's claim. I don't think Obama was really trying to imply that McCain thinks every single person in the entire country is better off now than 8 years ago, but rather that McCain thinks there has been economic progress generally during the Bush years whereas Obama thinks that there generally has been economic decline. "MISLEADING CLAIM #5: Barack Obama Will Pay For His Massive Spending." Fair point here for McCain. The sources that Obama claimed during the speech would pay for his spending priorities certainly would be insufficient to do so. "MISLEADING CLAIM #6: Under Barack Obama, We Will Achieve Energy Independence." Obama said he would set a goal of energy independence in 10 years. I can't understand what could be misleading about this. Certainly the McCain response does not challenge the claim that Obama would set such a goal if elected. Sure, this goal might be difficult to achieve, but it was obviously meant to be aspirational. What is misleading about what Obama said? "MISLEADING CLAIM #7: Barack Obama Will Cut Taxes." Obama claimed that he will cut taxes for 95% of working families. This could potentially be a misleading statement, but the McCain response doesn't argue that Obama's policy proposals would not, in fact, do this. Instead, the evidence cited is that, in the past, Obama voted to raise taxes on middle income workers. Maybe this evidence suggests that Obama could be lying when he promises to cut taxes, or is likely to change his mind, but it doesn't suggest that there is anything misleading about what Obama said during the speech.