"Straight Talk" - Part III

Prior to the South Carolina primaries, when he still had some serious Republican opposition, John McCain sent out this horribly misleading mailer about Mitt Romney:


This is a dishonest advertisement. Plain and simple. First, with respect to the claim that "Romney provided taxpayer-funded abortions," it should be noted that Romney did not actually "provide" taxpayer funded abortions. The state law he signed provided expanded health care insurance for low-income residents, but it left the decisions on what to cover to an independent body (the Commonwealth Connector). This independent body (not Romney himself) ruled that abortions should be covered. But the reason why they chose to cover abortions was because of the Massachusetts Constitution itself. It is simply a part of Massachusetts Constitutional law (something Romney really had no control over) that if you provide certain types of health care, you must also provide for medically necessary abortions.

Also, with respect to the claim that Romney "refused to endorse Bush Tax Cut Plan," McCain fails to note that he himself was one of only three Republicans to vote against the Bush Tax Cut Plan. He also spoke out against it on MSNBC. That certainly goes beyond "not endorsing" the tax cut.

This ad does nothing but mislead low-information Republican voters in South Carolina. Yet the press gave McCain a pass on this, and continues to label him a "straight-talking" maverick. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Part I: "I'm the only one the special interests don't give money to." False.
Part II: "Every time in history we have raised taxes it has cut revenues." False.