10.04.2008

Palin the Propaganda Pitbull Unmuzzled



When the comment was first made, Republicans were eager to mold it into an electoral liability. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and the RNC called it disrespectful and unbecoming of a presidential aspirant.

But within a day, objective observers were knifing through the faux-outrage. The AP fact-checked the claim by pointing out that none other than President Bush himself had bemoaned the excessive loss of innocent Afghani lives and the setback such casualties caused for U.S. military efforts there.

And yet, the GOP couldn't and wouldn't let the canard die. One year after Obama's initial remark, the McCain campaign marked the anniversary by randomly raising it in the form of a biting press release. That charge didn't create many waves. (The Huffington Post wrote an article examining that attack as well.) But the McCain campaign kept at it.

On Thursday night, Palin brought it up directly in the vice presidential debate, and actually intensified the smear. Rather than painting the remark as a gaffe borne of inexperience, as Republicans claimed last year, Palin implied that Obama was slandering U.S. forces as little more than murderers.

Read the entire Sam Stein Huffingon Post story here.

The youtube clip was posted by Veracifier on August 16, 2007. The info tag that accompanies the clip states: "Mitt Romney recently attacked Barack Obama over his comments regarding the war in Afghanistan and the need for more troops on the ground, so as to reduce the reliance on air raids that have often resulted in Afghan civilian casualties. Romney called Obama's comments "outrageous" and "a suggestion that somehow our troops are not noble and dignified." But even a quick glance at the realities of the situation in Afghanistan shows that Romney has remarkably little understanding of the facts."

Josh Marshall from TPMv:

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