McCain Ad Pushes Palin's Maverick Cred

The McCain camp has released contrast spot called "Alaska Maverick." The ad compares Sarah Palin to Barack Obama, concluding that she's got a better record on change than the Democratic nominee.

While it's true that Palin has a reputation for bi-partisanship and reform, the ad is chock-a-block with questionable whacks at Obama. It quotes the Wall Street Journal -- but actually refers to a column from the WSJ's conservative Op-Ed page. It cites the much-debated National Journal rankings that call Obama the "most liberal Senator" -- based on a limited number of 2007 votes, many of which Obama missed while on the campaign trail. And it says Obama "gave big oil billions in subsidies and giveaways." Translation: he voted for the flawed 2005 energy bill (as did a majority of Senate Dems). According to factcheck.org, the tax breaks in that bill largely served to subsidize research for alternatives, and the Congressional Research Service says at the end of the day the bill resulted in a net tax increase for oil companies.

The release says the ad will air in "key states" -- though, as we've written before, many of McCain's negative spots get most of their views via media coverage.

-- Evie Stone

2:10 PM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink

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