Negative Ads

I have nothing against negative ads that are fact-based and discuss important things. I even like this one, which might be toeing the line a bit:

(from some guy on youtube)

A recent McCain ad said:

Life in the spotlight must be grand. But for the rest of us, times are tough. Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000.

While we can all agree that life in the spotlight is grand, even Chris Wallace (Fox News) pointed out how wrong the $42,000 assertion is:

“Well, in fact, it only would be single people making $42,000. It would be families making over $60,000. But Obama — as you say, he voted for a non-binding budget resolution that overall talked about doing away with the Bush tax cuts.”
“In fact, he says, that’s not his tax plan, that he supports a middle-class tax cut. And I want to put something up on the screen. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center says someone making $37,000 a year under Obama’s plan would get a tax cut of $892. Under McCain’s plan, they get a tax cut of $113.”

(source)

The McCain campaign isn’t as fact-based as I’d like. There are lots of really valid criticisms to make, but they don’t seem to be going for nuance. With 70% of Americans in favor of domestic drilling, I can’t blame them.