Political Irony

Not sure we’ve ever seen this one before. The McCain campaign has just blasted out a statement attacking Barack Obama for something he hasn’t even said and might say later today!

From McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers:

In his rush to score political points on economic disaster, we’ve heard that at his next event in New Mexico, Senator Obama is about to distort the facts and attack John McCain’s call for removing the Chairman of the SEC… The President of the United States has the power to remove the chairmanship, and always reserves the right to request the resignation of an appointee and to maintain the customary expectation that it will be delivered. Perhaps Barack Obama isn’t strong enough to change Washington, but John McCain is.

The line about Obama’s supposed coming attack on McCain for his “call for removing” the SEC chair is a reference to McCain’s claim earlier today in which he said: “If I were president today, I would fire him.”

As you can see, the McCain campaign misrepresented what McCain actually said. He didn’t “call for removing” him. He said he’d fire him. Presidents can’t unilaterally fire the SEC chair.

Hmmm. Are we seeing the birth of a new McCain campaign doctrine of preemptive lying?

UPDATE: Also read Joe Klein in Time Magazine: “John McCain and the Lying Game”