Obama Attacks McCain with Half-Truths In New Ad

As soon as Barack Obama's new attack ads appeared, the media found numerous inaccuracies and outright untruths in in. Here's a sample from the politician of "change you can believe in.":

Analysis: Some of Obama's claims were debated almost immediately after the ad was made public. The Center for Responsive Politics, one of the sources cited by the ad in its claim that McCain has accepted $2 million in oil contributions, said its data showed McCain receiving about $1.3 million from oil and gas interests from the start of his campaign through June 30. It reported Obama received about $400,000 from those sources in the same period.

The ad, according to the center, seemed to be adding the $1.1 million the Washington Post reported that McCain and the Republican National Committee's Victory Fund had raised in June alone from those sources. The center said that could result in some double counting and that not all the Victory Fund's money ends up in McCain's account, though it's all intended to help him win the election. The center's tally of industry money to McCain in June was $271,265.

As for the $4 billion in tax breaks for oil, that number comes from the left-leaning Center for American Progress and a March report of the effect McCain's plan to cut corporate income taxes from 35% to 25% would have on the five largest American oil companies. This tax cut, however, is intended for American companies as a whole -- not just oil companies -- and is needed to lower one of the highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized world, McCain argues. Doing so, he says, will spark job growth and keep more businesses in the United States. McCain says only Japan has a higher tax rate.

Certainly, McCain's calls for offshore drilling have pleased oil company executives. In recent days, however, Obama has said he could accept some limited offshore drilling as a way to reach a compromise with Republicans on Capitol Hill on an energy plan that could cut gasoline prices quickly.