This just in from TPM:
Here's another reason why it's so critical that the media report accurately on the McCain attacks on Obama's canceled troop visit: The McCain camp's efforts to make sure this keeps boiling away as a major campaign issue are only just getting started.
The McCain campaign has just ratcheted up the rhetoric on this "controversy" with yet another misleading statement, this one in the name of Chief Warrant Officer (4th class) Michael J. Durant:
"Over the last week, Barack Obama made time in his busy schedule to hold a rally with 200,000 Germans in Berlin, hold a press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris, and hold a solo press conference in front of 10 Downing Street in London. The Obama campaign had also scheduled a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, but this stop was canceled after it became clear that campaign staff, and the traveling press corps, would not be allowed to accompany Senator Obama."
"I've spent time at Ramstein recovering from wounds received in the service of my country, and I'm sure that Senator Obama could have made no better use of his time than to meet with our men and women in uniform there. That Barack Obama believes otherwise casts serious doubt on his judgment and calls into question his priorities."
And of course, the MSM has almost completely ignored the fact that this charge is blatantly FALSE! Again, from Greg Sargent at TPM:
I've just done a lap through the coverage by the big news orgs of the ad John McCain put out this weekend attacking Barack Obama for canceling his visit to a U.S. Army base in Germany.
CNN has a piece here,The New York Times has one here, The Washington Post has write-ups here and here, and the Associated Press has one here.
The stories did dutifully note the Obama camp's push-back against the ad. But not a single one of these reports told you that the ad is false.
Folks, there are a number of things we can do about this. And I suspect almost everyone who reads these diaries knows the drill by now.
But I want to put my money were my mouth is.
I'll match the first $250 that's donated to the Obama campaign in response to these blatent attacks.
I wish I could afford more, but I was just laid off from my job, and this is the best I can do for now.
Please direct your donations to my fundraising page, so I'll know when we've reached the $250.