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July 31, 2008

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In this entry: quotes, warm up questions, discussion questions, resources

In this video report and discussion, the NewsHour's Judy Woodruff explains a recent campaign controversy surrounding one of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's attack ads, which claims that rival and Democratic nominee Barack Obama did not visit wounded soldiers because he could not take cameras and members of the press.

Obama did cancel a trip to see wounded troops in Germany, but he said it was because he was not allowed to bring any of his campaign staff.

After a short report on the details of the dispute, Woodruff discusses the ad controversy with Dan Balz of the Washington Post and FactCheck.org's Brooks Jackson.

QUOTES:

"Sometimes campaigns put out what's basically a video press release and not expecting a lot of people to see it, but expecting reporters to talk about it, as we're doing here, and run it for free on national television and get their point out that way." -Brooks Jackson, FactCheck.org

"He made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras. John McCain is always there for our troops. McCain, country first." - Television announcer, McCain advertisement

"There's a problem, however, with the suggestion that Obama cancelled his visit with wounded troops because the press could not come: It's not true." - Judy Woodruff

"It is clear that the Pentagon did not say to Senator Obama that he was not allowed to come visit the troops, the wounded servicemen and women, that he was welcome to come as a U.S. senator but that he could not come with a campaign aide." - Dan Balz, The Washington Post

WARM UP QUESTIONS:

Have you seen any advertisements on TV from either John McCain or Barack Obama? What did you think of the ads? What is your impression of television ads? Do political ads influence who you support?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

What did you think of the McCain ad? What message or messages do you think it was trying to convey about Obama?

Were the reporters coming to Obama's defense or just reporting the facts?

Do you think McCain ran the ad knowing that it distorted facts? Why or why not?

What is the difference between distorting facts and lying?

Research instances of misleading or untrue ads? Were the ads successful? Did they bother you? Why or why not?


RESOURCES:
Transcript of this report


Online NewsHour:

Vote 2008


Outside links:

Factcheck.org

YouTube: McCain "Troops" Ad

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