New McCain ad hits Obama hard on foreign policy

The latest spot from John McCain's campaign goes after Barack Obama's record on the issue, but contains at least one seriously misleading claim.

Published July 18, 2008 7:27PM (EDT)

John McCain's campaign has just released its latest ad, which, according to Time's Mark Halperin, will be running on national cable and in 11 battleground states.

The spot targets Barack Obama on his foreign policy, especially regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. "Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan," the ad's narrator says. "He hasn't been to Iraq in years... John McCain has always supported our troops, and the surge that's working."

That first point, about Senate hearings, is misleading at best. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) pointed out earlier this week, Obama only chairs the relevant subcommittee, and the full committee has held enough hearings on Afghanistan to make a subcommittee hearing unnecessary. And, it turns out, McCain hasn't even attended a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan, despite being the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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2008 Elections Barack Obama John Mccain R-ariz.