Their Lips are Moving

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(CNN) — Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor’s foreign travel.

In July of last year, Palin left North America for the first time to visit Alaskan troops stationed in Kuwait. Palin officials originally said her itinerary included U.S. military installations or outposts in Germany and Kuwait, and that she had visited Ireland.

A Palin aide in Alaska had said Iraq was also one of the military stops on that trip.

[...] in response to questions about the trip, Alaska National Guard officials and campaign aides said Palin did not go past the Kuwait-Iraq border.

In addition, campaign aides also confirmed reports to CNN Saturday that Palin’s time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a refueling stop.

Original DVD cover.

The Obama campaign — which has increasingly accused the McCain campaign of deliberately lying in ads and on the stump — was quick to highlight that story, along with a news report that explored whether the McCain campaign has been sending out wildly inflated crowd estimates.

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“The McCain campaign said Gov. Palin opposed the bridge to nowhere, but now we know she supported it,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor in a statement. “They said she didn’t seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn’t lying about?”

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Also on Friday, both campaigns accused each other of engaging in lies, unfair attacks and gutter politics in a series of television ads and memos.

McCain’s campaign released a television ad, titled “Disrespectful,” that accuses McCain’s Democratic rival of launching desperate attacks and smears against Palin.

In the McCain ad, the announcer says the Obama camp had “lashed out at Sarah Palin” and dismissed Palin as “good-looking” as the Democratic nominee’s face appears on the screen. The announcer also says the Democrats had said Palin was doing “what she was told” and had “desperately” called her a liar.

“How disrespectful,” the announcer says. “And how Gov. Sarah Palin proves them wrong, every day.”

Obama never made any of the statements the McCain camp released to support the ad, and the comment that Palin was “good-looking” was made by the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden, in a self-deprecating joke when he was asked what the obvious differences were between the two vice presidential nominees.

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FactCheck.org pointed out the quote from an Obama adviser that Palin was doing “what she was told” was taken out of context. The quote is taken from the response of Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, in which he said Palin had misrepresented Obama’s legislative record. “Maybe that’s what she was told” about his voting record, Axelrod said.

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Filed under 2008 election, Alaska, Barack Obama, Iraq War, Joe Biden, John McCain, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Wordpress Political Blogs, humor, movies, parody, politics, snark

Tags: Alaska National Guard, Bridge to Nowhere, campaign ads, David Axelrod, earmarks, FactCheck, Germany, Iraq, Ireland, Kuwait