The Obama campaign has just released a new ad accusing John McCain of “makin’ stuff up” about Obama’s record on taxes. It’s a response to a McCain ad that claims Obama “promises to cut taxes, but he voted to raise taxes on folks earning as little as $32,000.” The Obama ad cites FactCheck.org saying of McCain’s charge, “It’s not true.”
The FactCheck.org analysis, which seems to be correct, says that in fact Obama voted to raise the taxes on folks earning as little as $41,500 a year. If that is the case, why couldn’t McCain have said that? Is there anyone out there earning $41,500 a year who wants a tax increase? The FactCheck people stress that Obama’s tax proposal would only raise taxes on people making far, far more than that. But that’s McCain’s point: Obama says he’ll only raise taxes on those with the highest incomes, yet he voted to raise taxes on those earning much, much less. Therefore, you can’t trust him on taxes. That seems a perfectly legitimate point for a campaign ad to make, and changing the figure to $41,500 wouldn’t make it any less effective.