The McCain campaign is largely based on lies and distortions. I say this with the usual caveat that all political campaigns, by necessity, are built on a number of untrue assumptions. However, when sorting out McCain's claims in the context of the "lies within lies" worldview, a number of unusually blatant lies can be identified.

McCain unashamedly supports the continuation of Bush's Iraq crusade, which has been unquestionably proven to be based entirely on lies. This lie can be seen as a lie within a larger lie; the larger being the claim that the 9/11 attack was perpetrated by Al-Qaida terrorists operating from outside of the country.

Most Democrats have been able to penetrate the smaller lie; i.e. that Saddam was somehow connected with 9/11 and represented a threat to this country. Thus, Democrats can truthfully state that the war is based on a lie, even though they parrot the establishment line that 9/11 was perpetrated by Bin Laden and his merry band of terrorists. They can question why Bush so conveniently forgot about Bin Laden, but then not offer an explanation for this other than presumed incompetence.

If Democrats retake the White House, the new president will be expected to ramp up the search for the legendary Bin Laden. While offering us truth concerning Iraq, Obama has indicated a willingness to increase military involvement in Pakistan and Afghanistan - thus fostering the sense of resignation that we will have a warmonger president regardless of who wins. Thus we are faced with a choice of a lie-within-a-lie or a kernel of truth within a larger context of lies. The Democrats are not a huge improvement over the alternative, but as I've said, I'll take the improved scenery.

The other aspect of McCain's rhetoric that I find extremely distressing concerns economic issues and taxes.

Beginning with Reagan, this nation was subjected to right-wing ideology that vilifies taxation as an evil thing, along with the bogus claim that taxes can be cut without reducing revenues. Since then, it has been extremely dangerous for any politician to speak truthfully about balancing the federal budget. For some reason, ongoing deficit spending has lost its stigma, and the concept of raising taxes to equal expenditures is mocked as something evil that only Democrats would consider.

There was a time when the Republican party stood for true principles of conservatism; The core of party ideology called for fiscal responsibility, and deficit spending was considered irresponsible. Today's Republican party has been taken over by radical Neocon ideology, with nothing much left of conservative principles. To cover their true focus on empire-building and subversion of the constitution, they foment clashes of "culture war" and ridicule the occasions when Democrats dare to inject a bit of reality into the discussion.

Instead of allowing McCain to put him on the defensive regarding tax policy, Obama should have countered with an attack on Republican willingness to borrow and pile up the national debt at an increasing rate. Why should borrowing be seen as less objectionable than taxation? Why not put McCain on the defensive by questioning Bush's putting the Iraq war on the national credit card? Why not ask how McCain plans to fund the war at a time when the nation is sinking into recession and billions are being spent on the bank bailout? Both candidates assail our dependence on foreign oil; why not mention our dependence on foreign capital to fund the federal deficit?

Here we probably are faced with another lie-within-the-lie. Neither Obama nor McCain are able to speak freely about why the nation's treasury has been looted and pushed into near-bankruptcy over the past decades. The fact that the "Federal Reserve" is owned and operated by private banks and foreign investors cannot be openly discussed. If there is a global Ponzi scheme to "pump & dump" the American economy, we surely can't expect to hear it from politicians who owe their existence (and souls) to the fascist corporate powers-that-be. This is the necessity mentioned in my opening paragraph. JFK forever serves as the poster child to remind us all of what might befall a president who strays outside of the permitted zone of discretion. Each party is allotted a narrow band of differences to perpetuate the ruse that we are governed by a democracy.

Although neither candidate tells the complete truth, McCain does a tremendous disservice to the nation by attacking Obama on the instances where he is being more truthful. Then to further cement his place in infamy, McCain dismisses intractable problems like Social Security as easy to fix. He promises to deal with the deficit through spending cuts (no candidate has ever been able to deliver on that), and to deal with rising medical costs by computerizing medical records and opening walk-in clinics. What planet has he been living on - does he really think that no one has ever thought of those ideas? Has he never been inside a Target store?

Oh well. Reality is such a slippery concept.

-Darkwave