NEW ELECTION LOW: FactCheck.org has to defend itself from a McCain distortion

LAT: New election low: distorting the fact-checking
News outlets and independent truth squads seem to agree that the McCain camp's distortions on Barack Obama have gone too far.
By James Rainey, ON THE MEDIA
September 12, 2008

....It got so bad the day before the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that FactCheck.org -- one of the nonpartisan journalism websites heroically trying to strain truth amid all the sound and fury -- had to put out an extraordinary news release.

It chastised John McCain's campaign for -- now get this -- distorting FactCheck’s debunking of distortions.

News organizations and these admirable truth-squadding outfits, including PolitiFact.com, do not collaborate. But in independent news reports and commentaries this week, they seemed to reach a consensus to say "enough" to the McCain camp's efforts to demonize Barack Obama.

I'm not saying that Obama hasn't told a few whoppers -- like suggesting McCain's proposed corporate tax breaks are tailored specifically for oil companies or that his opponent seriously believes anyone making under $5 million is middle-class.

But it's McCain and his foot soldiers who have really fouled the election airwaves in recent days, provoking the first flickerings of a backlash from the media....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia12-2008sep12,0,3404561.story

Link to FactCheck.org's "extraordinary news release," "McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding":
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccain-palin_distorts_our_finding.html