Friendly campaigning, only not so much

There was a McCain campaign claim that Mr. Obama voted 94 times “for higher taxes” (the tally includes nearly two dozen instances in which Mr. Obama simply did not go along with proposed cuts by Republicans), and a McCain and Republican Party radio advertisement that said Mr. Obama supported raising taxes on people who made as little as $32,000. The bill in question was a nonbinding budget resolution that did not propose raising taxes on anybody who made less than $41,500.

Mr. Obama’s campaign began running a response radio ad on Friday citing the critique by FactCheck.org of that accusation, with one character equating the Republican claim with the tactics of President Bush’s former strategist Karl Rove.

Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party have also taken their lumps for misstating Mr. McCain’s positions. Mr. Obama said last month that Mr. McCain’s campaign was “fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs”; such donations accounted for a small percentage of Mr. McCain’s campaign money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama said Mr. McCain believed the economy had made “great progress.” He was quoting from an interview Mr. McCain gave to Bloomberg Television last spring in which he referred to job creation under Mr. Bush but added that it was “no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges.”

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee also sought this week to portray Mr. McCain as being against the Social Security system for saying “it’s an absolute disgrace” that “we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers.” The Democratic Party held a news conference to criticize Mr. McCain’s “statement that Social Security is an ‘absolute disgrace.’ ” (Mr. McCain’s aides said he was trying to describe projected shortfalls that could leave the system depleted when younger workers retire.)

Each side said it could support its accusations with facts and blamed its opponent for breaking vows to raise the level of discourse.

“It’s clear that Senator McCain and his campaign treat straight talk like a slogan and not as a standard they adhere to,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Mr. Obama.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said: “Barack Obama has shown he’s the type of politician who will advance himself before he advances the debate or the issues. Let’s drop the pretense that he stands for a new type of politics.”

Mr. Bounds said Mr. McCain had nonetheless made “a very serious and genuine effort to raise the debate,” with his offer to hold a series of 10 town-hall-style debates before the conventions.

This article, Friendly Campaigning, Only Not So Much, first appeared in The New York Times.

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