***UPDATE***
Saturday's New York Times picks up on the critique, made by the hosts of "The View," that McCain seems to have become consumed with distorting the truth. As an article in the paper notes:
In recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.[...]
Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer -- over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his "Straight Talk" image -- to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.
And as MSNBC noted on Friday, the notion that McCain has cease to conduct an honest campaign worthy of his "straight talk" slogan, has taken hold in the media:
If there's a common theme today, it's the press taking McCain's campaign to task for running a series of ads distorting Obama's record and positions.
Read their roundup of articles on the topic here.
The ladies of "The View" confronted John McCain today for lying in his recent attack ads, pressed him on abortion and questioned his choice of Sarah Palin.
In arguably his toughest interview yet, co-host Joy Behar asked McCain, "There are ads running from your campaign... Now we know that those two ads are untrue, they are lies. And yet, you at the end of it say you approve these messages. Do you really approve these?"
Barbara Walters then threw in her condemnation, telling McCain: "You, yourself, said the same thing about putting lipstick on a pig..."
Watch McCain try and explain the lies:
McCain was also pushed on his stance on abortion, that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Noting his pledge to nominate justices who "strictly interpret the constitution," Whoopi asked if that meant she'd be returned to slavery:
Whoopi also pushed McCain on the separation of church and state, saying that if he believes in it, "did it not give [him] a moment of pause" to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. He responded in part, "God has a plan for the world and that we should do what we can to lead as good a lives as we can...":
McCain was asked how Palin will "reform" Washington and the government. Barbara Walters continually pushed on just who and what she was going to reform. His answer, which he was forced to elaborate on, was "all of Washington":
McCain also claimed that Palin has never asked for money for pet projects as Alaska governor -- when in fact she has sought nearly $200 million in earmarks this year.
For the 3rd and 4th segments, he was joined by wife Cindy McCain, for whom co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck hosted a luncheon at last week's RNC. After a hard first few segments, talk got easy with Cindy and turned to kids and humanitarian issues.