ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper calls the latest video press release from the McCain campaign dishonest. In the ad, John McCain accuses Barack Obama of saying Iran is a ‘tiny’ country and ‘doesn’t pose a serious threat.’ This is false.
“And ultimately that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war, and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall,” Obama continued. “Now, that has to be the kind of approach that we take. You know, Iran, they spend one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serio us threat to us, they wouldn’t stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go ahead and listen. That doesn’t mean we agree with them on everything. We might not compromise on any issues, but at least we should find out other areas of potential common interest, and we can reduce some of the tensions that has caused us so many problems around the world.”
The false ad doesn’t actually “air” anywhere like several other videos released by the McCain campaign, but appears to be intended to get free media play from news programs.
Update: From Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan: