McCain's Misleading WebAd

YouTube, a major video-sharing website, has just taken down a McCain WebAd that featured Katie Couric from CBS News talking about sexism in the election. She is quoted, "One of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life." The ad implies that Couric was speaking about Sarah Palin when, in fact, she said this long before Palin became McCain's VP choice. Couric was actually speaking about Hillary Clinton, not Palin.

Couric talking about sexism in reference to Hilary Clinton:


CBS responded to the situation, saying "CBS News does not endorse any candidate in the Presidential race. Any use of CBS personnel in political advertising that suggests the contrary is misleading."

While I don't think this particular ad played a major role in anything, I do think this is an ethical issue. Whoever it was from Team McCain that came up with the concept for this ad must have been aware that Couric's statement had nothing to do with Palin, but chose to use it anyway.

Ultimately, I think this choice will hurt the McCain campaign more than it could ever have helped it, because it is so blatantly and purposely misleading. I think this will only add to the mistrust that many Americans feel towards politics in general, and now more specifically McCain's campaign. By manipulating this latest video to misdirect people, I think they've taken away a lot of their own credibility for any future statement, especially anything involving a public figure.