Obama is setting the talk straight on lowroadexpress.com

"Welcome to the Low Road Express. John McCain used to stand for “straight talk.” Not anymore. These days John McCain doesn’t seem to stand for anything but negative attacks and false charges against Barack Obama. This isn’t the John McCain we used to know."

So says the opening salvo of the new site at mybarackobama.com, called the Low Road Express.

It's the "backlash to McCain Attacks!" announces a bright yellow tab, on top of quote from a New York Times editorial, "Well, that certainly didn’t take long…The candidate [John McCain] who started out talking about high-minded, civil debate has wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Rove’s low-minded and uncivil playbook."

The site offers links to op eds and fact checks, much of which is written by journalists and citizen journalists not employed by the campaign. The idea is to clear up misconceptions that the McCain campaign has been spreading with abandon recently.

After you look at the site, tell me what you think, friends: is this fair play, setting the record straight? Or is it sinking down to play in the gutter with the Rovian campaigning strategies?

Julie Pippert doesn't believe in the concept of fair, but she does try to play fair at Using My Words and Moms Speak Up.

Comments

[Scheherazade Khan]

It's so difficult to respond properly to negativity, but I think the site does a pretty good job. The main thing is to tackle this sort of thing head-on, as the minute the ball is dropped, bam, you're swift-boated...

[Scheherazade Khan]

It's so difficult to respond properly to negativity, but I think the site does a pretty good job. The main thing is to tackle this sort of thing head-on, as the minute the ball is dropped, bam, you're swift-boated...

[Natalie]

Well, the 2000 point font is certainly distracting, but the site seems respectful enough. I had a really hard time navigating it so I might have just missed this, but I would like to see the actual commercials and quips put out by John McCain so I could judge for myself if they were that bad. I've read a lot of articles, but have yet to see the actual commercials or sound bites.

I am happy to see this addressed though. You can only sit there and let somebody beat you up for so long; there comes a point where you need to stand up and defend yourself. You don't want to stoop to your opponents level though, and it seems like this site is on the right track.

[jen]

i think it's fair play, and it's sinking both. he may not have a choice, but once again we aren't talking issues.

[goodgirlroxie]

Well, we can all look at Kerry in 2004 to see how not responding to smears works out for the smearee.

Here's what John Amato at C&L thinks.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/02/rick-davis-does-know-his-smears-alright-obama-needs-to-hit-back-hard/