Did McCain Lie? Did Obama Lie?

This is really about two separate stories. First – a follow-up to this from Josh Marshall:

Now the Post has asked Paxson himself, now retired, and he says, Yep, I met with McCain and asked him to write the letters. And he thinks he remembers Iseman being in the meeting too.

Why did McCain lie about this and why isn’t the press all over it?

The other story involves Obama’s claim that “US soldiers in Afghanistan who had an easier time getting the ammunition they needed from captured Taliban than through Army supply channels” as Josh Marshall paraphrases it. Well, the wingnuts are on a tirade saying Obama lied, but Jack Tapper actually called the captain that Obama referred to and discovers the claim is completely true. Nothing new here – wingnuts getting something so wrong because they are too lazy to discover the truth. Right? Well this was not the end to this story:

The Pentagon on Friday tried to cast doubt on an account of military equipment shortages mentioned by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, whose campaign team stood by the story.

Josh Marshall continues:

But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman is telling reporters he doesn’t think it’s true and that of course they can’t confirm it unless the soldier – still on active duty – comes forward to discuss the issue with the Pentagon brass, a step that would surely do wonders for his future in the Army. I don’t know how far this is going to go. Phillip Carter, the military affairs writer who’s in the reserves and did a tour in Iraq, says that from his own experience in Iraq and discussions with Afghanistan vets who report doing the same thing as the anonymous captain, he finds the story “eminently believable.” But this is becoming a pattern in which political appointees at the Bush Pentagon volubly insert themselves into domestic political debate or even election campaigns. Expect this to be a major factor in this year’s election campaign.

Here is how this issue should be framed – the Bush Administration has turned the Pentagon into a subsidiary of the Republican Party. It would seem that the Pentagon is assisting the McCain campaign by attempting to suggest Obama is a liar – even though Obama told the truth. It is time to toss these bums out of office – not re-elect them.