Martha McSally gets caught lying about Kyrsten Sinema ... but still wins
Opinion: If the presidential election taught us anything it is that "mostly false" is mostly effective.
EJ Montini
Rep. Martha McSally was called out by PolitiFact for lying about Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.
But she still wins.
McSally's biting “pink tutu” campaign ad that trashes Sinema, who’s facing off against McSally in Arizona’s senate race, was found to be “mostly false.”
Does not matter.
As PolitiFact put it, “McSally’s statement contains an element of truth (the fact that Sinema opposed the Iraq war) but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.”
A judgement that, in the real world, is mostly irrelevant.
"Mostly false" in the real world
This isn’t the first time McSally has been less than completely upfront.
During her primary campaign McSally became McShifty, switching positions and cozying up to President Donald Trump in a way she’d never done before in order to attract his supporters.
And now, instead of running a campaign based on her record – which might not be too appealing given her willingness to vote for bills that would slash health care, raise premiums for seniors and abolish protections for pre-existing conditions – McSally decided to go McSully on Sinema, trying to denegrate Sinema’s reputation rather than tout her own.
From McShifty to McSully
In the campaign ad, which you’ve most likely seen on TV, McSmearer says of Sinema, "Everyone remembers where they were on 9/11. I was deployed to the Middle East. Led airstrikes against the Taliban and was the first woman to fly a fighter jet in combat. I know the price of freedom. While we were in harm’s way in uniform, Kyrsten Sinema was protesting us in a pink tutu and denigrating our service. The world is a dangerous place. We need strong leaders who understand the threat and respect our troops. Kyrsten Sinema fails the test."
The media truth squads called out who REALLY fails the test.
It was candidate McSlur.
The Republic’s columnist Laurie Roberts weighed in, as did writers and reporters from radio and TV, including national networks.
All of which means…nothing.
Why?
So, who has the lead?
Because McSally’s false ad worked.
And it’s probably still working.
According to a recent poll, McSally now has a slight lead over Sinema. Previous polls had Sinema ahead by 4 to 11 points.
A big reason for that, I’d guess, is the “tutu” ad. (Count on more just like it.)
It doesn’t matter how many media members point out that the attack ad is “mostly false.” It doesn’t matter that the ad shouldn’t impact Sinema but should be a McStain on the reputation of McSally. The fact is, members of the general public will have seen the unadulterated "mostly false" ad a lot more than they'll see news reports debunking it.
The ad has run again and again and again.
If there is anything we’ve learned since the last presidential election it is that, in politics, “mostly false” works. And when "mostly false" is repeated again and again, “mostly false” wins.
Combatting the Trump strategy
I asked Sinema’s communications director, James Owens, how Sinema’s campaign will combat that.
“She (McSally) wants to focus on anything else because she knows that if we focus on her actual record she'll lose,” he said. “We'll call out the lies and focus on Kyrsten's long record of support for the military and vets. … What she (McSally) is showing us is that her plan is to lie about Kyrsten's record because she's so afraid to talk about her own.”
That may well be true.
It also may be true that such a strategy…is working.
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