Gordon Smith Misleads Oregonians About Barack Obama

Obama Never Said "Smith Helped Lead the Fight" On Anything

Previous Misleading Ad Said Smith Was One of the First to Oppose the War

Gordon Smith, who serves as John McCain's Oregon campaign chairman, released a second misleading ad today that falsely claims that Barack Obama praised Smith for leading the fight on energy independence. Senator Obama never made such a statement.

Here's what Barack Obama said about Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith's problem is that he rarely breaks away from George Bush and the Republican agenda that I think has done this country great damage.

[Willamette Week, 5/14/08]

Watch the interview

In fact Gordon Smith has sided with George Bush at least three times to oppose raising fuel efficiency standards. [Vote 157, 6/23/05; Vote 309, 7/29/03; Vote 48, 3/13/02]

"Oregonians should know that Barack Obama supports Jeff Merkley for Senate. Merkley will help Obama bring about the fundamental change we need in Washington," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Gordon Smith is also airing an ad in which former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse falsely states that Gordon Smith "was one of the first to stand up to George Bush" to end the war in Iraq. The Oregon congressional delegation has set the record straight.

In a joint statement, Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, and David Wu stated:

Gordon Smith was not one of the first to speak out against the war. It was only after the resounding rejection of the failed Bush agenda at the ballot box in 2006 that Gordon Smith revealed that he harbored second thoughts about the war. Any previous consternation, on his part, was concealed from his constituents and those of us that were fighting to change this disastrous policy.

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Posted June 24, 2008
Press