So the McCain campaign has thrown down the gauntlet saying that it is playing to win and does not really care about whether or not its claims make it through the media filter of truth or not.  Well, if this is not a challenge, I don't know what is.  It also seems to me something that requires a very basic, clear, and honest response.  Thus, a suggestion: TPM could begin a "Lie Tracker."  I guess this would be similar to Obama's anti-smear website, but I think it is importantly different.  The lie tracker would follow claims from the McCain campaign about public policy, their record, or Obama's record, not claims flying around the web about Obama the person.

The "Lie Tracker" could simply begin with a numbered list of lies and the date the lie was first made, with links to information demonstrating the reality of the lie.  If the lie is told again, don't give it a new number, just add the date that the lie is retold underneath the earliest documented version of the lie.

This would amount to something of a press kit.  If I were a self-respecting member of the MSM, I would be upset at the McCain campaign's implicit claim that it can lie all it wants and there is nothing the media can do about it.  But, I am also probably a very busy member of the MSM with deadlines and such, so I would appreciate a ready reference source related to the lies of the McCain campaign.

Seems to me that TPM is well positioned to create exactly such a press kit.  If anyone wants to get things started, just respond to this post by identifying the lies you know have been made.  Try to keep it limited to relatively noncontroversial lies (e.g. the bridge to nowhere, Obama on sex education, etc.).  The power of the list will lie in the repeated demonstration of blatant indifference to truth, and its force will be diluted if it contains more controversial claims.

Let the tracking begin!