WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT SEN. JOHN MCCAIN'S FALSE ATTACK ON GOV. MITT ROMNEY

The Associated Press' Libby Quaid: "Romney Never Called For The Kind Of Public Withdrawal Date Or Timeline That Democrats In Congress Sought Last Year." "Republican John McCain tried to lump Mitt Romney with Democrats who want a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. But Romney never called for the kind of public withdrawal date or timeline that Democrats in Congress sought last year." (Libby Quaid, "Fact Check: Romney Didn't Say What McCain Says He Said On Withdrawing From Iraq," The Associated Press, 1/27/08)

· Quaid: "The Facts: Romney Never Embraced The Idea Of A Public Withdrawal Date." (Libby Quaid, "Fact Check: Romney Didn't Say What McCain Says He Said On Withdrawing From Iraq," The Associated Press, 1/27/08)

Reuters' Jason Szep and Tim Gaynor: McCain's Accusations Are "A Distortion Of Romney's Record." (Jason Szep and Tim Gaynor, "McCain, Romney Battle In Tight Republican Race," Reuters, 1/27/08)

The Washington Post's George Will: McCain's Attack Was "Crooked-Talk." "And it was no worse than – actually, not as gross as – St. John of Arizona's crooked-talk claim in Florida that Mitt Romney wanted to 'surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do' in Iraq because Romney 'wanted to set a date for withdrawal that would have meant disaster.'" (George Will, Op-Ed, "Staying The Coarse," The Washington Post, 1/29/08)

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: "McCain Has Distorted The Meaning Of A Nine-Month Old Quote From Romney." (Michael Dobbs, "McCain Attacks Romney On Iraq," The Washington Post's Fact Checker Blog, http://blog.washingtonpost.com, Posted 1/28/08)

CNN's Bill Bennett: "Way Below The Belt." "But the blow he took at Romney was way below the belt. (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

· Bennett: "He Should Apologize For It." "He's a maverick candidate. He should apologize for it." (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

· Bennett: "He Twisted That Entirely Out Of Context." (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

· Bennett: McCain "Absolutely Should Not Have Done It." "He's always criticizing people doing that to him and he absolutely should not have done it." (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

· Bennett: McCain "Wasn't Fair" And Was "Wrong." "It just wasn't fair and honor is his watch word and he -- I think it would be great if he said I got that one wrong. And that would be a rare thing." (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

Fox News' Brit Hume: McCain Is Being "Dishonest" And Is Not Using "Straight Talk." HUME: "And I think that for McCain to claim that is dishonest. Not straight talk." (Fox's "Fox News Sunday," 1/27/08)

CNN's Jeffrey Toobin: McCain Was "Deceptive." "And he has managed to talk about the war in this I think very deceptive way…" (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

· Toobin: McCain Is "Distorting" Mitt Romney's Record "So He Doesn't Have To Talk About The Economy." "And you know I think that -- this idea that Mitt Romney supports timetables, now in fact most Americans support timetables to get out of Iraq, Mitt Romney doesn't happen to be one of them. But that's really outrageous what McCain is doing, bringing up this ancient interview and distorting it at the last minute so he doesn't have to talk about the economy." (CNN's "Late Edition," 1/27/08)

CNN's John King: "Governor Romney Did Not Say That." "He did not say the president should go to Iraq and give Al-Maliki a timeline for withdrawal in private. Governor Romney did not say that." (CNN's "Newsroom," 1/26/08)

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "He's Desperately Trying To Change The Topic From The Economy..." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 1/28/08)

· Scarborough: "He Did Lie About, Everybody Knows That He Lied About Mitt Romney." "If John McCain did lie and he did lie about it, everybody knows that he lied about Mitt Romney, everybody knows he lied when he said that he wanted to put a timeline on it and get us out of there." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 1/30/08)

· Scarborough: "I Haven't Met Anybody In The Media That Hasn't Said John McCain Lied About Mitt Romney." "I haven't met anybody in the media that hasn't said John McCain lied about Mitt Romney and it threw Romney off for two days. What's wrong with saying that?" (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 1/30/08)

MSNBC's David Shuster: "John McCain Is Being Misleading." "Actually, Mitt Romney is on the money with this one, and John McCain is being misleading." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 1/28/08)

· Shuster: McCain's Attack Was "Not Right." "But the fact of the matter is, when John McCain says that Mitt Romney was for public timetables, in other words, letting the Iraqis know when U.S. troops are leaving and that therefore Mitt Romney should apologize to the troops, as John McCain said, that's not right." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 1/28/08)

National Review's Rich Lowry: McCain's Comments Showed "Rank Dishonesty." "But that doesn't justify the rank dishonesty of his attack on Romney over the weekend." (Rich Lowry, "McCain's Dishonest Attack," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com=, Posted 1/27/08)

· Lowry: McCain Was Using "The Opposite Of Straight Talk" And "Blatant Distortions." "Clearly, McCain wants to change the topic from the economy. And since he's suffering from his 'straight-talk' about his relative lack of knowledge of and interest in the economy, he's trying to compensate with the opposite of straight talk—blatant distortions—about Romney's record." (Rich Lowry, "McCain's Dishonest Attack," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com=, Posted 1/27/08)

· Lowry: McCain's Attack Was A "Dishonest Low-Blow." "This dishonest low-blow—if it continues to get attention in the closing hours—could chip away at that asset." (Rich Lowry, "McCain's Dishonest Attack," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com=, Posted 1/27/08)

Time's Michael Scherer: "A Misleading Low Blow." (Michael Scherer, "McCain's Conversation Changer: A Misleading Low Blow," Time's Swampland Blog, www.time-blog.com, Posted 1/26/08)

· Scherer: "No Evidence" Of McCain's Claims. "[I] know of no evidence that shows Romney said he wanted to set a date to abandon the war effort and bring the troops home." (Michael Scherer, "McCain's Conversation Changer: A Misleading Low Blow," Time's Swampland Blog, www.time-blog.com, Posted 1/26/08)

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "McCain Stretches Romney's Words." (Marc Ambinder, "McCain Stretches Romney's Words," The Atlantic Blog, http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/, Posted 1/27/08)

· Ambinder: "That quote was derided by McCain at the time as a 'secret timetable,' although Romney never said he favored a particular withdrawal date and did not advocate an inflexible timeline for American troops to begin a draw down. Indeed, Romney has many times said he opposed such a withdrawal timetable." (Marc Ambinder, "McCain Stretches Romney's Words," The Atlantic Blog, http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/, Posted 1/27/08)

National Review's Mark Levin: Romney's Statements "Do Not Support McCain's Accusation." "But these statements, and the others, do not support McCain's accusation." (Mark Levin, "Did He Or Didn't He?" National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com/, Posted 1/26/08)

· Levin: "Low Blow." (Mark Levin, "Low Blow," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com, Posted 1/26/08)

· Levin: McCain Used A "Dishonest Mischaracterization." "The hard-driving Tim Russert blew it. He allowed McCain to slip away with his dishonest characterization of Romney's statement, i.e., Romney never said he favored a specific time for withdrawal. McCain read the first part of the quote but not the second part, where Romney would veto a congressional time table." (Mark Levin, "Meet the Press, Dissembling, and More," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com=, Posted 1/27/08)

National Review's Andy McCarthy: McCain's Claims Are "Just Flat Not True." "I mean, he levels an allegation about Romney that's just flat not true, and if some organization wanted to run an add calling him on it, they would be in violation of his 'reform' of campaign finance regulations. What a racket!" (Andy McCarthy, "Re: Low Blow," National Review's The Corner Blog, http://corner.nationalreview.com=, Posted 1/26/08)

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "I Don't Think Romney's Statement Fairly Can Be Construed As Advocating Setting A Date For Our Withdrawal." (Paul Mirengoff, "Did He Or Didn't He?" Power Line Blog, Posted 1/26/08)

· Mirengoff: " href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/01/019655.php" www.powerlineblog.com. Posted 1/27/08)

· Mirengoff: "In Any Case, What We Are Now Getting From McCain Is Less Than Straight Talk." (Paul Mirengoff, "Less Than Straight Talk," Power Line Blog, www.powerlineblog.com. Posted 1/27/08)

National Review's David Freddoso: McCain Was "Misleading." "But as the original quote demonstrates, this was misleading." (David Freddoso, "Bait And Switch," National Review, http://article.nationalreview.com=, 1/28/08)