But.. this campaign wasn't supposed to be about the issues!

The McCain campaign group had all the media parroting talk about lipsticks and pigs! Things were going wonderfully! Now suddenly the obviously liberal media is demanding specifics. What specifics? The media is lying!:

Sen. John McCain’s top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called “liars.” They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s record.

But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy.

The errors in McCain strategist Steve Schmidt’s charges against Obama and Sen. Joe Biden were particularly notable because they seemed unnecessary. Schmidt repeatedly gilded the lily: He exaggerated the Biden family's already problematic ties to the credit card industry; Obama’s embarrassing relationship with a 1960s radical; and an Obama supporter’s over-the-top attack on Sarah Palin when — in each case — the truth would have been damaging enough.

[snip]

Asked about the series of errors, McCain aides could not provide evidence to back up Schmidt’s assertions.

Facts? We don't need no stinkin' facts! Repeat after McCain: The fundamentals are strong! Strong I tell you! Rippling with muscles... like America should be! Like it should have been back in 'Nam! Which is on the list to bomb once McCain gets into office! Facts? Look... something shiny!