DENVER - I have to agree with Greg Sargent and Andrew Sullivan about McCain's new ad. As a matter of politics, the ad is quite effective, but to generate that effect the McCain campaign has taken Obama's words out of context. Obama did not say Iran was "tiny" or "didn't pose a threat". He said it was tiny and didn't pose a threat compared to the size and threat posed by the former Soviet Union. (That said, in his original remarks Obama did lump Iran in the same category as Cuba, which is a naive and foolish comparison to make).

The McCain camp probably isn't going to lose any sleep over the accusation this ad is unfair to Obama, since it was just a month ago or so that Obama and his surrogates said - and continued to repeat long after it was condemned as a distortion - that John McCain wanted to wage war in Iraq for the next 100 years.

I don't recall Andrew Sullivan & Co. jumping on their chairs to condemn Obama for employing "the smear and the fear" against McCain, though their effort was clearly designed to do both.

So both camps are guilty of distorting the other's words (duh, this is politics). That said, two wrongs don't make a right. The McCain should drop this ad, I'm sure they have plenty of material to portray Obama as "dangerously unprepared to be president" without having to resort to distorting his words.