McCain Campaign Inflates Crowd Size, Lies about Fire Marshall Making Estimate

Jiminy Christmas! John McCain and Sarah Palin are just making up everything now.

McCain aide Kimmie Lipscomb told reporters on Sept. 10 that an outdoor rally in Fairfax City, Virginia, drew 23,000 people, attributing the crowd estimate to a fire marshal.

Fairfax City Fire Marshal Andrew Wilson said his office did not supply that number to the campaign and could not confirm it. Wilson, in an interview, said the fire department does not monitor attendance at outdoor events.

In recent days, journalists attending the rallies have been raising questions about the crowd estimates with the campaign. In a story on Sept. 11 about Palin's attraction for some Virginia women voters, Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher estimated the crowd to be 8,000, not the 23,000 cited by the campaign.

He was only wrong by 15,000 people. How are we supposed to trust John McCain to run the White House honestly, when he can't even be straight about the size of his audiences?