USA Today reported on ad attacking Obama over troop-funding vote but left out key facts about McCain's voting record

Summary: USA Today reported that a Vets for Freedom ad "says [Sen. Barack] Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up 'to vote against emergency funding for our troops' " and went on to assert: "Obama and [Sen. John] McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq." However, USA Today did not report that McCain himself voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In an October 1 article, USA Today reporter Fredreka Schouten asserted that "Vets for Freedom has emerged as one of the bigger players in this election" and added that a "Vets ad, titled 'Skipped,' says [Sen. Barack] Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up 'to vote against emergency funding for our troops.' " Schouten went on to assert: "Obama and [Sen. John] McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq." However, Schouten did not report that McCain himself voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as Obama noted during the September 26 presidential debate.

During the debate, McCain stated that Obama "did the incredible thing of voting to cut off the funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Obama responded: "Senator McCain opposed funding for troops in legislation that had a timetable, because he didn't believe in a timetable. I opposed funding a mission that had no timetable, and was open-ended, giving a blank check to [President] George Bush. We had a difference on the timetable. We didn't have a difference on whether or not we were going to be funding troops."

Schouten did not note that McCain voted against a March 2007 bill that would have funded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and would have provided more than $1 billion in additional funds to the Department of Veterans Affairs -- along with all but two of his fellow Republican senators.

In addition, Schouten uncritically reported the Vets for Freedom charge that "Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes" without noting that McCain leads the Senate in missed votes and is the only senator who has missed over half of the Senate's votes (64 percent), as documented by The Washington Post's Votes Database.

From Schouten's October 1 USA Today article:

Vets for Freedom has emerged as one of the bigger players in this election.

The group, which bills itself as the nation's largest group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, has spent more than $5 million on TV ads, chairman Pete Hegseth said.

The Vets ad, titled "Skipped," says Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up "to vote against emergency funding for our troops."

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt called the ad "a despicable distortion" of Obama's record.

Obama and McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq.

The group operates under a section of the tax code that does not require it to identify its donors. The donors who appeared on the most recent IRS statement for a now-defunct arm of the group included several major GOP contributors, such as Virginia developer Bob Pence.

—J.K.F.