McCain defends web ad mocking Obama

"The One"

Or, The Chosen One.

Sarge- The "chosen by the Liberal media one".

Heck!! McCains campaign has a little joke, hey better than a negative put down. It aint no big deal folks.

McCain is on track to win, latest Gallup poll today puts both on 44%.

McCain has caught up, now he will overtake and win easily.

It's important to have a sense of humor. (But don't mention the faces on the dollar bills!)

Sezho2- I agree, a sense of humor is gonna be needed with this election, especially the way both camps are behaving.

sarge: "Or, The Chosen One."

Thanks, Sherlock.

Once again, McCain shows how ugly he wants to make this campaign. It's funny how he insists that there must be 'a sense of humour' to the election race, but when Obama cracks a joke about the face of money it's suddenly OUTRAGEOUS! What's more, McCain now cracks back about racism and takes on the airs of a 4 year old, saying, "I didn't start it, HE did!"

It really is true that as people age they revert to the likes of infants.

Anyway, it's all good, and unlike what USApatriot says we all know that Obama is going to win it. McCain is truly showing what an utter baby he is, and how completely incapable he is of leading the nation. No one can lead a nation simply by talking about 'how the other guy can't'; especially when all the things McCain is saying are completely bogus.

smithinjapan- Apart from your last sentence, i have to agree with your post. This is your first post i am talking about.

Ive read some links from posters here, and i as a lifelong Republican am having second thoughts about McCain. I cant believe i`m even typing these words, put i always believe in looking at all the facts, and the REpublicans are not behaving with honor. i am a true patriot who loves his country, in case anyone wants to call me a liberal.

ChimpsAhead

McCain is using harmless banter to express his views , he is a totally honest guy.

I still say Hillary's ad was much more vile. It really played with people's hearts and minds and was sinister and believe it costed her dearly.

A side note, so I understand, McCain doesn't believe Moses split the sea? I do believe the comparison is a bit sacrilegious

lifelong Republican am having second thoughts about McCain" What is the difference to a republican or dem? Do we really even know any longer?

The ad ends with Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea in the movie, “The Ten Commandments.”

Well Hollywood is hopping mad about this (Bob Dole made a serious mistake taking on the entertainment industry and we know how it ended for him). Plus, Paris Hilton's parents are McCain supporters who have given the maximum personal contribution to his campaign.

juxtaposing Obama with lightweight celebrities Britney Spears

I presume she's a Republican, she appears in Fahrenheit 9/11 saying "I believe we should just support the president in everything he does." The lightweight part, well, I agree with that.

The lightweight part, well, I agree with that." Not her pocket book!

Not her pocket book!

Indeed. That's something McCain should have thought of before using her in an unflattering light.

using her in an unflattering light." You are going to disagree but McCain's latest thing is actually going to help both Obama and Brit. Think about it.

It may also insult all the Americans who, like, find the latest installment of her domestic meltdown interesting to read about.

Republican John McCain on Friday defended his campaign’s new web ad mocking Barack Obama as a presumptuous messianic figure, saying it was important to “display a sense of humor” in the presidential contest.

Granted, it USED to be important to the McCain campaign to run a clean, positive campaign. But...the good Sen. from Arizona has made a habit of changing his mind of late.

“I don’t think our campaign isn’t negative in the slightest,” McCain said.

Ummm....according to that statement, Sen. McCain just stated that he thinks his campaign is negative. Nice.

Taka

Taka313- Lighten up!!

McCain is just using comedy, he isn`t doing anything wrong. The guy is totally honest and is in touch with the reular working guy, can Obama say that?

Maybe you're right patriot. I'm sure that Sen. McCain would also see the humor in the following clip and not consider it negative at all:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=wW5Eqycf4d4&feature=related

Taka

Republican John McCain on Friday defended his campaign’s new web ad mocking Barack Obama as a presumptuous messianic figure, saying it was important to “display a sense of humor” in the presidential contest.

I have a proposal:

Anyone who actually buys that should be sterilized. They're clearly too stupid to reproduce.

Unfortunately, most people that clueless are older, and have probably already had kids.

Maybe we should just start up the Soylent Green campaign.

TPOJ

Heck!! McCain is an honest guy, a war hero to boot!!!

He may have taken bad advice, but he is a good guy, defender of the free. Can Obama say that? No, of course not.

Actually, I think Obama has said that about John McCain.

SezWho2- So Obama thinks McCain is a good guy?

I thought he hated him?

Wow, USAP, I'm amazed we're not all sticking to the walls from the spin in that response.

I was unaware that you were a Washington insider, knowing the candidates' personalities so well. That MUST be true, otherwise you'd just be another opinionated goofball who lacks the mental capacity to understand that reality was not mass produced using your viewpoint as a template.

The problem with current politics is that it's almost impossible to respond to people like you without getting personal. Not out of spite, but because a discussion is supposed to address a problem, and your personality is the problem.

Either that or you're just some guy saying the dumbest think you can think of to see what happens. Either way, whatever.

While everyone here is knocking this ad, why isn't anyone knocking the recent songs put out in support of Obama and everyone of them is filled with hate! You may find McCain's ad in bad taste, but I don't see any equal balance of discussion on support songs for Obama of which he has not denounced and yet still ask for a vote from the very same people these songs put down.

I think no one here can really deconstruct this argument better than Jon Stewart, whose humor should make his words easier for the McCain campaign to digest.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=178207

Taka

OK, I forgot to include my ultimate point, apologies if my last post seems to be going off topic. Let's try that again:

McCain insisted he was running a “respectful” campaign and brushed off complaints from critics and even some supporters that his tone had taken a sharply negative turn in recent days.

My comments directed at USAPatriot are more or less the same as the ones I direct at this quote. To wit: when you're confronted with people who have fallen under the delusion that something can be made true by simply stating it, where do you go with it? Should I call McCain a liar? What if he actually believes that crap?

Taka313- Heck i don`t agree with Jon Stewart, but i watched that and had to chuckle. Nice link, thanks!!

TPOJ- I guess McCain believes everything he presents as part of his campaign.

I admit there is a negative tone coming into play, but byb both sides, i do not approve.

I hope we can start from now, having a good claan fight, as they say.

Taka313- To be honest i may have to tune into Stewart`s programme, his politics are against mine, but they game has a goos sense of humor.

Nothing is better than having a good laugh sometimes, and getting away from reality.

Should say; the guy has a good sense of humor.

“I don’t think our campaign isn’t negative in the slightest,”

A Freudian slip there! The guy is a loser. An elderly loser.

McCain thinks he has a sense of humor and has a place in the campaign????? This from a man who actually thinks gaydar is real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB8iVgviw9w

Statistician- Hey!! Whatever you may think, the guy is in good health.

He has the fitness and stamina of a man half his age, taht is not my opinion, that was said by SEan Hannitty. That guy knows the facts, he has many insider contacts.

has anyone asked Paris or Brit if they had any issue being compared with Obama? I really don't think they would mind.

Sailwind - Har!

An elderly loser" So, are you saying all who have voted for him are losers too? Didn't it occur to you that if he is not elected, thousands of Mexican families will be separated?

Skip, Considering that it was an unflattering comparison and considering that the Hilton family actually donated to the McCain campaign, I would think there is a little reason for her to be offended. I don't know of anyone who enjoys being bitten in the hand while trying to feed someone.

Taka

USAPatriot,

Was that a question (?) or a statement (!).

If it was a statement, then I have a question for you: Why did you think that?

If it was a question, then I have an answer for you: No, I don't think so.

SezWho2 - Please point me to the questions/ statements that you question.

Heh, everyone knows that the U.S. media isn't allowed to say anything remotely negative about obama. Now even the guy running against him isn't allowed to say anything negative either?

Great ad, Mr. McCain. I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. I'd forgotten the bit about the light shining down and a voice telling people to vote for obama. Strung together the comments coming out of obama's mouth proves that he is his own worst enemy.

democrat Lemming Day fast approaches.

RR

McCain defends web ad mocking Obama

What's to defend? Polls now show the two are even. The ad worked.

I'm still waiting for V-p choices...

What does McCain actually support? All I hear him doing is attacking Obama, aka straight out of the Bush/Rove playbook and I think the US public are fed up with that.

If McCain wants to be taken seriously, he needs to tell us what he stands for, not just what he is against.

USAPatriot,

That would be the most recent post you addressed to me before the response which leaves you questioning what I am talking about.

To save you the research, I don't think Obama hates McCain. Why do you think he does?

"I don't think our campaign isn't negative in the slightest, McCain said."

Har!

SezWho2; I cannot prove that Obama hates McCain.

Sorry, i made a claim without proof, my error.

I apologise to Sen Obama and his followers.

"What does McCain actually support?"

www.johnmccain.com

Or every day the campaign is about race is a good day for John McCain. This ad featured two white female celebrities who have distinguished themselves by their fast and loose lifestyles. The fact they have no connection to Obama becomes irrelevant. A similar ad contributed to the defeat of Harold Ford, a black man running for the Senate in Tennessee, in 2006.

The problem comes if you win by making it about your opponent, you have no mandate for governing. This was demonstrated when GWB erroneously thought the "capital" he had earned by winning re-election in 2004 would be spent privatizing social security. The public was like, "Huh? This is news to us" and it went nowhere.

Ditto for his attempts to "fix" immigration problems through a guest-worker/amnesty program. Again, he'd never campaigned on that issue and was unable to rally the public behind him.

Come fall McCain will have to explain his position on the issues.

Come fall McCain will have to explain his position on the issues." Yeah, I guess the entire government can have time to think with that loooooong vacation they gave themselves.

skipthesong- McCainis an honest guy with one ambition, to help every American realise the American dream.

Obama mocks himself with his inane comments. hahaha

Come fall McCain will have to explain his position on the issues.

Actually, I misspoke. He will probably have to do it sooner:

Who played the race card, who is more patriotic, who would have visited American troops in Germany seemed to matter a bit less on a morning when the Labor Department reported that unemployment had risen to a four-year high of 5.7 percent and General Motors said it had lost $15.5 billion in the second quarter.

I'm sick of this childish affair. The shrieking from both camps is just plain ridiculous. I propose a duel to sort this out...

....handbags at dawn.

The shrieking from both camps is just plain ridiculous.

True, but leveling with the American people would not get anyone into the White House. People want to hear there's a quick fix when there ain't.

Betzee,

IMO, they should just bring the elction date forward and get this out of the way instead of letting this kindergarten mud-slinging descend into worse.

IMO, they should just bring the elction date forward and get this out of the way instead of letting this kindergarten mud-slinging descend into worse.

As the problems mount the attractiveness of this sort of "escapism" may become more pronounced. I mean who wants to contemplate how much more of the 12 trillion USD mortgage industry is one step away from insolvency?

Heh, it looks like a tape that team obama would distribute to his followers.

RR

"I'm sick of this childish affair"

Then don't watch it! Jeez...

These two men - are the best that USA could come up with as a potential leader? No wonder there is so much to mock about the US

Uh, Madverts,

But you said you're sick of it. So, heh, you're a glutton for punishment?

Stan - "These two men - are the best that USA could come up with as a potential leader?"

Yeah, and believe it or not, one of them will continue to lead this country, which will continue to be the leading light and hope of the world.

"So, heh, you're a glutton for punishment? "

Nah, I just think it's laughable that US elections have sunk to this childish you/said he/said, my dad's got a faster car level...

"which will continue to be the leading light and hope of the world."

Heh, and I heard the national anthem being hummed behind your writing that one.

What amazes me about this fiasco is the fact that Republicans want us to believe that the best man for the job is someone who wasn't as good as the disaster we've had for the last eight years - when he was eight years younger and still over pensionable age.

Sarge,

It depends what kind of punishment ;)

Wotta,

"Republicans want us to believe that the best man for the job is someone who wasn't as good as the disaster we've had for the last eight years - when he was eight years younger and still over pensionable age."

They can't see past myopic partisanship. Nothing amazing about those types my freind!

What amazes me about this fiasco is the fact that Republicans want us to believe that the best man for the job is someone who wasn't as good as the disaster we've had for the last eight years - when he was eight years younger and still over pensionable age.

Agreed, and now the Democrats have given me a choice between the two and given me Obama who's resume you can fit on a postage stamp for the top job.

Thanks alot.

Sailwind,

I'd rather go for the guy who looks like bright young talent with a shorter CV, than go with an aging republican that amongst other things lost out in an election to the man that even you acknowledge has had a disaterous disaster ....

Heh....Freudian, disaterous tenure.

I guess it was such an important point that it meritted being typed twice.

Madverts.

Bush has been one of the worst Presidents that America has had. Time to move on and choose the next one.

Obama....... I really Like the guy but my goodness get over the hype what has he got????? Change, the guy can't even admit the surge worked and change his position toward Iraq to reflect that.

That isn't a guy I want in charge. I'd was hoping better from him after than political pablum after his trip to Iraq.

You seem to be basing your decision about who will preside over the US by a policy in Iraq. I don't find that much to go on, simply because the surge was needed due to disasterous republican policies there.

McCain, despite distinguished service to his country, is both too damned old and of course a republican at a very bad time to be one....

...unless you're the Governator, apparently.

Since when does a candidate have to defend a campaign ad lampooning his opponent?

Oh silly me, I forgot. The rules have all changed this time around. The annointed one must not be criticized.

"The annointed one must not be criticized."

Heh, comments like these further illustrate the Panic on the right.

The ad was pretty funny, but overall, yeah, I think McCain needs to stop attacking so much.

Sailwind,

Agreed, and now the Democrats have given me a choice between the two and given me Obama who's resume you can fit on a postage stamp for the top job.

I don't think we can really blame the parties for the choices in front of us. They are the logical candidates given the criteria American voters use to make their choice. For some, it's the importance of talking about God. While a minority, the fact they may or may not turn out gives them an importance disproportionate to their numbers. More generally, many people do want to relate to candidates they way they do to celebrities. The emphasis on "family values," an ill-conceived response to the very real problem of an increasing number of children being raised in single-parent homes, introduced a certain type of morality which further limited the number of people who could run.

I trace the current dysfunctional campaigning back to 1988. In the spring of that year, VP GHWB was polling 40 points behind Michael Dukakis. It wasn't clear he would even win Texas, his adopted home state. Lee Atwater reversed his fortune; the campaign became about Willie Horton and pollution in Boston Harbor and Dukakis lost. That being said, I don't think patrician GHWB, who was caught in the shifting demographics of the Republican Party as it became a southern party, was a bad president (far better than his son).

The tale of both men offered cautionary lessons for those who came after. For Governors looking to move up, the lesson was "don't sign off on the parole of any lifer." Whether or not Michael Dukakis was personally culpable for Willie Horton's crimes, it proved devastating to his campaign. Old George only lasted a term himself and most attribute that to his flip-flopping on a tax increase. The lesson here was, it doesn't matter how much you add to the national debt as long as you can say at the end, "I didn't raise taxes."

I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing the campaign could be about the issues, as it was in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 (I don't remember enough about 1968 to say anything.) But issues are difficult to present in our sound-bite driven celebrity-obsessed culture which makes the low road all the more inviting.

Obama should mock songbird Vccain.

sailwind - "Bush has been one of the worst presidents that America has had"

He has not.

"Obama... I really like the guy"

What do you like about him?

"which will continue to be the leading light and hope of the world."

I don't think you will hear anybody on the campaign trail discussing this, but there's a lot of discussion beyond the scenes on how to manage America's impending relative decline. Both Clinton and then GWB, who each served eight-year terms during the post-Cold War period of undisputed US hegemony, ran up against the distinct limits of our ability to change the world.

For Clinton it was pursued more through economic means, first NAFTA and then getting China into the WTO. Passage of the former led to a mass migration of Mexicans, for whom off-farm jobs never materialized in their country, in search of such work here. And "free trade" with China has created a trade deficit of such a size that it has helped erode the value of the dollar.

GWB didn't fare much better, in fact a lot worse in my opinion, using a more militarized approach. While it's good violence has declined in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom will not spearhead democracy throughout the region as originally envisioned by the war's neocon architects. Nor is freedom (in any sense recognizable to us) likely to take root in the Mesopotamian desert any time soon.

So the question becomes which candidate is best prepared to lead America into a new world order in which other powers are vying for ascendance...

SuperLib,

I think McCain will stop attacking so much. I suspect these ads were primarily designed to give him a boost in the polls and achieve some sort of parity going into the conventions. That, I think, would be a good goal for him.

On the other hand, I can't say much for the methods which arguably have achieved it. I have no idea how a steady dose of this would play out and I doubt that the McCain campaign does either. So, after the conventions I would look to both candidates to run a fairly clean campaign. Can't say the same about their other supporters, however.

Since polls are so popular here maybe we should let Rasmussen have the last word:

"Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the nation’s voters say they’ve seen news coverage of the McCain campaign commercial that includes images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and suggests that Barack Obama is a celebrity just like them. Of those, just 22% say the ad was racist while 63% say it was not.

However, Obama’s comment that his Republican opponent will try to scare people because Obama does not look like all the other presidents on dollar bills was seen as racist by 53%. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree. "

And broken down by race and by admitted prejudices, those percentages are what?

And broken down by race and by admitted prejudices, those percentages are what?

Why don't we start with yours...

undecidedbout08,

OK. I tend to be prejudiced against the advocacy of capitalism and democracy as the answers to the world's problems. I tend to be prejudiced against arguments to the effect that socialism is a great evil. I tend to be prejudiced against the notion that silence about race is the only thing that leads to a level playing field. And I tend to be prejudiced against arguments which have the ring of being mantric.

But that's really not the point, is it? My point was one of bias. Using your statistics and the numbers of people who identified as single-race whites in the US 2000 census, we have the following:

2000 Census white: 75%; non-white: 25%

McCain campaign ad non-racist: 63%; racist 22%

Obama comment racist: 53%; non-racist 38%

Setting aside that the chief criticism of the Hilton-Spears-Obama McCain campaign ad was not that it was racist but that it was disparaging to all three parties, the numbers above show that opinion could well be divided along racial lines. Unless you can show that it is not, your data is not particularly meaningful.

So Paris Hilton has struck back at McCain in her own video now. Basically she calls McCain old and tired and compares him to Yoda from StarWars.

Check out the Yahoo front page for link to her video reply to the McCain attack advertisement.

Hilton's parents know who McCain is as they donated to his failed campaign. They called McCain a dolt for running an ad about their daughter while the US economy goes down the tubes based on Republican policies over the last 8 years.

More people would probably vote for Paris Hilton than will vote for McCain. He has the napper crowd down solid but they may sleep through the voting day.

Zucronium; Do you enjoy mocking a national war hero?

mcCain is an honest guy with an honest campaign. He has caught up with Barack Hussein Obama in the polls. Heck! he`ll soon have a healthy lead.

Songbird McCain? He sang like a bird in captivity in Vietnam. Kerry is more the hero and Rove swiftboated him. Any fool can crash a plane. McCain did that five times.

Todays polls show Obama again ahead by 6%. Repubs are going to get routed in November and even they know it. The smarter ones.