TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | New Ad Slams McCain For "Bomb Iran" Song

It's the macaca moment. For the next two years the Republican candidates for Congress and the Presidency will deny wanting to start a new war in Iran, and America will know that this is exactly what will happen if they dare vote for any Republican.

You know, I was just thinking there needs to be a youtube piece with Abu Gonzales and Sanjaya in it because they both forgot their words and failed to convince either the judges or America.

Posted by skiddlybop
April 20, 2007 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink

Last night, when I wnet online, I saw the "Bomb, Bomb Iran" story on the front page of AOL. That's when I knew it was well past the blog stage.

Posted by wheelchairQB
April 20, 2007 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink

Honestly, I think this is a little bit thin to be a "macaca moment".

There's likely no "legs" to the story and-- these are the GOP primaries, after all. "Bomb Iran" is not a huge net-vote loser.

Posted by oyster
April 20, 2007 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink

Herein lies the importance of the capacity of the Dems to allocate liquid funds quickly. When a GOPer says or does something stupid (they can't help themselves as we all know; it is their nature), the Dems can immediately fund spots for the internets or for television in ANY district in the country before the GOPer even has a chance to do damage control. This is a HUGE, huge, huge advantage for the Dems.

That said, I'm not sure this is St. McCain's Macaca moment, but rather an extended Dukakis-in-the-tank moment. He's so out of touch with American priorities, and the image he portrays, it's embarassing. He doesn't seem to realize that Americans lost their appetite for war and macho rhetoric over 2 years ago. We can find further evidence of this in the way the wingnutoshphere rallies to his side when he behaves like a buffoon - the delusional glomming on to a symbol of their failues.

Pathetic.

Posted by Legalize
April 20, 2007 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink

Yes, but you've got to take their crazy moments on the stump for the GOP primaries to define them in the general election if you can.

I can't believe it. This is exactly what I said should happen in my comment to the earlier post!

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/19/mccain_is_da_bomb_when_talking_about_iran#comment-236161

I hope some good oppo researchers are tailing the leading GOP candidates now. It's when the candidates are speaking to the GOP brethren, a la George Allen, that we can really get some good stuff to use in 2008. Even just putting some of these crazy questioners in an ad, pretty much regardless of the GOP candidate's response, would make a lot of mainstream swing voters feel uncomfortable.

Posted by ohiomeister
April 20, 2007 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink

I still think they should have kept the questioner in the ad to let his crazy vibe rub off more on McCain. Take a look at the longer video from the earlier post and see what you think.

The other ad they should run now should tie Bush's laughable assessment of how history will judge him with his personnel decisions (Rumsfeld, Brownie), culminating in AG Gonzales' performance yesterday and Bush's continued support, rather than demanding his resignation. Run it a few times on Fox News so that the White House is sure to see it. That'll hit him where it hurts.

The best way to deal with Bush now and to get him to do what we want to do is to squarely target his legacy and attack him in ways that will give even his base serious doubts (i.e. show the many GOP Senators who called for Rumsfeld to resign for years and pull the good quotes from the hearing).

Posted by ohiomeister
April 20, 2007 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink

Fred Hiatt and David Broder are going to have conniptions.

Posted by ohiomeister
April 20, 2007 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink

I'm not sure it's that big a deal. I mean, it's not like he dressed up in women's clothing and let Donald Trump nuzzle his fake boobs or anything. Now doing something like that would DESTROY a candidate's chances with the GOP...

Posted by The Limey
April 20, 2007 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink

JMo

I just saw Russert on the Today Show minimizing the McCain thing and saying that Harry Reed's recent remarks were upstaging the Gonzales hearings. Yeah, I know, shocking.

Posted by JMo
April 20, 2007 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink

I think those poo-pooing the ad buy might be missing an important point: McCain is slightly batshit crazy - diminishing his viability may lead the RNC to field someone who's really batshit crazy.

Posted by draftedin68
April 20, 2007 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink

Why NOW? Why not wait until McCain is nominated, THEN do the spots? Why burn money blasting McCain when he might not even get the nomination? I can only think that MoveOn thinks that McCain is the strongest candidate and they want him out early. I personally think McCain is the *weakest* candidate, and I'd LIKE to see him get the nomination. THEN we blast the guy with these ads.

Posted by es
April 20, 2007 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink

Im with es. If MoveOn saw an opportunity to get a favorable candidate (either a sane one, or a more-easily-defeatable one), then fine. But this seems like a gratuitous waste of 100k.

Wait until they nominate someone and THEN hit them. This is pointless.

Posted by carletonwu
April 20, 2007 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink

They should add the actual song *Bomb Iran* in the background somewhere in this, but then maybe that would set the wrong tone for this serious ad, although it would emphasize the unseriousness and unreality of McCain's response to the Iran question at this VFW meeting.

That spoof song was a radio "hit" in like 1980 after the Iran hostage crisis. You can probably find it on a P2P network today.

Posted by twirling fartknocker
April 20, 2007 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink

An add will let this story go on for a few more days. Americans are sick of the war we are in and we don't want to start a new war. Granted McCain is assured to fail in his bid for the GOP ticket. It helps reassure the public that Republicans think war is funny. Americans no longer think war is funny. Bombs aren't Funny McCain, look at what happened at Virginia Tech.

Posted by Sunnyside
April 20, 2007 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink

Kick him while he's down.

Posted by tgr
April 20, 2007 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink

"There's likely no "legs" to the story and-- these are the GOP primaries, after all. "Bomb Iran" is not a huge net-vote loser."

Don't agree. Democrats and independents live in all of these states and will also see the ads. Anything truthful that rips any Republican anytime is a good thing.

Posted by cal1942
April 20, 2007 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink

It seems pretty clear that MoveOn and the Dems have the loot to blast away early and often at all of these guys. It also seems clear that they can take no chances; they have to pile on at every available opportunity. We have to weaken these guys BEFORE one of them manages to get the GOP nomination as a means of forcing THEM to spend money and to keep them on the defensive. This may also serve to frustrate the loony GOP base when they see the candidates they don't really like, behaving like clowns.

Posted by Legalize
April 20, 2007 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink

Let's see, McCain had his Dukakis-in-a-helmet moment in Baghdad, now he's got his macaca moment with Bomb Iran, although he seemed a bit restrained in his performance, as if he knew it might be a naughty moment. He's already had his fundie zealot moments at Bob Jones U and with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He already admitted that he's at odds with American voters regarding Iraq.
Fssssssss. I can hear the air going out of McCain's campaign.

Posted by jeffgee
April 20, 2007 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink

The song isn't new. I remember hearing it in 1980 during the hostage crisis.

Posted by jeffgee
April 20, 2007 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink

This isn't a "macaca moment" at all. It's a "Dukakis in a helmet" moment, or perhaps more accurately, it's a "Howard Dean YEEEEAH" moment.

People who are the slightest bit wobbly about voting for McCain, even in the primary, are now seeing him as a clown, a figure of fun. They're going to abandon him. Just like Dean.

We all eat our own--all that's required is a perception of weakness. Now it's the Republicans' turn, is all.

At least this time there's some substantive reason to deplore or mock this performance. Dean had to be taken out of context and looped repeatedly to make it ridiculous.

Posted by bikeboy389
April 20, 2007 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink

"Anything truthful that rips any Republican anytime is a good thing."

Granted, such things are "good". But some rips are more effective than others. Maybe this is an important piece to the December attack ad puzzle, but the way McCain is fizzling right now, he's gonna have trouble even making it to the NH primaries. The past month has been awful for McCain-- I'd think we'd want an old, struggling, wounded duck still puttering along on the GOP side.

Assuming that the ad is effective (which I'm not sure it is): Is this the best use of 100k? Is it wise to further weaken McCain right now? Does hurting McCain right now improve the odds that the GOP race will be decided early and can unify around a clear frontrunner? Does this ad improve the odds for, say, Fred Thompson to enter the race?

So, there's a number of strategic concerns about timing here, in my view.

For example: Why not wait until after labor day and show ads w/ McCain eating cake with Bush during Katrina and hugging him tight with superimposed newspaper headlines about Iraq?

Posted by oyster
April 20, 2007 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink

I have to disagree. A lot of people thought the original macaca moment was a little thin for a macaca moment.

I was amazed by the footage--and by how tired and worn out McCain looked. If the blogs run with this, it will hurt awful good.

Posted by nrglaw
April 20, 2007 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink

I think it's a smart move to define the potential Republican nominees NOW and not wait for the general campaign. Better to start telling the truth about these guys while the public is still making up its mind than to wait until the candidates have spent millions developing their own PR narrative of themselves.

That's when the truth becomes exponentially harder to get across. After all, it was precisely because the Republicans had started smearing Kerry long before he got the nomination that it was so hard to fight the Swift Boat lies after he had won it.

Starting early and hitting often with the truth sounds like good strategy to me.

Posted by katerina
April 20, 2007 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink

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New Ad Slams McCain For "Bomb Iran" Song

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