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Obama And McCain Release Dueling TV Spots During Premiere Of "Army Wives"
General election candidates Barack Obama and John McCain quietly aired TV spots hailing the nation's armed forces during last night's season premiere of "Army Wives" on the Lifetime Channel.
McCain's was a bit odd -- he described troops abroad and veterans as "the best Americans"...
...and here's Obama's spot...
It's worth noting that the backdrop in McCain's spot directed people to his campaign Web site, while Obama only had an American flag and his "change" slogan behind him.
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That is a good point about the website placement.
June 9, 2008 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
The website placement is there, but it's pretty ineffective, so I'm not particularly worried about it.
Still, it's kinda cheezy... and that could be a negative for some. McCain comes off as a bit too much of a salesman, I think.
June 9, 2008 10:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing about McCain's Army wife?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/03/06/carol/print.html
June 9, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
¡Hombre!
There's a contrast for you.
As we used to say: "A choice; not an echo."
June 9, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cindy "makes" McNasty watch with her?
"Great" twists and turns? I thought the show was about some serious stuff; not "great" fiction...
As usual, Obama's writing is a thousand times better.
June 9, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
"what you have done for us, we can never do for you."
well... that about explains johnnie's votes on the GI and torture-o-rama bills. funny how he just comes out and says it, though.
June 9, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! That was the thing that stuck out for me, too.
June 9, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed that too.
"what you have done for us, we can never do for you."
...so we're not even going to try.
June 9, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wouldn't characterize the two videos as dueling. What would have been extraordinary, if unlikely, is Obama and McCain appearing together in an ad to support myLifetime.com. Also we should remember Obama's vote and McCain's absence for the new GI Bill.
June 9, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, these were not paid ads placed by either campaign. They were promotional spots for the Lifetime show Army Wives.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6567121.html
June 9, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! That's brilliant on Lifetimes part.
June 9, 2008 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
on a more serious (and technical) note... why is johnnie's in widescreen and obama's not?
it makes johnnie's look better-produced, and better for the medium... especially when you consider how in obama's close-up, we can't read the giant CHANGE over his left shoulder. were it widescreen, you could.
June 9, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do you think people won't know what it says ;)
June 9, 2008 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
"...the best Americans."
I wonder if McCain counts himself in that category, being a Veteran and all.
June 9, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
"John McCain says that the 90+ percent of the public who did never joined the military are inferior Americans."
June 9, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
This isn't the first time. McCain criticized Obama for never having served in the military in the past, basically saying that because he had served and Obama had not, he won't accept criticism on his opposition to increasing the amount of money available to veterans who pursue a college degree.
McCain thinks that all of us who haven't served have no right to criticize him if he chooses to keep those in the military with no realistic future in this world except reenlisting and being sent off to combat zones.
And he has plenty of new combat zones he'd like to send them to, too!
June 9, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
There should be a term, analogous to Chickenhawk, for military folk who claim the exclusive right to opine on military matters, including social policy affecting service members.
June 9, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been using "dipshit."
June 9, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
That and 'self-important asshat' are interchangeable.
June 9, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pretty much.
June 9, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's that thing on McCain's nose?
June 9, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I notice that Senator McCain is not wearing a flag lapel pin. Is he too good for an American flag lapel pin?
June 9, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
My dad was a veteran. He never claimed to be one of the "best" Americans. He was, however, very proud of being "an American."
June 9, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
What was that little pause after "Cindy makes me watch it...."? Waiting for a laugh?
June 9, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Was he smiling painfully at the crowd and blinking a lot?
That's how you know he just delivered an applause/laugh line.
June 9, 2008 10:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I suspect that Cindy *would've* tried to make him watch it, but you can only get verbally abused so often before you avoid those kind of confrontations...
June 9, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
He was thinking to himself, "I wonder if they'd bleep the word 'trollop.'"
June 9, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
With his refusal to support the GI Bill, I wouldn't have had McCain go here:
I know what he meant, but the only thing I could keep thinking was: Way to set the bar nice and low.
June 9, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I found it unnerving to watch McCain's eyes scan the TelePrompTer. After all his years in the political arena he looks like a rookie--an old rookie--but a rookie none the less.
June 9, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Since you mention that McCain put his website in the background, I was wondering what you (or others)think of that. Personally, I found HRC's continued mentioning of her web address rather clumsy, and I don't think the McCain backdrop mention of it especially helps, either. (Not that it hurts -- it's not glaring enough to matter much either way.) After all, do people who actually use the Internet have any difficulty at all getting to Hillary's, McCain's, or Obama's website? You just Google their names. Thinking that the web address has to be mentioned all the time seems like a characteristic of someone who is not especially comfortable online.
June 9, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
It would have been even more approprite for the telenovela genre if they'd had McCain's own "army [Navy] wife" -- the one he dumped for younger and richer Cindy -- give a promo bit for this show, about how even the "best" American's can act like horrible louts sometimes.
June 9, 2008 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Check out interactive map of Electoral College votes for each state at LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-votemap,0,2338623.htmlstory
June 9, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
A map that says NJ, OR, WA, WI are "up for grabs" but VA is not is a funny map.
June 9, 2008 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
NJ won't go GOP in 2008, but making Mcain spend a bunch of money trying to get the votes will be fun.
June 9, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess those who serve are the first class citizens that I have always feared. For us non-military types, which makes up most of America, I guess all we can hope for is a second class status in the eyes of John McCain.
I mean no offence to those that serve or have served. Your sacrifices are not made in vain, I as an americana appreciate your efforts and the efforts of past soldiers and I realize that ahd you not served our world and our country might be very different. The bond that each American shares with its previous generation is something that should be treasured not something used to divide us in constituencies for political goals. This is why I am a supporter of Barack Obama.
June 9, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
This should be highlighted and mocked relentlessly. Oh, I know what he was trying to say, that there are some debts we can never repay. But that's not how it came out. The way it came out is a perfect reminder of the crumbling facilities at Walter Reed, the lack of appropriate armor in the field, the lack of care for our injured once they're home, the soaring suicide rates among soldiers, and McCain's opposition to the GI Bill.
The Bush treatment of our veterans has been appalling, and McCain, with all his support and cheerleading for the administration, has been complicit in that failure. He needs to get nailed for it.
June 9, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because if you aren't a 'war-hero' like John McCain, and you don't support an endless war in Iraq you aren't good enough.
Plus check out his lame performance again (reminiscent of the 'cottage cheese in a lime jello salad speech'). Can this guy even read an auto-cue? They McCain camp need to improve his delivery too...if they hadn't already realised they got the lame-duck candidate who sounds as old as his 72 years.
June 9, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink