Beautiful words cannot make our lives better

But beautiful words like "gas tax holiday," "tax cuts Über Alles" and "victory in Iraq!!!11!" are a different story.

I saw this this morning, 'bout made me want to throw up. And I love that he isn't running on the "I was tortured so I deserve this" platform or anything...

McCain has practically turned into the Giuliani of "I was tortured".

Look at these two states that he's running this ad in:

Will be cycled into McCain’s ad buy on national cable and in Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The fact he's running this ad in Virginia AND Mississippi indicates real vulnerabilities there in the McCain campaign internal polls in these two states.

That ad was absolutely vomit-inducing. It's become increasingly clear that the theme of McCain campaign is going to be "Vote for me because I'm a War Hero. Please ignore the fact that I sold what little soul I had left to become Bush redux."

It's going to be a long and ugly campaign. McCain has clearly learned the politics of division, lies, and character assassination from the Bushies.

You know times are tough for McLame if he's reduced to attacking people's hopes and dreams for the future to try to get elected.

"Yes, my friends, let us not hope, let us not care about one another - that won't solve anything."

That's one hell of a message, McLame. LOL

"Don't hope for a better life. Vote for one."
That works...

This is the new, retooled McCain campaign?
This guy makes me long for Bob Dole!

Throwing a barb at the "Summer of Love" is always good for rousing the tighty-righty base. They've been fighting the 60s ever since 1970.
"While thousands protested the war, John McCain was dropping bombs on Hanoi."

So, he puts politics before self? I guess that's why when self had a real chance to be the republican nominee, he threw the politics he stood for away and took the Republican hard line...

All Aboard the Flip-Flop Express!!

Did I mention he's voted with President Bush 95% in 2007 and 100% in 2008?

I disagree with SFCWallace. The announcer emphasized the first sentence when he spoke the tag line, and deemphasized "vote for one." By emphasizing "don't hope for a better life" the ad simply doesn't work. In fact it fails utterly.

In fairness it might not be possible to say that poorly written line any better.

This ad will get about a day's play and will be withdrawn. A simple waste of McCain's money.

One other thing, I think people will tire of his vietnam pictures. We get it, we get it. The issue is what is his vision for the future and what does he plan on doing. He is just flailing all over the place. Also, the announcer sounded like he was announcing a funeral procession. He's trying to sound like the "serious" candidate and play on people's fears. I don't believe it will fly this time.

This is one of the better McCain ads I've seen (which isn't saying much).

I'm less critical about the "Don't hope for a better life. Vote for one." I'm more critical of the beginning: there is simply no reason or excuse to alienate all hippies from your cause.

McCain could have sold himself as a hero without taking down an entire voting block. The fact he didn't makes it clear: the Republicans have learned nothing from the failure of divisive politics.

If the choice is about Unity vs Cultural War, who do you think will win?

Older and younger Americans probably won't find anything remarkable about the line,

But a man who has always put his country and her people before self...

“I am a war criminal; I bombed innocent women and children.”

Self over country. Really?

Like when he voted against establishing a federal holiday for MLK's birthday and voted to strip the commission's funding 10 years later?

Like when he voted against the landmark "motor voter" law?

Like when he voted against the bipartisan civil rights bill in 1990?

Like when he voted against the bipartisan minimum wage increase in 1996?

Like when he co-sponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy?

Librarian with McCain=Bush Sign Charged With Trespassing

McCain Camp Throws a 61 yr old Lady out of his event

Check the video of a 61 yr old lady on public property waiting in line for a McCain event that was open to the public.

She received a ticket for trespassing.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/07/librarian-with-mccainbush-sign-kicked-out-of-public-campaign-event/

http://sensico.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/mccain-camp-throws-a-61-yr-old-lady-out-of-his-event/

It seems like McCain is trapped in the 60's. The "Summer of Love" images are straight out of Nixon '68.

[W]hat is striking about today’s patriotism debate is the degree to which it remains rooted in the culture wars of the 1960s – in arguments that go back forty years or more. In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic.

Meanwhile, some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself – by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world; and perhaps most tragically, by failing to honor those veterans coming home from Vietnam, something that remains a national shame to this day.

i feel like he is always trying to guilt us into voting for him. in nearly every ad they talk about how he was tortured

McCain camp throws out 61 yr old women from event
http://sensico.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/mccain-camp-throws-a-61-yr-old-lady-out-of-his-event/

I get two things.

1) In August of the Summer of Love, when hippies ran rampant, John McCain turned 31. Barack Obama turned 6.

2) John McCain is opposed to hope.

So, if the goal was to demonstrate than McCain is old and irrelevant and is against hope and for bleak realism, then I found it to be a very effective ad.

McCain is not a "war hero." He was groomed from infancy to follow in the footsteps of his admiral father and grandfather and was raised to be a soldier who looks at the world from a soldier's perspective.
He was a terrible midshipman at the academy, and got shot down during a bombing raid on Vietnamese peasants. You can't blame them for being a little rough with him--he was trying to kill them in their own country. That doesn't make him a hero. He was not serving any noble cause.
And, while I have some respect for those who serve, coerced or otherwise, on a mistaken belief that they are engaging in service to America, the bottom line is that his beliefs about Vietnam were and are grossly mistaken and our conduct there, as in Iraq, was shameful. Anyone who has actually studied history knows that the "domino theory" was and is a load of crap. We were never fighting the Chinese, even though we were close to their border. We were fighting Vietnamese peasants who were trying to take control of their own country and determine their own destiny. Our goal was to preserve the colonial structure in a post-colonial world. Nothing altruistic whatsoever about our involvement there.

McCain had a reputation throughout his life as being a bully and an asshole. Until these recent ads, I don't recall seeing him laugh, although he always semi-smirked alot. His laugh and smile are disingenuous and kinda scary.