Fucking piece of shit.

It is a very small ad buy, only in Denver, D.C., and Harrisburg, but that's all it takes, as the 24hour news culture will do the rest. The ad will be discussed on the Sunday morning news shows and shown repeatedly on the Monday cable-news-circus. The news anchors will pretend as if this is a serious matter to be debated, the scroll at the bottom of the tv screen will bear a question of "Obama stubs the troops?", and the talking-heads will argue over each other as to whether Obama snubbed or didn't snub. And then Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will poke fun at how ridiculous the accusation is and how asinine the media is. And depending on whether the story gathers legs via blog outrage and radio discussion, we'll rinse, lather, and repeat on Tuesday or wait for the next republican attack ad to do it all over again.

Obama's staff screwed up. Obama could have left the campaign staff, along with the reporters off the base and had a private visit with the troops. He didn't need his Senate staff with him to do that.
Instead McMaverick's team runs crap like this and Dems have to waste 2 days trying to get the real message out.

I wish they'd run an ad with his incoherent ramblings about the definition of a "surge" in the supermarket aisle, but they won't. Or one delineating all the "gaffes" he's made recently, but again, they won't.

Hopefully someone is working on a rebuttal now, even as they may still be in the air. We'll need a response in the morning.

This is BLATANTLY dishonest! What the hell happened to running a clean campaign? This is just WRONG.

The Obama team needs to have a very STRONG counter ad to this, perhaps even use Chuck Hagel in it.

Time for Obama to take out the heavy lumber, and lay out all the votes that McCain has cast against Veterans benefits.

This is ad is terrible, man sorry guys I cant get worked up over such a piss poor ad. The maroons in the Mccain ad war room put togetheran ad going after Obama's supposed diss of the troops and they used footage of him in a gym full of troops to do it? Lmao in the famed words of that Guiness campaign BRILLIANT!

I don't know what the proper response should be, but whining about how unfair this ad is is not going to do.

I don't think going negative will work either, because the Corporate Media will simply spin it as attacking his PATHETIC war record.

I guess it is time he went national with the facts and calls out McStain to explain himself. The ad will get national coverage, so there is no damage to bringing the topic up.

In a recent piece about McCain's campaign, a republican strategist (I forget who it was) observed that McCain's quest was hopeless "unless they take (Obama)out"

Looks like they got the message.

"John McCain is always there for our troops." ....

Did John McCain support Jim Webb's GI Bill????

Some ideas for response ads:
"What happened to John McCain?"
The ad could contrast McCain's position pre-presidential election, with his current
positions
Or showing him and Pres. Bush parroting the same talking points on the surge/time horizons and asking "What happened to straight talk?"

And of course always ending with the damning "do you have an opinion on that? - McCain staring for five secsonds - fade out..

Only an idiot will believe that ad.

The narrator didn't even sound sincere.

Well this topic is getting play on the yahoo main page with McCain personally chiming in saying if he wanted to meet injured troops and was told he could not there would have been "a seismic event".

This guy is such a loser, Cindy McMoneybags was going to go on a Navy Craft- but got denied by the Pentagon- what about her JOhnny? Does she not care about the troops?

Yawn. This is lame ad that isn't even worth the response from the Obama campaign. McShame is a loser and we all know it.

The best way for Obama to counter this attack is to not get drawn into it. McKnowsNoShame has only been able to attack the narative dictated by Obama this week. So, move the narrative on to the more relavent subjects of the economy, energy and environment and we'll see if McShameless can spin the surge into those topics.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

I just posted a message on McLames Youtube page blasting his new ad, you should see the response i'm getting from the McLame 'nuts.'...lol.

McCain's attacks are so over the top they will only resonate with the most rabid segment of the Republican base, people who wouldn't vote for a Democrat if their lives depended on it.

I'm voting for the black guy.

Politicizing injured troops. Real nice. The GOP & McCain are completely scrupulous.

Why didn't he just visit the injured troops without the cameras? Nevertheless, politicizing injured troops ... Real nice. The GOP & McCain are completely scrupulous.

This ad is bullshit.
And it comes across as bullshit, loud and clear.

I've been meaning to start my general election donating. Visa card, come out of your wallety lair!

The ad is lame, but Karl knows that. The Kerry take-the-high-road approach may not work here. It's time to hit back hard. If they bring a knife, you bring a gun.

We absolutely cannot afford another summer of 2004.

I just cant get that concerned over this...seriously Mccain's campaign is unhinged, grossly negative ads this early? I realize they want to establish a message but something tells me Obama's folsk saw this coming perhaps not specifically with this but nonetheless a similiar tact. They will respond and pivot to the economy where Mccain's weaknesses will become more an dmore evident.

How about a creepy voice-over ad about how McCain left his severely injured wife for a young rich woman (lying about the timing of it in his book, at least if you believe his divorse papers), featuring some choice quotes from Ross Perot (who paid for Carol McCain's medical treatment) such as this one:

McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory. After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.

Don't you really think this was a cooked up charade between the Bush DoD and McCain? It smacks of a one two punch set-up.

I would like to see Obama put John Kerry front and center on this ad. Something like "I know swift boating when I see it. It was ugly in 2004 and it's even uglier when coming from John McCain."

How 'bout this for not supporting our troops.

All those who decided to attack a country NOT involved with 9/11

All those who voted to send troops to their death and destruction without even bothering to look at the evidence...

All those who allowed the military and VA hospitals to go to utter demise because it wasn't important enough to support the past veterans who lost so much during the preceding wars...

All those who are voting to keep the military budget high because their relatives and friends are making fortunes...

All those who pass by the homeless veterans without offering them a place to stay and help them get on their feet..

Perhaps we need to ask the bigmouths in Washington just how many veterans they have taken into their homes to help them through some crises...

Yeah, right...

Yep when they send the counterattack ad to the 2 million donors, they should have John Kerry in the email introducing the ad saying that the McCain camp is trying to Cain camp from swiftboating Obama.

He could say please donate $5, $10, $25 or more to help us run this ad and stop McCain from swiftboating Obama.

I really think if they did this they could raise $100 million.

This would really FIRE UP Obama's supporters. Obama supporters are really energized by Obama. This will fire them up more.

The swiftboating has begun.

It's time to take off the gloves.

Maybe this worked four years ago, but NOT THIS TIME.

McCain: Himself First

I wouldn't use John Kerry in the ad but Reid or Hagel. However, I would use John Kerry in the email to the 2 million donors saying that McCain is trying to swiftboat Obama and please donate.

Also, if there was ever a time that Colin Powell was going to endorse Obama, now is the time. He could do it on Monday.

What a crappy ad. :(

I wonder if they would have let Obama in on his own without his staff? If so that would have been better than not going in at all. They had to know he'd get blasted for it.

i think the obama ampaign will take care of mcc once they settle back in the states. meanwhile, enjoy this piece of good news. it is the new electorial map

mcc's state of AZ isn't for him!!!

http://www.pollster.com/polls/2008president/

I'm worried this is part of the Rovian tactic of chipping away bit by bit with attacks here and there and building a meme of Obama's "empty-suited vanity". We pooh-pooh this for the distorting sh*t-stirring it is but will it work on "small-town" America, I can't honestly say. Smears work because they stick, even if they were strongly rebutted. How could a Purple Heart lose against a Draft Dodger over rumor-mongering and a meticulously constructed ridiculous "effete elite Euro" cartoon effigy of Kerry, but it did happen. Americans can't be this stupid, right? But the test of the pudding is in the tasting.

I mean, this country voted TWICE for Bush, amidst an unpopular war, low approval ratings, Enron, Abu Ghraib torture scandals, failure to capture Bin Laden, you name it.

He should respond with McCain being against the GI Bill. If he wants to talk about "supporting the troops", bring it on:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/05/mccain-and-republicans-reward-troops-by.html

I disagree with you bluestatedon. The Obama campaign should hit back HARD on this with everything that they got.

All is NOT lost on this one.

I don't get the "woe is us" mentality. McCain is throwing the most obviously desperate hail Mary I've seen in a while. Punish him for it.

So, is he visiting the troops or not? I think this whole Europe trip ends up looking like a premature victory lap if he doesn't make at least as big a showing with the troops in the Middle East.

At least, that's the way the Rethugs will spin it. I just know it.

Problem is, Obama is *not* hitting back hard enough. We know the routine/strategy, McCain runs a few ads but it gets picked up and amplified 1 million times by the echo chamber on air and on the net. It's a dirt cheap but effective "snowflakes" attack. Obama has to launch a big enough response in the same state such that the echo chamber would feel "obliged" to also state his response to show a modicum of the modest "fair and balance" fig leaf they pretend to hold. It has to be that when someone raises this fraudulent, libelous ad, they would also mention, even in a half-hearted way, Obama's answer.

The only comfort I get from this is that since it's not a 527, McCain's bloody fingerprints is all over it and will backfire on his carefully preserved mediated myth of a straight-talker.

Qwerty,

The Obama campaign just landed in Chicago. Let's see what they are made of on Monday when people are paying attention.

The AP fully took the bait.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25866166/

Well, it's time to go negative on McCain who didn't have the decency to refrain from attacking while Obama was overseas when he couldn't. Here is the ad:

Ask "Who supports the troops where it counts?" and then run down the litany of times that McCain has voted against funding for veterans and soldiers. Tag line: "Supporting the troops is more than a photo op." Or run a juxtaposition ad with Obama looking presidential in the Mid East while showing McCain being corrected by Lieberman over Shiite v. Sunni. Or remind voters that when McCain went to Europe in March, he didn't visit soldiers either, but skipped Germany altogether when Merkel said she was unavailable. Hit hard and then hit harder.

Sorry but the Obama campaign just got derailed. There's something wrong with this story and it's growing legs. If they Pentagon said no to the General why didn't Obama just go without him? If he was worried that the event might be criticized as being political he skipped visiting the troops to avoid criticism? I'm an Obama supporter but I'm telling you this is big trouble.

To all those worrying or feeling like Obama got smacked, it is a non-starter. Maybe you will feel better by reading this great article about this week by Frank Rich. Well worth the time and you will feel a lot better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27rich.html?ex=1217736000&en=47f8ad4b4e1fe227&ei=5070&emc=eta1

This is absolutely disgusting. McCain has shown himself to be a dishonorable man. I don not understand why Obama camp are letting him get away with this. Obama and his surrogates need to start treating him as the dishonorable person that he is. I do not understand why democratic leaders are not coming out and pouncing on McCain when he makes these ridiculous statement. Can you imagine the deafning chorus that will be emanating from the right wing if Obama had come out and made a statement that McCain would rather loss a war than a political campaign. I dare say there will be a senate resolution tabled to censure Obama for such statement. I have this nauseating felling that we are looking at at Kerry redux. I hope to God to be disabused of this notion soon.

these people are not thinking this is wrong, we are in harm way with the enemy...if they see us disrepected by our own mccain, think man think

McCain should know about surrender, he is the only one in Congress that has ever surrendered to the enemy.

As sick of I am of McCain's dishonest and dishonorable attacks, not visiting the troops was monumental screw up by the Obama people. Saying it wasn't will only make it fatal.

Obama should just say that the troops are already bogged in fighting an impossible war and he is not about to put them in a political war just because McCain-Rove-Republicans lack judgment.

hagel and reed will be on 'face the nation'

And off we go!

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Barack Obama, pivoting to the U.S. economy after a nine-day trip abroad, said he is convening a meeting on the economy July 28 that will include former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Time for Obama to turn loose some ex-military surrogates -- not to quibble about the reasons for canceling the hospital visit in Germany, but to call BU__SH__ on McScum's alleged support of the troops.

The voting record is clear, and it directly contradicts McScum's scurrilous lies about having "unanimous approval" from veterans organizations. Here's just one small example from Disabled American Veterans' legislative scorecard:

http://capwiz.com/dav/e4/cinfo/?id=157301

http://capwiz.com/dav/e4/cinfo/?id=157311

...hit 'em where it hurts!

LK

"An awkward unscientific lie can be almost as ineffeectual as the truth."
- Mark Twain

Let's remember what everybody thought about how brilliant the Clinton kitchen sink strategy was. The argument was that Obama could not respond properly beause to take off the gloves would force him to abandon the new politics approach. Well, he found a way to fight back without playing dirty and, as I recall, it worked out. Unlike the Clintons, who always sold themselves as tough people who could get things done, McCain has always basked in and benefited from the image of not being a typical politician. Well, anybody following 2008 closely, or the reality of McCain's career, knows that image was a crock. Never-the-less, it was an asset that he has now pretty much thrown away. As for Obama getting outfoxed, this was really a matter of amoral people being willing to abuse power. Even if he had gone to visit the troops, without cameras, McCain could have claimed he was playing politics with our wounded soliders when the Pentagon told him not to do so. I agree that Obama needs to respond, but he can do so in a positive way -- he's been there for the troops, supporting the Webb GI Bill of Rights, doing other things for them, even getting some people who are no longer active duty that he helped as a Senator to talk about it. We all know where Bush and McCain have been on helping the troops. Finally, unlike the Swiftboat attacks, which were delegated to a third party, this is something McCain is doing himself. It is possible Karl Rove, if he ever had a touch, is losing it. This is something to take seriously, but not something to panic about. And, the last thing Obama and his campaign want to do is to force stuff like this to make them change their game. In other words, this requies a tactical rather than a strategic adjustment. (Not that McCain would understand the difference).

There is still a 30% approval rating for Bush no matter what happens. It seems Bush would have to poison their pets to lose their support. Even then, they'd give him credit for not killing their whole family.

So it is important to remember that McCain wouldn't be doing this if he didn't think that there's another 25% that are listening.

Christ this one lousy and I do mean lousy ad and its in freaking July. This is all Mccain has? Seriously you guys need to settle down and have some dip. Obama will respond, and it will be composed, precise and clear. Mccain is on the defensive and is lashing out in all directions. The ad that has so many of you spooked...the idiots put an image of Obama in the ad shooting a basketball in a gym with the troops!!! Good ad my ass, Lee Atwater is doing Olga Korbut flips in his grave. All Mccain's ads thus far have been godawful and why this is getting so much blog time seems bizarre to me to say the least.

It may be a small ad buy, but McCain still has some fans in the hopelessly liberal obama loving media.
From the AP...

"Obama's campaign called the accusation "wildly inappropriate." His spokesman has claimed that the visit to a military hospital in Germany was scrapped after the Pentagon raised concerns about political activity on a military base. Earlier, though, the campaign had said Obama decided the visit might be seen as inappropriate politicking. However, the Pentagon said the senator was never told not to visit."

However, the Pentagon said the senator was never told not to visit."

Fucking goddamn liars!

on 'face the nation' reed and hagel talked about how they didn't like that video....

So where was McCain when the care at Walter Reed was going to hell? ALways there? Gimme a break!

BO live on CNN at 12 noon EST.

CNN Media Watch:

"Reliable Sources" didn't mention the ad at all. On contrast, when the New Yorker cover came out, they just jumped on it.

On "Late Edition", the McCain interview is taped and Obama speaks on the UNITY convention live.

For CNN TV, the ad doesn't exist yet.

My immediate reaction to the news that the Pentagon would not allow Obama to visit injured troops in Germany was that it was a SET UP to later use as a negative about patriotism . . . strictly a ROVE play. The fact it was perfectly timed to correlate with all the Sunday political talk shows was by far no accident . . . all good little purchased so-called journalists are following the PARTISAN rules of the present MSM.

when the narrator talk about "obama would rather go to the gym" they showed obama playing bball with the troops. this was a sloopy commercial.. its was notice on abc news blogs. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/new-mccain-ad-b.html

I am watching CNN's live boradcast of BO at this UNITY convention. Did Suzann Malveaux take a shot at BO when she suggested just now that there is more BO "needs to learn"?

I'm watching the CNN event, like I assume a lot of people are (why don't we have a thread for this?), but I missed the McCain Q&A..

Obama is getting asked really tough and leading questions that sound like they were penned by the McCain campaign. Did McCain get this same kind of treatment?

That said - Obama is doing a fantastic job.

Any another one (repug, christian, conservative)bites the dusts.

The repugs has many divisions of persons willing to fall on their swords for their cause. Besides, a guardsman from Utah will be treated as a hero by those in Utah for having the courage to speak up. It should be obvious to the most casual observer, Utahns are extreme right conservatives and such rants and raves are gospel especially if spoken by one of their own.

Truth is not the issue, only winning counts, by whatever means necessary. What really matters is how the MSM treats such garbage without lending support by questioning if what was said might or might not be true.