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New Obama Ad Hammers McCain, Blames Spending On Iraq For Poor Economy
Here's a new ad from Obama reclaiming the offensive with an attack on McCain over the economy:
The ad features a book called "economics by John McCain" that says he "supports George Bush 95% of the time." The spot also directly ties the poor economy to our sky-high spending on McCain's Iraq War, a line of attack that we haven't seen as much as we might. Good stuff.
The spot will be running in 16 battleground states. Script after the jump.
Economics ... by John McCain. Support George Bush 95 percent of the time. Keep spending ten billion dollars a month for the war in Iraq...While the Iraqis sell oil for record prices. Giving Iraq a $79 billion oil surplus...And hurting our economy. Barack Obama's plan: End the war responsibly. Better schools. No more tax breaks for oil companies. Barack Obama ... the Middle Class first.
Advertisement
"end the war responsiblly"
"no more tax breaks for oil companies"
"the middle class first"
Good phrases.
August 13, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is Obama's best ad of the election. Starts with hitting McCain on Bush, Iraq, and economy, and pivots to his own, positive message.
I've been disappointed with the ads thus far, but this one is his best.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
August 13, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree ..this is an very good ad...connects McCain to Bush, highlights his incompetence on the economy and emphasizes Obama's economic plan to those who are hurting.
August 13, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. So far Obama's ads have been weak. This is a good starrt. Also it goes on offense and attacks McCain. Good stuff.
August 13, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget "better schools"
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good ad. Finally, pointing out a few of the negative macroeconomic impacts of the Iraq war that Joe Stiglitz has been writing about with loads of details and facts. Of course, you still have a few wingnuts out there saying no amount spent on Iraq is too much for keeping them safe.
August 13, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"the middle class first"
I'm not a huge fan of that tagline. It's only a matter of time until the GOP turns it around and says "what about the working class" in PA and OH.
Not that the GOP has two legs to stand on on that issue, but they will use it. I would have used "American families first".
August 13, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
that is one of those bizarre things about American politics... virtually every candidate says they're all about the middle class and only the middle class, as if it's like, "screw you, other classes!"
virtually everyone uses this language so i figure it's ok... although it does seem like an odd contrast with Mac's "country first!" slogan
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, they talk about the middle class for several reasons. For one, the middle class is dominantly self-made, and consequently feel routinely ignored and screwed over, regardless of the scale of focus on them given in campaigns. They are a large voting block, and compared to 'working class' and 'upper class' are much more inclined to be a swing demographic. However, it seems to me that Obama is the first candidate to be seriously considering doing anything for this block of the American public, whom carry the bulk of its tax burden, and is also one of the first to include the upper middle class in his rhetoric.
August 13, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. They talk this way because very few Americans are in fact willing to identify as "working class."
People who are objectively working class consider themselves to be middle class.
If you recall Hillary stuttering a bit and saying "hard-working Americans" wanted to vote for her? Part of what created the awkwardness was that you can't say "my supporters are working class." You have to say they're "hard-working Americans."
So Obama saying "the middle class first" is, in fact, a statement that means less and costs less than it might appear to.
August 13, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
the problem is people who make under 100K think they are middle class.
in todays nation, unless you live in Oklahoma or WV... 50K is considered dirt poor, but they think they are middle class.
so when you say 'middle class' pretty much everyone under 150K counts
August 13, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Studies have shown for years that an overwhelming majority of Americans self-identify as middle class -- from true Working Class stiffs making $24K/year to Wall Street DINK's making $200K+. It's the power of the unique US mythology.
August 13, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! Only folks on welfare do not consider themselves middle class. Americans have to be on food stamps and living in a shelter before they do not say they are middle class. Even folks in subsidized housing tell you they are middle class.
August 13, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since when is the working class NOT the middle class?
Define please.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
it's called "FAULTY ANALYSIS"
we should offer one chance to claim a "mis-statement", and if the offer is accepted, we can consider avatar a suspect
if he doesn't avail himself to the offer, we can know that avatar is an idiot, and ignore him like we ignore the other trolls
August 13, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, the Repubs will try something....hence the absolute necessity for the Dems to firmly debunk that McCain meme about Obama "raising your taxes". Even if it takes a 527 (other than Moveon.org,maybe) to show the relevant part of the McCain Ad and then plaster LIE over it and absolutely show the facts....This is the one thing that the Republicans say over and over....we need to nail it.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously you do not have to address the working class because they think they are middleclass.
August 13, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The working class IS the middle class so I think that line is just fine.
One thing I would add is his $1000 tax break for the middle class.
August 13, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The opposite of 'working class'is 'leisure class'. Paper millionaires and trust fund babies.
Middle class is better, but we know where the real problem is.
August 13, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
What I meant is that the working class IS part of the middle class although they are the lower income middle class.
I like that ad. It's a start and hopefully get get more and more harsher as time passes on.
August 13, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Working class needs to be defined. Because as far as I know everyone in the middle class WORKS for a paycheck just like the so called working class.
Unless, you are independently wealthy, the working class IS the middle class and vice-versa.
Hell, most folks in the union make over $25K a year and so do waitresses...so who the heck is the working class if they are not the middle class?
August 13, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This could also tie into how wages are taxed more than money making money.
August 13, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. I would love to see an ad that shows how much the middle class pays in taxes i.e.they pay 95% of the taxes in this country.
August 13, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now were talking! Slap him in the face then end the commercial with a positive forward looking message.
Thank you Obama campaign for begining to layout the obvious lines of attack in the last couple of ads. I was starting to wonder if you thought the case against McCain was going to be made for you by osmosis.
August 13, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too like "the middle class first". It certainly does not exclude working class families, especially in the context of his stump speeches, and it is a clever retort to the more abstract and nationalistic "country first", which makes one think of this.
August 13, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably the single most important part of the ad, I think. It's a great contrast with "country first" because it aligns Obama with economic issues.
August 13, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Olympic ad is good, where they show the HANDS of a factory worker now being used to build solar panels, etc...
That tells the working class he had a VISION of NEW JOBS.
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is a slap in the face of McCain's "country first". Sure McCain puts "country first" but he puts the wealthy first not the middle class.
Obama can build and build on that line "middle class first".
McCain's "country first" plays on Obama lacking patriotism while Obama's "middle class first" plays on McCain being for corporations and the rich.
August 13, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes! It is a great contrast to 'corporations first' and that is the subliminal message to the working classes.
Along with the HANDs ad being visionary the message is clear to the working classes and the message is clear on the moving the economy forward in ways that are in the best interest of workers vs. corporations recording breaking profits and huge tax breaks for them vs. the workers.
This is a very good ad.
August 13, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can just see the McCain camps response. I'm guessing it will be 30 seconds of McCain mooning a cardboard cut-out of Obama. That would certainly be in keeping with their latest ads.
August 13, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ugh. I'm sure that wrinkly white-haired guy isn't just wrinkly in his face and neck.
It'd be much more effective to have Paris or Britney do the honors.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like it. He really needs to hit home that Iraq is killing our economy. Every single time McCain says something about cutting "wasteful spending" Obama just needs to point to Iraq, which is the largest piece of wasteful spending in decades, and McCain wants more and more.
August 13, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a great line. Most voters probably do not know the exact figure and it needs to hammered. The more I listen to it, the more I like it.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah but now I can see McCain turning it into "Obama doesn't want to fund and support our troops in Iraq."
August 13, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I can see the middle class twisting that to mean they should continue to suffer without jobs, soaring gass and food prices along with home foreclosures to fund a war that has done nothing for America and not even improved our National Security as it was a LIE , the WMD's didn't exist and now they are suffering and have no more security.
The middle class will get the message that war is not good for them to continually fund when their own families cannot eat and they are still unsecure.
August 13, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you poll people most Americans would say that they are middle class. From someone making 35,000 up to someone making 150,000 both groups will say they are middle class.
August 13, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's exactly right.
So "putting the middle class first" is going to sink home with all those voters who think that they are middle class, whether they are, or not.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
It is the promise of being middle class that underpins the entire American ideals. You can rise up and be anything you want in this country.
Just like Obama who has middle 'working' class roots has rose from his middle class bkgrd to be a candidate for the President of the USA.
His grandmother started out as a bank secretary and rose to become a VP at the bank. that is the promise of America.
His mother rose up from her middle class roots to become a Ph.D. anthropologist who travelled the global and pioneer microfinancing for women in third world countries. All
All of which gave Barack a birds eye view of what it means to be working class and how women struggle to raise families and instill in their children the promise of better lives and the aspiration to be all that they can be.
This is a good narrative for Obama. He needs to emphasize it more.
His is the quintessential American Dream narrative and he needs to emphasize that in contrast to 'the other' message. If his background is 'the other' then so too are all those who forebears came here as immigrants and worked hard to become middle class so their children would have brighter futures.
Obama's life embodies the American Dream and he needs to emphasize that his growing up American demonstrates what it means to 'put country first'.
It is in his DNA.
August 13, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
It somehow also brings to mind the fact McGoldigger and Cindy are the un-middle class in every respect, thus dampening the elistist meme.
August 13, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a start, but it's getting late. He should have been hammering McCain with this kind of stuff weeks ago.
August 13, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure. I think the Obama camp has purposefully been sandbagging these past couple of months. I suspect they'll get really aggressive around mid-to-late September, when most Americans start to really pay attention.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I certainly hope so. I believe Muhammad Ali called it "rope a dope."
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Timing is everything.
August 13, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Late? The election is in November.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bah, it should have been a pop-up book.
August 13, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the ultimate TPMEC comment. All subsequent comments are now redundant, forever.
I only wish Jonze had come out with it a bit sooner.
And it could be a little harder-hitting.
But otherwise, it's the ultimate comment.
August 13, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word, Absurd.
August 13, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish there was some way Obama could, in a 30 second ad, explain that McCain's econimic Guru Graham is largely responsible for the mortgage crisis and the Enron debacle.
We need to redefine "deregulation" for what it really is: fucking over the middle class on the behalf of the uber wealthy.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell Yes! Tie McCain to Enron with his #1 economic advisor. Hammer it home again and again ..... McCain gets his advice from the wonderful people who brought you Enron! And then hit him with a little Keating 5 history lesson about playing the whore for wealthy con artists ...... and then mention that he is a golddigger with his mistress/new wife Cindy Moneybags and their 7 homes ...... worrying about your mortgage people??? John and Cindy don't worry about little people ....!!!
August 13, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe Barry Soetoro voted to fund the war once he was in office.
Blaming the entire economy's status on McCain is laughable.
This is a Soetoro shell game. He want to just shift the spending from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan anyhow. Who's he kidding.
McCain's gonna make him look like the amateur he is on this one.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I believe Barry Soetoro voted to fund the war once he was in office."
..funding the troops who are already there is different from originally opposing the war. Even your feeble mind can grasp that concept.
"Blaming the entire economy's status on McCain is laughable."
..almost as laughable as you thinking that Hillary will still be the nominee. :)
"McCain's gonna make him look like the amateur he is on this one."
..not when McCain is constantly mispronouncing the names of leaders, getting sunni and shia mixed up, and getting basic geography wrong.
August 13, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can have you opinions as distasteful as they might be. I think we both can agree that his name as Barrack Obama and not Barry Soetoro.
August 13, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems his legal birth certificate says Barry Soetoro. That's the name he used as an Indonesian citizen.
He has not furnished any legal documentation that he ever changed his name. He continues to conceal this history. Why?
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It seems his legal birth certificate says Barry Soetoro. That's the name he used as an Indonesian citizen."
It seems that these people thoroughly debunked that bit of lunacy. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128025.html
Any time you get your information from NoQuarter, you lose.
August 13, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you're claiming that the State of Hawaii does not require official documentation in an adoption that shows the new legal name of the child.
Prove it.
August 13, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, the burden of proof fallacy.
Good job, fogu. Just when you seem to be at your dumbest, you up the ante.
August 13, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly, the tactics of a losing argument.
August 13, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
There now that wan't so hard. Where os Barry Soetoro's documentation?
(b),\ If a new birth certificate is issued, the original birth certificate shall be sealed and filed with the decree or the abstract thereof, and the sealed package shall be opened only as provided in section 578-15(b).
http://www.adoptlink.com/hawaii_law.htm
August 13, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, you can copy/paste irrelevant quotes that offer no direct evidence for your assertions!
Fail.
August 13, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Big time fail, fogu is looking like a geriatric pair of boobs here. Again, fucknuts, where is your proof? You can't be a gutless coward your whole life..
August 13, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Notice how he tries to change the topic from his unsupported claims to some irrelevant mumbo jumbo about Hawaiian adoption policies.
August 13, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. The question is where is the documentation? Where is the real LEGAL birth certificate, not the original sealed and no-longer-legal one?
He's admitted using the name. Why is he hiding the documentation? He is not in fact Barack Obama.
He is Barry Soetoro.
More deception from the con man.
August 13, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahahaha!
The answer:
Nowhere.
Why?
Because it doesn't exist.
But let Larry Johnson keep fueling your pathetic fantasies, it's not like he's never lied before! HAHAHAHAH!
August 13, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
At this point it's your boy who needs to show proof.
August 13, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, he doesn't need to prove a negative.
You need to provide positive proof based on something more than assumptions, blind conjecture, and fallacious arguments.
Until then, you're beneath the level of 9/11 truthers.
And here we thought Ron Paul supporters were crazy...
August 13, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only dumb asses like you and Larry Johnson believe that.
See below fuckwit.
August 13, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congrats fogu, you are not officially "fucking bonkers."
August 13, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congrats fogu, you are now officially "fucking bonkers."
August 13, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look at your avatar.
August 13, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it's an awesome avatar.
August 13, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bwahahaha.
August 13, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why the giggles? Did your thumb find your butt again?
August 13, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
As long as it's not John McCain.
August 13, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Fogu is going for his spot as one of the dumbest people online.
Dave Weigel explains:
More Fun With the Dumbest People on the Internet
David Weigel | August 11, 2008, 8:12am
It's been a while since I suited up and dumpster-dived in the Obama conspiracyverse. In my absence, I reckon that the average IQ there has dipped by 20-25 points. Take this latest revelation from Larry "Whitey Tape" Johnson.
Republican operatives, with help from their own island backers, have unearthed critical information on Obama and are just biding their time until after the convention to drop it on him. Such as? Having a birth certificate that lists you as Barry Soetoro.
Incredible! Ann Dunham met her second husband, Lolo Soetoro in 1966, in Hawaii. "Barry" Obama was, at this time, five years old. The only reasonable explanation is that Dunham and Soetoro built (or purchased) a Genesis Device to clone a new son, using DNA from Barack Obama Sr. that Dunham had pulled off one of his combs.
Seriously. The "evidence" for Johnson's claim is the now-familiar murmurings of "sources" and GOP "operatives" (who appear in these things quicker than agents of H.Y.D.R.A.) and the fact—not reported in too many places, but never disputed—that when Lolo Soetoro became his adoptive father, the young Barack was enrolled in school as "Barack Soetoro."
But was there anything at all odd about that as it concerns a candidate for president? Bill Clinton was William Blythe III until he turned 14 and his mother married Roger Clinton. Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., and three years later his mother married Gerald R. Ford and unofficially re-named her son. The younger Ford didn't legally change his name until his was 22 years old. Is Larry Johnson or one of his pseudononymous fellow travellers going to retroactively challenge their legitimacy or veracity? Probably not. There's nothing odd or foreign about Ford's and Clinton's lives—there's no way to stoke racial bigotry and paranoia, which is the indisputable goal of this stuff.
Alas, this was only the second-stupidist event in Birth Certificatestan this week. The stupidest:
Forensics specialist Techdude, who has been chipping away at the Obama Birth Certificate mystery for some time, has confirmed that the name on the original Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) which was used to forge the document presented by Barack Obama as his valid Birth Certificate IS:
Maya Kassandra Soetoro.
Maya Soetoro is Barack Obama's half-sister. She was born in 1970. In Indonesia. Fun fact: Indonesia is not part of Hawaii.
Another fun fact: It's been 88 days since Larry Johnson claimed the existence of the "whitey" tape.
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128025.html
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post. good bkgrd info on Ford and Clinton. Did Ronald Reagan change his name also?
August 13, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Get your story straight. He was born Barack and then adopted at which point he had a legal name change. Legal...name...change.
His legal name is Barry Soetoro.
He refuses to present this legal documentation.
He has no evidence that he legally changed his name back.
Not only plausable but logical.
He remains Barry Soetoro.
Whether he's legally an Indonesisan citizen at this point is irrelevant.
What matters is that he is hiding his history. Why?
August 13, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude, the burden of proof is on you. You have nothing but the lies of a conspiracy theorist and his imaginary 'sources.'
August 13, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Get your story straight. He was born Barack and then adopted at which point he had a legal name change. Legal...name...change."
Prove..that..charge, or just be secure in the fact that you look like a drooling lunatic.
August 13, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
LARRY JOHNSON HAS SOURCES! WHITEY TAPE!
August 13, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
The mere fact that anyone would get arguments from the likes of Larry Johnson proves that rational thought isn't exactly their forte. lol
August 13, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
And besides, fogu has yet to provide documentation proving that he's not a complete retard! Oh noez!
August 13, 2008 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who gives a damn?
August 13, 2008 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Larry Johnson, since feeding these stories to these pathetic, miserable losers generates plenty of ad views, which fuels his Hot Pocket supply since, with Clinton defeated, Joe Wilson won't be able to hook him up with a cushy job in the State Department.
August 13, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
You've been watching too much Mad Men.
This is the real world and it does matter.
He's a fraud, a con man, a fake. That matters.
Can he be trusted? No.
August 13, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, that is hilarious.
August 13, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Can he be trusted? No."
Can you be trusted to back up your smears at least once? Fuck no.
August 13, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're a f'n 'tard, and that is all there is to it.
Why don't you go play with your little green footballs and leave the adults alone.
August 13, 2008 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/barry-soetoro.html
August 13, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
That's what I talking about.
Issues that matter.
He should hit McCain now on trade.
August 13, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great Ad!!! He should continue to hammer McBush on the issue of economics. McCain has no answer.
August 13, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes yes yes! This is the critical connection that needs to be hammered home early and often. Instead of musing about whether the war or the economy will be the bigger issue, connect the dots between the two. Well done Obama campaign, and more like this please.
August 13, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
This Ad will resonate among the stugling workers, especially the one that works 2 jobs to makes ends meet.
I am guessing there is more of this to come.
August 13, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
GAME ON!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah baby....
it was high time Obama went back to linking Mccain and Bush's unpopular war to some of our perils here at the forefront...home run if you ask me...
middle class/working class/blue collar class--whatever the heck words you prefer that he used, just remember that one little ad cannot appease every single person every single time...this is not utopia fellow supporters!!!.....
August 13, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
are you the real cher? i heard you call in to C-SPAN once. (yes, i'm a nerd, even in this crowd)
August 13, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Support the middle class while we still have one.
August 13, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I used to be middle class, until a reversal of fortune put me squarely in the "human dust" category.
And we no longer dress for dinner.
August 13, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
i eat naked too.
August 13, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see there is no satisfying some of the Armchairmen on this thread.... Good ad.
August 13, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see there is no satisfying some of the Armchairmen on this thread.... Good ad.
August 13, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good ad! He should skip the celeb crap and hit with substantive productions like this!
August 13, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why there's not a thread about Ohio's early voting?
That development could be a huge advantage to Obama.
August 13, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because we're too busy breathlessly analyzing the new pew poll that is apparently a sign of the collapse of the Obama campaign.
August 13, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the quiet words of Metallica: Sad but True.
August 13, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Finally an ad I actually think hits home! That response to the "celebrity" ad was far too late to be effective. Get on it response team, there is no way the McBush campaign should be thought of as stronger on any issue...
August 13, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
YES.
Finally, an attack ad, and one done right. No personal attacks, no celebrity BS, but FACTS. Let's hope America actually listens.
Another minor thing: I like the idea of putting the website up there...I just hope that will be effective as far as getting people to visit it goes. Hell, maybe McCain will call him "elitist" because Obama thinks everyone knows how to use the internets.
August 13, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Obama is prepping all of us for the first debate. By that time the country will be chomping at the proverbial bit. He will have everyone's attention and he will be able to look Mcgoo in the eye and dare him to bring up Paris Hilton in the face of the lost jobs, lost homes and lost lives that he and Bush have wrought upon us and the world.
August 13, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
why they wouldn't use mccain's 'i'm not an expert on economics' quote (followed by a 'no kidding' rejoinder) in this ad is just beyond me. that line and the big stoopid hug @ the state of the union should be in every single ad they run against this turd.
August 13, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
This ad is substantive and to attack McCain's comment - easily be construed as a gaffe - would not be. Better to let the simple, verifiable facts make the argument that McCain knows fuck all about the economy.
August 13, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am glad we are talking about the Iraqis' "$79 billion surplus" from their oil revenues while we are dumping our money into their country and fretting about high gas prices over here.
This presses the right buttons. Rock on, Barack.
August 13, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't like how this ad seems to insinuate that the Iraqis are up to no good. Regardless of your opinion on military withdrawal, we owe them reparations. If they want to pour that into reconstruction now or choose to accumulate interest for long-term security, we shouldn't be demonizing them for it. Also, given that the Iraqis can't even pass a budget, are they even legally capable of determining what to do with oil revenue?
August 13, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is not "demonizing" the Iraqis to point out that they are sitting on a $79 billion budget surplus while we dump $10 billion a month into Iraq. The demons are in the US White House and Pentagon, not Iraq.
August 13, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Audio from the spot has gone up here.
August 13, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Barack Obama ... the Middle Class first."
Barack Obama ... America First ... America First ... America First!!!!
August 13, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really good, and adds insult to injury by playing off of McCain's self-professed lack of knowledge of economics. 16 battleground states. Wicked. Wicked good.
August 13, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice.
Here's hoping this one gets wide broadcast. McCain can't answer it without lying again.
August 13, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait. You actually think Barry tells the truth?
Sucker.
August 13, 2008 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sucker."
..this coming from someone who regurgitates Larry Johnson.
August 13, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait - you believe everything that Larry Freakin' Johnson tells you, and I'm a 'sucker?'
My fucking cat - the dumb one - shows more smarts than you.
Moron.
August 13, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a very good ad, and it's nice to see. Speaking as an ad guy, though, I think the pacing is a little fast at the beginning, like they're cramming one issue too many into 30 seconds.
But that's nitpicky. It's still very effective.
August 13, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eh, OK. Good to see McCain tied to Bush.
But, I believe that wouldn't be as powerful as taking a tack that McCain is "out of touch" - which could be interpreted on many levels. Overtly, it is easy to point to McCain's wealth and lobbyist connections to indicate how out of touch he is. Even the "same as Bush" meme can be used to point out how out of touch McCain is: "like Bush, he supports x, y, z despite what the the American public says it wants, despite what economic experts say, despite the failures of the neocon policies during the Bush administration..." etc.
They can even begin to disprove the assumptions that McCain is strong on foreign policy: he's out of touch when he doesn't know the difference between Sunni & Shia, or that Yugoslavia hasn't been a country for years: "entrenched in Washington culture too long, and now he's out of touch with the real world that's rapidly changing, stuck in policies and strategies of the past..." etc. The hidden message, of course, is to question McCain's mental acuity in the context of his advancing age... out of touch: as in befuddled, living in the past, a bit slow and stale... not unlike some grandparents we've known in our own lives.
This begins to change nature of the question: "who's ready to lead?" In that context, Obama is the man who's up to speed, quick on his feet, ready with fresh ideas and a new perspective (change), someone who's "in touch" and understands the world outside the beltway.
Given the current dustup with Georgia and Russia, a truly smashing add might talk about the era in which McCain learned his chops: the world of the (60's?) 70's and 80's - the cold-war mentality - all while showing images of the old and teetering Soviet leaders (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko) walking slowly and stiffly, and sitting there looking corpse-like in front of military parades. (Announcer says: "Do we need to go back to that?") Done right, McCain's age and military background become a real liability.
August 13, 2008 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
It rocks.
I hope to see it in Michigan. McCain's been saturating our airwaves with his bad old man smell here.
August 13, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's campaign responded with a doozy of a statement. Apparently Barack Obama (you know, the senator with the "most liberal voting record" in the senate, and the guy who consistently "puts his party ahead of his country") is in "lock-step" with Bush because he votes with Bush "nearly half of the time."
Of course, no one bothered to ask tucker bounds if "nearly half of the time" is "lockstep" with bush, then what's john mccain's 95% with-bush voting record?
August 13, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Voted in lockstep nearly half the time" = "about half pregnant"
Got English? They really do take us for fools, don't they? Unfortunately, they may be entirely correct nearly half the time.
August 13, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love it! Creative. Hits all the right points. Keep'em coming.
August 13, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about mentioning that McCain admits to knowing nothing about the economy and his chief economic advisor called Americans a bunch of whiners. I am sure that will play well in Ohio
August 13, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
'Middle class first'
That's awesome :)
August 13, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink