Maybe the Obama campaign should release some YouTube video of McCain hosting SNL (twice?), doing a cameo in The Wedding Singer, appearing on The Daily Show a zillion times, etc.

i thought that this was subtle in the obama camp's newest ad, but when mr. burton said "old policies" coupled with "new energy", i think perhaps the obama camp is subtly highlighting the age discrepancy between the two candidates (i.e.: sen mccain is old and out of it, sen obama is young with fresh ideas)

I like the respond. Burton & Co. can be pretty lengthy and complicated in these quick responses.
Have have taken a more simpler & aggressive approach lately.

They should point out that John McCain is basically conceding that he's not very popular with the American people. A presidential race is not the place to work out your personal issues. Eat a Paxil, gramps.

How do you confront the "celeb" label?

Run an ad with clips of McCain in movies, clips of him praising Reagan (followed by Reagan in a movie), the Governator ("I'll be back"), and Fred Thompson. "McCain.. the original political celebrity, not the original maverick".

Here's McCain playing a creepy husband in a SNL skit from back in the day - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lhomInJ7Pc

(He really is creepy in it)

As mentioned above by several -- Obama should hit McCain with his own 'celebrity' appearances.

Also, what's wrong with Obama being popular both at home, and abroad? It seems to me that we have had eight years of some pretty harsh douchebaggery. A positive world view of the occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would do our country some good.

http://thepajamapundit.com/

Hitting McCain on his celebrity appearances is just retarded. Do you really want an ad on Obama and all his celebrity friends? See Scarlet Johanesson/pen pals.

An Obama response could address a couple of these memes the repos are running against him by having Obama talk directly to the camera and say what he said to the House Dems:
* his campaign is not about him, it is about the hopes and dreams of the America people that we can move beyond the politics of old and work together to build a better tomorrow...
* his campaign has become popular because people see the possibility of healthcare for all, ending the war in Iraq, energy independence, etc...
* John McCain calls that celebrity, I call it hope.

Did anyone pick up on the "retire these old policies" line?? LOL

By the way, I don't think that the Obama people should confront the celebrity charge... The charge that Obama is popular implicitly contrasts him with the overwhelmingly unpopular current President. So, the McCain camp is essentially confirming to people that Obama would indeed offer a different direction than Bush. Sure, some people may be turned of by "celebrity," but being called a "celebrity" is not anywhere near derogative in this nation; most people, regardless of their station, probably wish that they could be celebrities... Thus, the McCain camp is having to create a derogative term where it didn't exist previously in our society. Individual celebrities are ridiculed, despised, whatever, but it's typically because of their individual traits (e.g., vacuousness). Obama is way too intelligent for that charge to stick to him. If anything, I think the McCain camp should reassess their push with this "celebrity" charge. I don't think it's the winner that they think it is. I think they're mostly sticking with it because it got so much press before, but that was because of the strange inclusion of Paris & Britney, not because it was a brilliant strategy.

It should be quite easy to rebut this kind of nonsense. Just put together a 2 minute ad filled with video showing McCain being confused and ignorant about anything and everything and all of sudden the debate turns from is Obama ready to lead, to is McCain able to lead. The answer is clearly no.

There are two ways to take on McCain's celeb theme... the first is with humor and ridicule, the second is with contrast...

Humor ad example...

Background music... Trammps - Burn Baby Burn (Disco Inferno)

Narrator - With the economy declining, gas prices rising... with the costs of milk and food increasing and good jobs decreasing...

Picture of long lines outside of failed bank, Gas station sign with high gas prices, grocery store milk aisle with high milk prices... fade to chained factory gate...

John McCain wants to talk about fading starlets...

(pictures of Brittney and Paris on covers of teen mags)

old movies...

(shot of Keanu Reeves from the Matrix)

and empty promises...

(clip of McCain's 2013 speech)

is this what Republicans think is leadership?

...Music switches to Barak theme

Sen. Barak Obama has taken the lead on crafting serious solutions to the serious challenges that matter to all Americans...

(picture of Obama leading meeting with economic leaders, etc.)

and is addressing our concerns on energy, the economy, jobs, global warming and keeping us safe...

(picture of Obama with world leaders)

While John McCain plays entertainment trivia, Sen. Obama unites Americans to find solutions...

Picture of Obama speaking in front of Phila. City Hall.

Contrast ad...

Narr: When ordinary people do bold things, Americans approve...

(screen flashes pictures of astronauts on moon, Jackie Robinson sliding home in Yankee Stadium, Branson's X Plane winning competition)

When every day people are encouraged to participate in their government Americans approve...

(Screen flashes pictures of JFK in front of crowd, BO in Phila)

And when America lives up to it's promise... the world approves...

(Flash to BO Berlin shot)

Sen Barack Ombama's wants to change the way Washington works, recruit Americans to take back their government and restore Americas place in the world...

What could be more popular than that!

McCain recently scrubbed from his campaign website a news report describing him as a "political celebrity." It's clear his handlers were worried this could be used to deflect this stupid issue.
See the following from... http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3715

August 1st, 2008 by Ron Chusid

McCain’s celebrity attack on Obama was ridiculous all along, but now it looks even worse for McCain. Digby found this article had been removed from McCain’s web site, but it remains in the Google cache. (Hat tip to Crooks and Liars).

NEW YORK (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain said he will officially enter the presidential race … with a formal announcement in early April after a trip to Iraq.

The Arizona senator discussed the timing of the long-expected announcement with reporters at an awards reception Wednesday evening a few hours after taping an appearance on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman.”

On the talk show, McCain told Letterman: “I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States,” then added that he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.

[...]

There had been no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.

The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a “common-sense conservative” in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP’s core principles.

A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.

And, another statement that will get no press and be ignored. Obama has to go on the airwaves and start "defining" mcbush. This is turning out to be a referendum on obama, which isn't a good thing. Obama should be defining mcbush as worse than a 3rd king term. He better get on the stick.

Another response ad...

pening with a white haired man (John McCain look alike) face covered by an entertainment mag, with a pile of People/US/National Enquirer mags at his feet, that he is thumbing through (while sitting on the john) as the narrator drones...

"Sen. McCain apparently has nothing better to do than spend his time looking at the entertainment rags and rating who's the current celebrity (he turns page) while the economy goes down the toilet, gas goes up, jobs go overseas and people's homes get flushed!
(Switch to a picture of the Portland primary rally) while thousands of Americans are looking for a leader."

I would take the celebrity mag theme and ram it down his throat with humor! Make him laughable.

This ad has all the right stuff:

"George Bush's tired, failed policies ..." "... another dishonest attack from John McCain ..." "... time to retire these old policies ..."

McCain is blabbing about "celebrity" because that is all he's got. Barack should hit with facts, policies and, oh yeah, the guy hugging George W. Bush is "old and dishonest."

I can't believe the left hand-wringing about the celebrity label. McCain's campaign can waste a billion dollars on these ads and they won't change the fact that McCain has nothing to offer. Nothing. Hell, the ads are damaging their own brand. McCain has been reduced to a punch line at the end of all of his ads--even the supposedly serious 'mavericky' ones look idiotic now.

So, Obama is awesomely popular, like a celebrity? Uh... Good.

Newest poll shows that America is tired of hearing about Obama - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080806/ap_on_el_pr/poll_obama_overexposure. Maybe that is McCain's plan, make it about Obama all the time and people will get so tired of him (especially after the long primary) that they'll vote McCain just so they don't have to hear about Obama anymore. Sneaky, sneaky.

The celebrity meme is not bad on it's own. Remember, this strategy was used on multiple "celebrities". It's the fact that he BLATANTLY lies on the ad. For example, How does higher taxes and greater govt spending = less jobs? It's a statement that makes very little sense.

Obama should highlight that aspect of the ad and then turn it around by attacking McCain as "not an expert on the economy".

Obama is doing exactly the right thing -- issues v. insults. The McCain camp is like a bunch of Junior High boys engaged in some name calling contest that they find very amusing, but nobody else cares about. Obama, by contrast, is talking issues. It is how Bill Clinton dealt with George HW Bush in 1992. It worked then, it will work again. While Republicans are the masters of negative campaigning, they tend to lose their edge when reality finally makes it clear they can't govern. We've reached that reality.

here's your response:

"While the McCain campaign continues to focus on nonsensical things, Sen. Obama will continue to present his ideas on policies that will help American families feed and clothe their children, obtain quality health care, and attain financial security. The McCain campaign's seemingly irrational approach - attacking Sen. Obama because he's popular - echoes the irrationality of their policies on other issues."

The celebrity ads don't make sense for McCain. These ads really undercut him or show him to be clueless. Yet there they are.

Why?

I believe ads are seeds, planted for some less apparent reason as part of a larger strategy.

Personally, I'm expecting a 'who-could-have-foreseen-that' moment. My speculation is that McCain will chose a known Bush loyalist (Portman?) as vp then, come early October, withdraw for health reasons.

Iraq Iraq Iraq.

We can't just talk about Exxon and tax breaks for big oil.

Iraq, health care, economy.

He needs to have a prepped list of the top 10 Bush/McCain failed policies at hand to whip out every single time he needs to address McSame's stupid slime.

H

Speaking as a marketing advertising professional, I don't know how the McCain camp could know if this campaign will have any long-term effect. My guess would be is that it showed well in focus groups and so they ran with it. However, the immediacy of focus groups cannot predict anything that you expect to change gradually, and I'm not sure "celebrity" is the most damaging possible definition that McCain can put on Obama. Considering that Obama's policies are much more family-friendly than McCain's, I just don't see how this damage sticks.

While Paris' sendup is funny, it just gives more legs to the celebrity status issue.

Paris may be funny, but she's still ditzy. By acting as the surrogate Obama in the ad she paints him as ditzy too.

Obama is Paris Hilton is the takeaway.

here's the thing: mccain has clearly settled on this "celebrity" meme for obama. i doubt anything obama does to respond, whether it be responding on issues alone or actually bringing up mccain's own long history of being a "celebrity" will make mccain drop this line of attack.

So...how do you defuse it? keep attacking on the issues and don't get bogged down into a pissing contest over who's really the biggest celebrity.

Mock McCain's campaign for not talking about issues. They want to talk about paris and brittney because they have no real solutions. And then, list all of your solutions to the various problems americans are facing.

Obama has to show he has the answers, the substance to back up his style. And he does have the substance so it shouldn't be too hard to do.

Now, this may not be a satisfying and it definitely won't calm down the people who say Obama should punch McCain in the gut hard with a response ad, but it may be effective.

After all, the problems we face are too severe for us to fall into this trap again. We have to (and i know this is scary because they've let us down before) trust the american people to see through this and realize John McCain has no real answers to our various challenges.

I really wonder whether the Obama camp should be confronting the "celeb" thing a bit more directly, though I confess I'm not sure how one would do that.

How complicated is this?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T4FV3MZ5L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

http://japetus.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/bedtime_for_bonzo.jpg

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/031208/031208_reaganactor_bcolumn.standard.jpg

http://www.v-a.com/images/john_mccain_and_ronald_reagan_2.jpg

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/files/images/mccain-reagan-1986.jpg

http://blog.mlive.com/elections_source/2008/02/medium_080217-john-mccain.jpg

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/arnold-schwarzenegger.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb149/Dragomier/arnold-schwarzenegger-conan-the-bar.jpg

http://www.technofile.com/images/bd/terminator.jpg

http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2008/01/31/mccain-arnold-topper.jpg

http://www.extrememortman.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/Arnold%20Schwarzenegger%20John%20McCain%20helicopter%20from%20flapsblog.jpg

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1531/arnoldmccain334eg.jpg

The Republican party are a bunch of starfuckers when it comes to celebrities. An ad campaign writes itself. Screw it if people are fond of the two stars above and there's the fear of McCain getting a rub by rubbing shoulders with them. The key thing is to underline the hypocracy of McCain, not that there are some Repub celebs that the public liked/likes.

Not complicated.

John

You have to hand it to the GOP they do a great job of taking the opponents strength, in this case Baracks ability to inspire, and turn it into a negative, he's just a celebrity. I'm not sure it's working this time but they're making a good go of it.

Why can't Barack do the same thing. McCain's biggest strength is his experience. Why not paint him as a Washington insider. He should run ad after ad reminding people that McCain has been in Washington his whole life and is out of touch with the needs of America. This should work well because it's largely true and would serve to turn McCain's strength into a weakness. Remind people that he's one of the longest serving members of the same Congress they hate so much.

Barack must realize by now that McCain is going to make this a dirty campaign. Baracks poll numbers went down last week but not because the McCain ads made a good point, they were stupid, but because Barack didn't answer forcefully enough. America can't stand someone who won't fight back no matter how outrageous the attack. If the attack is stupid then call it stupid as loudly as you can but you ignore it and it will become the truth and you will be seen as a coward.

One final note. John Kerry needs to go back to Massachusetts and wind surf for the next four months. He's a wimp plain and simple. I thought he was a wimp in 2004 even though I voted for him and I still do. If I have to watch another Meet the Press with him and a McCain supporter again I think my head will explode. All he does is grin and say that Barack is right but I love McCain to while the McCain supporter says Barack is a empty suite that is unfit to lead and McCain is great. By the end I'm not even sure that Kerry is going to vote for Barack but I do know that he's got a man crush on McCain. Kerry if you want to know why you couldn't beat Bush despite the he never polled over 50% approval during the campaign, because you suck. If you could run against him again today with a 28% approval you would still loose because you suck. America hates wimps and that's what you are. At some point since you fought in Vietnam and now you lost a valued piece of the male anatomy and you are now a wimp.

It's unrelated to the topic but you should look at this:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12337.html

Not so bad!

Not sure they have really turned it into a negative for Barack, although they are trying desperately to do that.

So, their best shot is "OK, Obama is way cool and really popular all over the world and a great speaker and all but, hey, that's all there is to him. All those millions of people who like him are just stupid and shallow because he doesn't have anything else. He is just an empty suit and if we say this over and over and over it will start to stick."

That's what they've got?

I sense that Obama and his crew are getting a handle on it. It's not as biting as we'd like it to be, but they are not ducking anymore.

I love the McCain vs McCain debate remark. Perfect.

This might be the "low road" but this is only the tip of the iceberg of what is in store for Obama before this election is decided Nov 4th.

It's going to get ugly.

Obama needs to focus on these issues health care, economy, jobs, gasoline prices, food prices, housing, college aid and energy! This is what this election is truly about.

Celebrity ads, THE ONE, et al are distractions from the meat and potatoe issues that families are dealing with. McFuddle has no plans for these problems and he and the GOP are toast if this message gets thru all the haze from McFuddle.

When Obama drives this message home then the election is his and it won't be even close!

Kind of tough to keep harping on Obama's "celebrity when a potential Veep frames it this way:

"Say what you will about Barack Obama," the Minnesota Republican told GOPAC, "people gravitate when you have something positive to say." He added that McCain has been positive as well, in comments to the group's first annual State and Local Summit, taking place outside Washington in Arlington, Va..

"People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders," Pawlenty said. "They don't want to follow some negative, scornful person."

"Obama should just stick to the issues and stick to the theme that McCain wants to avoid them by talking about trivialities."

MercerReader has it exactly right. This election is about more than just a change of direction for our country, change in leadership. It's about a hcange in the American people. They've been lied to, deceived and distracted for close to eight years. Many of these lies have been exposed and people are fed up. They are looking for elected officials who will be straight forward with them. they are looking for someone who earnest in their positions. People have supported Barack Obama because he understands. He gets it.

The problem McCain has (other than voting with Bush 90% of the time) is that his policies are simply an echo of failed Republican policies. Much of his life, growing up, has been spent on Naval bases around the world and sequestered from the average American and it shows. McCain doesn't get it.

BTW, I love this for a slogan:

"Obama: 20 million supporters can't be wrong"

Poor Barry! Barry will lose, Bill Clinton won't support him. McCain/Clinton 2008. The McCain advertisement will go down in history with Daisy LBJ commercial. Barry is an empty suit...Berliners don't vote in the US ( except maybe in Chicago). Barry has no nuts as the Reverend Jessie cut them off cause Barry was talking down ...

Obama doesn't need to fight the celebrity thing, just circulate the complete Paris Hilton video.

Obama can't said McCain is older than dirt, but Paris did.

McCain should be more careful when choosing his targets . . . some have the time, talent and money to fight back.

Ha!

They managed to fit "tired, "old," "retire" and "new energy" in there.

That's going to be a continuing theme.

McCain is moth. Did you ever notice that whenever camera lights are on there are always moths flying around

: dramatic music :

Announcer: John McCain is a celebrity ...

Video shows .. McCain talking to 5 people in the cheese aisle, then 12 people at a gas station, then 7 people at another location.

Announcer: who America can be proud of ...

Video shows: McCain ridiculing tire pressure ..

Fade to Obama-style SUBSTANCE background,

Video shows: Obama's campaign stop in Oregon, etc where 75,000 appear. show the SUBSTANCE of the speeches. let the voters draw the comparison.