Kissinger always had an eye for a skirt and he's a political operator as well -- once thought about being Rep. Governor of New York.

Don't be surprised if the old lady's man come's out of the meeting with a goofy smile and some unfelt and undeserved praise for everybody's favorite nitwit.

I'm a big Obama supporter, but I really hate ads like this. I just don't think this sarcastic tone really makes Obama seem more mature or relatable to people. I wish he would do more of the ads where he talks directly to the camera and increases his trustworthy image. I'm glad the campaign isn't trying to stay above the fray. But I'm just not sure who or what this ad really brings to the table.

I spend lots of nights and weekends these days talking to and registering potential voters, and I just don't think these ads enforce what they want to see in Obama. They just seem like politics as usual, it seems, to most folks, and that was one thing Obama had going for him. I wish they could find a way to stay aggressive without running ads that I feel like I've seen for the past 12 years at least.

Matt Damon was right, this Palin thing looks more like a bad Disney movie. Matter of fact, today's events could easily be turned into "Hockey mom goes Global". It would be Straight to DVD material.

Not a good ad by Obama camp but based upon their saying it will be a "national cable buy ad" this ad won't be run in swing states at all. Instead will be "discussed" by the media.

It is a tone deaf ad in terms of what is going on today. But this will not matter because of what is happening today with Paulson and Bernanke talking in front of Congress will be focused on more by the media.

But honestly the very BEST thing that Obama can do this week MORE than any ad or anything else is to make sure that he is totally preferred for Friday's debate. No ad is going to matter if Obama isn't preferred for the debate. He better have short, concise, scrip answers.

In terms of Raines in the McCain ad, I still say that it is subtle racism in that ad. That's just my opinion.

Gidgit Goes Global. I wonder how many Elites are going to dress as Sarah Palin for Halloween?

Lets play spin the debate MSM style -

McCain gets angry = showing passion and commitment

Obama gives answers comprised of several complete sentences = being elitist

I'm sure there are even better examples -

Another debate party game - over/under

Number of times
We will hear spin after the debate that "What McCain meant when he said X was actually Y" -> 2.5

McCain says "My friends" -> 4

Other examples?

Also, there's that photo of Obama with his head up to play into the "uppity" message that the McCain team is pushing.

I'm hoping Obama ads come out on Thursday that 1) connect the McCain/Keating dots and 2) link McCain's staff directly to the Fannie/Freddie debacle.

The tone should be very harsh, and use the word "lies" several times.

I'm hoping this really piss McCain off so he goes into the debate on the offensive and already steamed. Then, I hope Obama can make him blow his stack. But the McCain campaign may have Johnny's meds balanced to prevent that.

PEACE

Where the hell is Obama's ad blasting all of the lobbyists who ran Freddie and Fannie who are now running McCain

Who the hell is this guy Biden? How dare he blast an ad his own ticket ran after all the awful lies, smears and vomit ad McCain has run. I think David Blaine’s new trick was making Biden disappear. How mind-blowing that when Biden finally speaks about the nasty campaign he blasts his own ticket.

Have you seen Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone piece on Palin? Pretty brutal. Here's a small bit:

It even crossed my mind that there was an element of weirdly self-destructive pique in McCain’s decision to cave in to his party’s right-wing base in this fashion, that perhaps he was responding to being ordered by party elders away from tepid, ideologically promiscuous hack like Joe Lieberman – Reportedly his real preference – By picking the most obviously unqualified, doomed-to-fail joke of a Bible-Thumping buffoon. As in: You want me to rally the base? Fine, I’ll rally the base. Here I’ll choose this rifle-toting, serially pregnant moose killer who thinks God lobbies for oil pipelines. Happy now?

But watching Palin’s speech I had no doubt that I was witnessing a historic, iconic performance. The candidate sauntered to the lectern with the assurance of a sleepwalker – And immediately launched into a symphony of snorting and sneering remarks, taking time out in between the superior invective to present herself as just a humble gal with a beefcake husband and a brood of healthy, combat-ready spawn who just happened to be innocent targets of a communist and probably also homosexual media conspiracy. She appeared to be completely without shame and utterly full of shit, awing a room full of hardened reporters with her sickly sweet line about the high-school-flame-turned-hubby who “Five children later” is “Still my guy.” It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.

It's not online on the RS site yet, but someone has the whole thing online here. Taibbi crushes it.

The Bermuda Obama ad is terrible. First of all I question it's veracity - I think the McCain camp could make issue of this ad and discredit it and all others in a big way. Hopefully the Obama Camp did their homework and wasn't just operating from one newspaper as a source.

Even then it's a stupid ad when there is much bigger issues to hit McCain on.

Bad. Bad. Bad. It's silly - McCain is hitting hard, and Obama is putting out a lightweight offering at best.

I also don't see why everyone's so upset about that "Destination" ad. Now's a good time to slip something like that in without much analysis dulling the subliminals. I'm not saying it's the greatest campaign ad ever, but it paints McCain as frivolous and out-of-touch. It's contemptuous of the "serious elder statesman" leadership image he's trying to project. And it suggests instead an image of a detached old guy not connected with the American worker (or mainland). It's jarring and distasteful, and McCain's face is what you see the whole time and is the image you're left with.

Obama needs to stop allowing the cutesy allegedly "funny" ads - they suck. And they seem completely out of character for him.

This is like some Advertising 101 mentality - "Come on, babe, we gotta show everyone you're a fun guy." Seems especially incongruous with the severity of the current financial meltdown. We don't need cute ads, we need voters who are sitting on the fence. This won't win any of them over.