The MSM will never care for the truth. We should put liar every time we put there name like, John(liar)/Sarah(liar).

Now we're talking.

Keep 'em coming.

The mocking tone is super and I love the spaghetti-western music and the Blazing Saddles whip crack. Depict "Maverick McCain" as a parody, which he is.

Pretty good. Throws some nice punches. Good visuals. Simple to the point. I like the beginning much better than the end. The beginning seemed fresh and grabbed my attention. I liked the sound effects.

In the end I'd like a little more wit or humor. Something to make it stick and to get people to talk about it- like a Steve Eichenbaum ad.

I agree with Josh Marshall- we need some fresh advertising, these ads are pretty old school (not in the politics or message, but in the presentation).

Digging it. They needed to fucking hammer the Lies to Nowhere more though in my opinion. Anyone else?

Good to call a lie a lie.

However, I wonder if 'hires lobbyists' is really the most effective charge one can level at McCain. Does that move people in the way that 'permanent war' and 'tax cuts for the wealthiest' do?

This new ad has it exactly right, because the focus is McCain, McCain, McCain... and Palin is simply an afterthought. That's the focus to maintain. Well done.

But..but..Jake Tapper says this ad shows that Obama is "nervous" about Palin! Ambinder says the truth or lies in the matter is just too abstract a notion for the media to deal with! And Charlie Gibson is way too busy polishing his collection of softballs for this week's interview...

Anyway- to echo the chorus here, great ad and please keep 'em coming!!

There's some interesting stuff going on in this ad. My attention was caught by the whip-crack effect, and the "naked lie."

The meta-message is pretty contemptuous.

To borrow David Kurtz's metaphor, I think they've decided to spend some of the brand identity they've been hoarding all this time. It is now firmly established that Barack is a nice guy. So if he kicks you around, you must really deserve it.

Which, I must say, they surely do.

Call that wingnut pitbull what she is a LIAR

She is also a hateful witch

Hillary is doing great in Tampa. Send her to Ohio next.

Great ad. They should run something similar everytime McCain or Palin utters a new lie, which would be about every day. The hell with nuance--hit undecided voters over the head with a big club.

That's what I'm talking about. Put this on NATIONALLY every day until the election!

Why are Obama's ads so pedestrian and boring? For a "celebrity," he sure doesn't seem to have much access to admakers with creative talent. Contrasted with the anti-Norm Coleman ad Josh Marshall linked to today, this one is downright pathetic.

Love the "whoa" and the "LIE". The word "lie" should be used in all of Obama counterads against McCain for he LIES.

Rasmussen numbers aren't too bad considering they were done right after the GOP convention.

What up with Ohio? Did Rasmussen only poll Sounthern Ohio or something? LOL! Obama needs to send Bill Clinton to Ohio and CAMP THERE.

Not good enough.

Finally, the gun.

>>>It is now firmly established that Barack is a nice guy. So if he kicks you around, you must really deserve it.

See? All those "John is an honorable man - my friend - we honor his service" are 1) true, 2) are the polite and civil things to say, 3) get the voters' attention if repeated enough times and 4) have the added advantage of making something so different like this have BIG impact. ----

Whereas with McCain and Palin, it's already getting to be a bored "okay, so what's the insult of the day going to be this time?" And with folks like Eddie Rendell, who are not a candidate and who also have standing to say whatever the heck they want to say (i.e., aren't clearly accepting direction from the campaign), pointing up all the lies, the McPain "insult of the day" will hopefully be taken with more and more salt.

His timing is maddening, it drives you (or at least me) nuts with frustration until you want to throw something ..... but I DO believe the Obama campaign knows what it's doing. At least, they know very well what works best for Obama (and Biden fits in nicely with that) and they are going to keep on doing it.

On "60 Minutes" Obama said that he really is serious about winning this election. Believe it!!

More like this please!

Next up...a series of ads called "adventures in flip-flopping". Episode 1--give the obligatory "I'm Barack Obama and I aprove of this message"

...cue circus music and fade in to image of a clown.

Narrator speaks: "Slight of hand and misdirection is fun...at the circus. But John McCain thinks they are good for national security and human rights too."

Clown voice chuckles and image fades.

Image changes to less friendly looking clown image.

Narrator continues: "John McCain opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects, but when the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”

Slightly more menacing chuckle as image fades.

Image changes to outright scary looking clown:

Narrator continues: John McCain was against torture, like waterboarding, but then he changed his mind.

Scary-Stephen King-IT-type clown laugh and image fades first to black, then to image of John McCain.

Narrator continues: "Good government is no laughing matter and on the imortant issues, John McCain is simply wrong."

This add could be followed a week or two later by another one focusing on foreign policy flip flops...then another showcasing econimic policy flip flops...etc...

Anyone have a lite? God that felt so good. More please.

This needs to be run on with a 50 state strategy. The national polls drive perception. I just gave my first $100.

A little too high brow. The "laughable" one on the TPM main page is more likely to satisfy the theatrical requirements of current TV politics.

Hey I've said it before and I'll say it again...STOP CALLING SARAH PALIN GOOD LOOKING! She is not. She is simply an over-fed, under-educated, suburban housefrau. Period.

About effing time. Keep calling Republicans "liars". That's what they are and everyone knows it - especially Republicans.

Toldja.

Nice and pointy.

You all have to be kidding. This ad is terrible.

It repeats the "maverick" frame five times in 30 seconds. It uses generic visuals of McCain/Palin, and one that connects McCain to a bunch of people that no one recognizes. It tries to connect 'the facts' about three different things rather than hammering on one idea and an alternative frame.

Perhaps a purely reactive ad fits into their larger plans, but in itself this ad does little to introduce a new way of thinking about McCain/Palin

There's another impact of repeating "Maverick." (They're obviously doing it on purpose here.) It reframes a word that's easily reframeable.

"Maverick" is vulnerable because it doesn't actually denote anything in people's minds. It's vague and has no clear signified. It's a floating referent.

If people see this ad and think of it when they hear "maverick," the next time they hear McCain say it, the negative (or at least skeptical) connotation the ad has supplied is readily recalled to people's minds, because nobody actually knows what the hell it refers to other than McCain himself.

What is McCain? He's a maverick. What is a maverick? McCain. You redefine or contaminate "maverick," you redefine or contaminate McCain. And at this point, McCain has bet the house on "maverick."

I agree with the minority that this ad was not hard hitting enough. It's not merely that she was for it before she was against it. She didn't have a change of heart after she realized what a boondoggle it really was. She was never against it and she took the money anyway. What about hiring a lobbyist to get millions in earmarks for her small town? None of this is in the ad and it needs to be. Undecided and independent voters are not reading TPM. Many of them are not reading or watching mainstream media either. Commercials need to inform and persuade with facts, not vague claims. Obama's camp can say McCain is not a maverick ad infinitum. McCain's will continue to say he is.

Palin has already repeated the line and delivery of "I told Congress no thanks, if Alaska wanted a bridge we would build it ourself" verbatim from her convention speech and will undoubtedly continue to use it in the hope that if she says it enough people will believe it. Every day she repeats this line Obama should point it out and expose it as a lie by repeating the facts. If she says it 10 times a day, he should respond 10 times a day. Demonstrate her claim of being a fiscally responsible reformer is nothing more than a carefully scripted performance in an ad showing her saying the same line again and again in different venues interspersed with contrary evidence from various news sources (like the WSJ for example). I think people respond to facts more than they respond to cute sound effects and a voice over.

I also think it would be effective if the Obama campaign let McCain and Palin use their own words and obviously staged performances (not generic still photos) to hang themselves. There's so much material out there: waffling, agreeing with Bush, lying. We see it on the Daily Show almost every night. I only wish the Obama ads were as hard-hitting and effective as the Daily Show.

Please stop starting from a point of being the underdog. Obama is clearly ahead with the huge democratic majority which does not get polled because they are only cell phone people.

"...In coming days, we'll discover whether the McCain camp's efforts to swipe the "change" mantra succeed in diluting or canceling out Obama's McSame message, or whether they merely shift the battle onto rhetorical turf that favors Obama..."

We don't have to wait for the "coming days" to discover McCain's failed efforts because we already know there is no way in hell the McSame ticket will ever be viewed as a change ticket and they are beyond "reforming" themselves because they deny they are the problem they need to reform. Like waiting "for the coming days" to see if the tiger actually changes it's stripes...it's laughable to even suggest such nonsense. Just saying...the stakes are so high that everyone's paranoia is making them think things that are beyond the realm of possibilities.

Once again, the only way McCain wins is if they steal it and they are in the process of attempting to do just that. It is beyond doubt that they stole it in '04 and this is where we should be focusing all are efforts. Otherwise, Obama will win in a landslide. The polls are part of the theft process...don't believe them.

I bit my tongue earlier today to keep from sounding the "Chicken Little" alert again. Judging by the still few doubters that this ad is not that good and should have been stronger, I need to remind you that the sky is not falling and the Obama campaign advertising is not starting with the finale, i.e. guns a blazing. In track and field terms, this run up to election day is like the 1500 meter run, not the 100 meter where it is a bust your gut sprint. Or the 200 meter where you run all out and leave it on the track. It's not a 400 meter where you run out hard the whole way with a strategy for gaining on the turns. The 1500 is strategy from start to finish. Start to fast and you're cooked. Start to slow and you get boxed in. You let someone else set the pace (as in the McCain camp), keeping right on their heels, avoiding getting boxed in. Each lap you push them a little more, so that they try to hold unto their lead. That last 300 meters, you've got enough in reserve to put the after burners on and let them eat dust, while they try to pull on reserve energy that just isn't there. Just what DO you think the Obama campaign is planning on doing with those 10s of millions? Save it? Don't think so. It's gonna be fun folks. The sky is not falling. Keep watching.