Obama Ad Hits Back At "Desperate" McCain Defense Spending Attack: "It's A Lie"
Swift and targeted on-air responses have been key to Obama's success, and the Obama camp has just unleashed a particularly hard-hitting response in the Norfolk, Virginia market to the RNC's ad there charging that he wants to cut defense spending, an important local issue.
Here's Obama's new spot:
"John McCain's gotten so desperate, he'll say anything," the ad says. "His defense spending attack -- it's a lie."
The ad quotes McCain military adviser Robert Kagan saying: "Obama wants to increase defense spending. He wants to add 65,000 troops to the Army and recruit 27,000 more Marines to fight terrorism."
The ad concludes that Obama "knows a stronger military means a safer America, and a stronger economy here in Virginia."
Late Update: The Kagan piece the ad refers to is here. It's an analysis of a speech that Obama gave in April of 2007, which Kagan sarcastically said showed that Obama, rather than espouse a "left-liberal" foreign policy," was articulating a role for America as an aggressive "interventionist" because (said Kagan) that's what Obama's advisers think the "American people want to hear."
Late Late Update: Steve Benen -- again -- provides much needed context.
Great ad!
October 31, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm secure in my own sexuality to declare, from the highest mountain tops mind you: "I LOVE THAT MAN!!" See, while I was getting my Afro tightened(dreadlock maintenance) at my girlfriend's shop - I saw that McCain ad at least 10 times this morning.(I live in Virginia Beach, Norfolk is literally a stones throw away) I started to get worried because of this area being overwhelmingly military, but I apparently forgot how fast Team Obama is when it comes to thwarting bullshit. Bravo.
October 31, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
:)
October 31, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like how they SHOW the quote, no hearsay. Well done.
October 31, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that's what I'm talking about.
I'd like to see a national ad calling McCain on his desperation, lies and sleaziness.
October 31, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can we please have this team run all our campaigns from now on? Awesome.
October 31, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
They CLEARLY have a boat load of cash to burn. Nice ad. And nice use of my contributions!!!!!
October 31, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very interesting - it looks that as the days go by and more and more of Obama supporters vote, Gallup's "traditional voter" numbers is moving up to look like the "expanded numbers" total.
Does this mean that the reality of early voting, especially among blacks, the young, and newly registered Dems,is making assumptions based on 2004 numbers inaccurate? Well, that's my pipe dream rationalization for the day.
October 31, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll post this again - one of the best ads running here is the Veterans for Obama ad where a number of vets talk about McLame's lousy record on veterans' affairs.
That resonates here in New Mexico because this state has sent a shitload of citizens to Iraq.
I love this quick response and I love knowing that donations I made, among millions of others, are making this possible.
That's one reason I didn't hesitate to donate in this last week and I've donated to Obama twice now and sent some love to the DCCC at the last minute. The last minute matters - a lot.
October 31, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
My father, a veteran of both Gulf Wars and a two-time Bush-voter, knows about McCain's veteran record.
We early voted yesterday in Florida. We voted for Obama together.
October 31, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Go a link for me to view it, please?
October 31, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT: Constitutional Scholar Sarah Palin says that the media are threatening her 1st Amendment rights.
Just think of what would happen if she got to exercise the constitutional rights of the presidency (Supreme Court appointments, Bush Doctrine 2). If that doesn't get your blood pumping, you're probably already dead.
October 31, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess being criticized in public is like getting your guns taken away. Or being forced to quarter soldiers in your home. Or present testimony against yourself while under oath. Or. . .
Does she have a fucking clue what Constitutional rights ARE??????????
October 31, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
No she doesn't.
She doesn't know one thing about the constitution. She is utterly clueless, stupid, uninformed, uneducated and not the slightest bit curious about anything.
She and Commander CooCoo Bananas were separated at birth, I think.
October 31, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm beginning to think it's more like Baghdad Bob she was separated from. I can see her standing on the Mall on 1/20, back to the capital steps and sure that that whole crowd is there as a campaign rally for her. . .
AAUUGGGHHHHHH! Now my retinas are smoking!!!
October 31, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
She actually has more in common with Timothy McVeigh and the rest of those "patriots" than with Bagdad Bob. At least Bob wasn't instigating rebellion in his own country.
October 31, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
True, true, just experiencing an alternate reality. Although Timothy McVeigh was too quiet to be a Sarah Palin. Now a Todd Palin . . .
October 31, 2008 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe she should follow the other constitution:
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
October 31, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are assuming here that she knows what words of more than one syllable like, say, "covet" mean.
Can you just see her on "Are Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" I think Jeff Foxworthy would pee his pants trying to keep from laughing out loud.
October 31, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
And what makes me puke most is she doesn't feel ashamed of her stupidity a bit -- she is even proud of her ignorance and keeps trying to appeal to her audience with that (yes, she does have some good instinct to sense who her audience is). If that's your mindset, you will never try to learn. And that's one of the most dangerous things about Sarah Palin. Seriously, she's already been hammered for her comment about the role of VP, and yet she has the nerve to make another stupid comment about the constitution.
If you push American anti-intellectualism to the ultimate extreme, you get Sarah Palin. The fact makes me puke that she is on the presidential ticket.
October 31, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, and she has a big butt too. Somebody had to say it.
October 31, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
She's a fucking stupid fuck.
No polite way to put it.
October 31, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
There isn't, but you made a good effort at toning it down, IMO.
October 31, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beyond the simple idiocy of the claim at its core, the irony to me is that, if we were to entertain Palin's assertion, wouldn't her casting of Obama's associations as negative in the first place, and her call for the media to portray them similarly, be a violation of the First Amendment's "right of the people peaceably to assemble"?
October 31, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, but first you'd have to 1) read the Constitution and; 2) understand it to appreciate the irony in her position. I don't think she's gotten past #1 yet.
October 31, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since when did slander and criticism become synonyms?
October 31, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe this is a good ad in terms of responding vigorously to McCain's attacks, but it's message makes for dangerous policy.
Even McCain has pointed out, when he's not being a complete demagogue (when isn't McCain a complete demagogue lately?), both that defense spending needs to come down as percentage of GNP and big cold war style spending programs excised.
I hope Obama's not serious about adding more to our already record defense budgets - that's not change I can believe in.
October 31, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ugh, yeah. Just when I was feeling happy, TPM has to remind me of one of the major things I DON'T like about Obama. Thanks for the buzz-kill.
Hopefully economic events will overtake this utter bogosity. The 25% number Barney Frank floated is just a down payment on the extensive dismantling of the obscenely bloated imperial military establishment that's really needed. It's the biggest and most harmful sacred cow in our politics. We need to stop making like Wilhelmine Germany where the generals get whatever they want, no questions asked. And if we're ever going to get there we need more politicians with the courage to start educating the public on the truth about the gigantic pork barrel that is the military budget. That's called, you know, leadership.
October 31, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with you on this, Ion. I've spent a good bit of time these past few days psyching myself up for living with the reality that he's not going to be EVERYTHING I want him to be. I fear defense and national security are the areas in which Obama and I are bound to part company in the months and years ahead. That said, there are so many, many ways he will be way better than the alternative, that I'm still sending money.
October 31, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The people who populate left wing blogs will have helped immeasurably the Democratic effort in terms of messaging, money, and votes. We need to hold President Obama accountable when he claims to change the culture in Washington.
To see Obama attempting to palliate the concerns of the military industrial complex before what looks to be a landslide election up and down the Democratic ticket reveals the categorical transformation the neocons have brought about in our national institutions.
To change this, the left needs to build a popular mandate for a supply sided national economic agenda focused on rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. The overwhelming majority of the American people support this, we need to mobilize that support behind concrete policies that give good jobs to the people who so desperately need them. Cutting the defense budget will prove critical to realizing this.
October 31, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
that should be "demand sided" in the last paragraph
October 31, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing here ...
... equates to "big cold war style spending programs."On the contrary, these kinds of increases in force size are precisely what's needed to make possible an effective counter-insurgency strategy that minimizes the use of force and maximizes positive results.
This is the kind of strategy to which Petraeus subscribes and it's totally in line with current military thinking. That Obama might be taking this route is not only an indication that he is on the right track but it hints that he may be as well read in military strategy as he is in so many other areas.
Indeed, it goes far towards recommending him as qualified to serve as commander-in-chief. It suggests he not only knows what strategy means (which McCain demonstrably does not), but he recognizes a good one when he sees it.
Recommended Readings in Counterinsurgency
October 31, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing here ...
... equates to "big cold war style spending programs."On the contrary, these kinds of increases in force size are precisely what's needed to make possible an effective counter-insurgency strategy that minimizes the use of force and maximizes positive results.
This is the kind of strategy to which Petraeus subscribes and it's totally in line with current military thinking. That Obama might be taking this route is not only an indication that he is on the right track but it hints that he may be as well read in military strategy as he is in so many other areas.
Indeed, it goes far towards recommending him as qualified to serve as commander-in-chief. It suggests he not only knows what strategy means (which McCain demonstrably does not), but he recognizes a good one when he sees it.
Recommended Readings in Counterinsurgency
October 31, 2008 11:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT - Sam and Daniel: What cuties!
October 31, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
So true! Long ago I told Josh I felt like his surrogate mom. And I feel like a surrogate gramma too.
October 31, 2008 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love all the ads that come right out and label McCain desperate. It weakens not only the specific attack, but all his other attacks, too. People start assuming that anything McCain says about Obama is a desperate lie, which means that even if the McCain camp came up with the ultimate smoking gun in the next four (4!!!) days, half the country would ignore it because he's the politician who cried wolf.
October 31, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy fuck... huge piece by Sean of The 538 talking about a piece out in the WaPo:
Sean Quinn: The Big Empty
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/big-empty.html
WaPo's Matthew Mosk: In Final Stretch, McCain to Pour Money Into TV Ads
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004167.html
The decision to finance a final advertising push is forcing McCain to curtail spending on Election Day ground forces to help usher his supporters to the polls, according to Republican consultants familiar with McCain's strategy.
The vaunted, 72-hour plan that President Bush used to mobilize voters in 2000 and 2004 has been scaled back for McCain. He has spent half as much as Obama on staffing and has opened far fewer field offices. This week, a number of veteran GOP operatives who orchestrate door-to-door efforts to get voters to the polls were told they should not expect to receive plane tickets, rental cars or hotel rooms from the campaign.
"The desire for parity on television comes at the expense of investment in paid boots on the ground," said one top Republican strategist who has been privy to McCain's plans. "The folks who will oversee the volunteer operation have been told to get out into the field on their own nickel."
They are fucked. If their backs weren't broken already, that's it. Without a national GOP GOTV effort, they're relying on what the McCain Campaign has already set up (which as Sean has been covering for *months* pales compared to Obama's) and Local GOTV efforts. The local stuff is already getting more pressure to push the Local Candidates, and without the RNC airdropping in the Pros from 2000 and 2004, you're going to see even more rats scurrying from the sinking ship McCain.
John
October 31, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This part:
The decision to finance a final advertising push is forcing McCain to curtail spending on Election Day ground forces to help usher his supporters to the polls, according to Republican consultants familiar with McCain's strategy.
Should also have been in italics - it's from the WaPo article.
John
October 31, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I read this this morning on HuffPo. Rick Davis's only response is repeating a ridiculous line about Obama wasting his money on a one-night tv ad instead of spreading out his cash in numerous ads in battleground states.
So, if I had the choice of making a dozen 30-second ads that nobody will remember OR making a 30 minute ad that will attract 34 million viewers and express my full agenda and understanding about what the average American voter is going through...ummmm, me thinks I'll take the latter, genius!
October 31, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, ya know, Obama can do both.
Suck on that, Rick Davis.
October 31, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
RonnyMac, Stone Cold Schmitty and The Fanboy Biographer are going to be forever tied to this Titanic of a Campaign they ran.
Only Schmidt has a chance of redemption as his success with Arnold will eventually get him another gig running a campaign. He'll likely take something more winnable, a candidate who isn't as much of a disaster as McCain, and an opponent who isn't as strong as Obama. But with any luck, the Dirty Fucking Hippy bloggers will catch wind of that campaign and make knocking another Schmitty candidate in the ass a special project. We can't ever forget the slimey shit that Schmidt rolled out in this campaign.
On the Obamamercial and the Obama Ground Game, they've rewritten the playbook along with so many things this campaign has done. The MSM is going to focus on "This Just Wasn't The Republican's Year". A huge element within the RNC once they put away their knives after the bloodbath are going to be looking for excuses why this was a once in a lifetime event. With some luck, those two forces will miss the boat like they have when analyzing 2006, which gives the Dems more time to build upon what we've done in the last two elections. There's a hell of a lot further we can push this stuff way down ticket to the local levels to impact more Statehouses, Govs, Secretary of States, even Mayors and City Counsels. The GOP Base has had their way with those for long enough, and it's time for us to get organized and start taking things back as the GOP gets more and more narrowly definded as The Party Of Rich White Men & Religous Nuts.
John
October 31, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
How f***ing stupid are people????
I was changing stations at lunch and happened to stop on the "Patriot" station, the right wing nutjob channel on satellite radio, just in time to hear whoever was hosting interviewing someone (may have been a pollster, but I don't know) from Texas who, and I shit you not, said not only do 23% of Texans still think Obama is a Muslim, but 92% of them think Obama would lead fellow Muslims into a Holy War against our country.
Really, I need to ask someone, preferably a psychologist, if there is any chance right wing whackjobs like this have any hope for becoming normal functioning people again.
We can thank Bush and the NeoCons for insane thought process that just gets worse and worse!
October 31, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
92% of Texans?
That's utter bullshit.
I can buy the 23% number because that is about where Bush's approvals are -
'
There is no fucking way that 92% of Texans believe he will lead a holy war.
NO. FUCKING. WAY.
October 31, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, they meant 92% of that 23%...sorry, I should have made that clearer above.
October 31, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
O well - hell, yes, I can believe that.
October 31, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
The percentage may reflect the exact same nutjobs who'd like to start their own holy war in the Middle East.
October 31, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
And as a reply to my own post, I'd really like to know if this "poll" actually asked these people a question like "Do you think President Obama would call on his Muslims to wreak Holy War on US soil"?
Are these people NUTS???? What kind of question is that??? Not even Fox would ask something that ridiculous!!
October 31, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of insane thought process, I was flipping through AM stations yesterday and heard Rush Limbum blast Obama because his grandmother was still alive.
I mean, are people born without consciences or they just choose to ignore them?
I hate that fucking douchefuck.
October 31, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of insane thought process, I was flipping through AM stations yesterday and heard Rush Limbum blast Obama because his grandmother was still alive.
I mean, are people born without consciences or they just choose to ignore them?
I hate that fucking douchefuck.
October 31, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Limbaugh was born with a conscience, he had it surgically removed decades ago. He is a nasty piece of work, and he's getting nastier now that he realizes he's getting marginalized.
October 31, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
How in the world can he flame him for that? Did Rush want Grandma/Toots to croak in his arms? Think of the sympathy vote that would've garnered. The fact that Obama isn't milking this issue with the media is just another example of the utter class that this guy has!
October 31, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm assuming he was implying that it was all a big political stunt.
Either way, it's just downright disturbing.
Fuck him.
October 31, 2008 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably 92% of the 23% ?
October 31, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Should have kept reading before posting...sorry.
October 31, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm mike from Arlington and I approve of this message.
This weekend canvassing here in Norther VA should be a hoot. I can't wait to see all the hustle and bustle.
And regarding no GOP GOTV. I think that may be correct. I'm signed up to the McCain web page and I get notifications for GOTV efforts. Unless they sent them out Monday or Tuesday and I mistakenly deleted the emails, I haven't received anything in the last few days about events happening this weekend to GOTV for McCain.
NO GOTV EFFORT FOR MCCAIN IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! FOR MCCAIN!!!
October 31, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just remember that if McCain wins, spies are traditionally shot at sunrise.
Nice work!
October 31, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is so evily wonderful that I had to try it myself. Went and used my pseudonym that I use for my frequent shopper ID. We'll see what happens!
October 31, 2008 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just saw on Politico that Obama's up by 11 points in a new Gallup poll! Wasn't he up by only 6 or 7 yesterday??
Think we're starting to see the bounce from the "infomercial," peeps!
October 31, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
And it's gonna last through the election, too.
It's a good damn day, peeps. I also may have just broken my drought -
;)
October 31, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
That infommercial was just the adrenaline shot Obama needed to cross the finish line! Koz thinks we won't see the full bounce until Sunday, so it'll be an interesting weekend.
October 31, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just want to say, from the bottom of my 2000 and 2004 broken hearts:
FUCK YOU BOB SHRUM!
October 31, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Shrum Smack! Woo-hoo~! :)
Thank god Axelrod and Plouffe have kept Shrum the fuck away from the Obama Campaign.
John
October 31, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Awesome!!!
October 31, 2008 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
A McCain mailer out in Virginia today makes the charge about cutting the military, and unconditionally surrendering in Iraq, and of course coddling tyrants. Total sleaze. Nice to see an effective rapid response.
October 31, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
He doesn't want to cut defense spending???
Hmmm......
October 31, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
he should run the same ad about the tax lies...
October 31, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
anybody have any idea how to best remind undecided voters that the prospect of palin becoming president if mccain wins is very real?
October 31, 2008 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink