(Jake Turcotte)
Obama campaign ad attacks McCain on economy
By Jimmy Orr | 08.20.08
It may not have risen to the level of a Patrick Swayze Road-House-esque brawl, but the Obama folks are punching back.
Faced with declining polls and criticism by Democratic strategists that the Obama team isn’t being tough enough, a new round of harder-hitting ads have been released to counter the McCain attacks.
One of the ads, titled “Fix the Economy,” shows clips of John McCain discussing the economy in positive terms interspersed with average Americans expressing their concerns, doubts and fears of the current state of economic affairs.
The idea is to communicate that McCain is out of touch with average middle-class Americans. Of course, Mr. McCain didn’t help his own cause when asked by pastor Rick Warren on Saturday to define what income level in America constitutes being rich.
“I think if you’re just talking about income, how about five million,” McCain said. Almost immediately after that statement, however, he did recognize he stepped in it and predicted his statement would get plenty of use by his opponent. He was right.
Townhall gone bad?
Regardless, watching the ad is one thing. Reading the text is another. It almost reads like McCain and average voters were having a townhall meeting gone really, really bad:
McCain: I don’t think we’re heading into a recession.
Average voter: I think we are absolutely in a recession.
Average voter 2: I sometimes struggle just to get the essentials, you know the milk the bread the eggs.
McCain: There’s been great progress economically.
Average voter 3: The economy is in a rut.
McCain: We’ve had a pretty good prosperous time with low unemployment
Average voter 4: The way the economy is, is the bleakest of times
Average voter 5: I’m worried. I’m really worried.
If this was an actual conversation that McCain had with voters, then turn out the lights. So the ad-makers did the next best thing: present it as such, as a contrast between McCain and the American citizen.
Cherry-picking quotes
The issue with the ad, of course, is that the McCain remarks are taken out of context. The Annenberg Political Fact Check, a non-profit, non-partisan organization who say their mission is to “reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics”, weighed in on the spot and said the Obama ad-machine ‘cherry-picked’ McCain’s quotes:
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is running an ad in Indiana that tries to paint Sen. John McCain as being out of touch with Americans’ concerns about the economy. It contrasts remarks from McCain with comments from residents of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Obama’s ad, however, used dated remarks from McCain and takes his words out of context.
They just can’t help it…
Of course, this isn’t new, and both sides are guilty of it. Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck, told the Christian Science Monitor yesterday:
“It’s in the DNA of politicians in any democratic system to bend the fact, sometimes beyond the breaking point, when they are seeking office,” Jackson said. “This is not to say that we should disregard everything they say, it’s just that voters need to be grown-ups, and realize that candidates aren’t like teachers holding public-policy seminars, they are like lawyers arguing their own case. It’s up to us voters to sort through the spin and decide which can govern better.”
Don’t worry, be negative…
Should a campaign spend any time at all on positive advertising? Madison Powers, a senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, in a column for Congressional Quarterly yesterday said why bother?
It is not only the case that negative campaigns work. It has become less clear that positive ones are a good investment or even remotely necessary. Maybe the McCain campaign is smart not to try to accentuate the positive. So many lemons, so little lemonade.
Comments
2. NinaK | 08.20.08
I would like to know why the media does NOT disect McCain’s ADs which do NOT speak the truth? Yet, Senator Obama’s ADs are disected and gone through with a fine-tooth comb. Are the media and McCain in cahoots to destory Senator Obama’s character, patiotism, integrity, and everything else good and decent about Senator Obama. McCain says the most outrageous things, such as, “I KNOW HOW TO WIN WARS!” and “I KNOW HOW TO CATCH BIN LADEN AND I AM GOING TO GET HIM WHEN I BECOME PRESIDENT!”. WHY doesn’t the media CALL HIM ON THESE OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENTS?? IF, he so knowledgeable, what the hell are we still doing in Afghanistan and Iraq?? Why hasn’t John McCain caught and gotten Lin Laden? It has been seven years and Bin Laden is still out there! IF McCain is such a war and terrorist genius, as he is claiming to be, why didn’t he advice our millitary Brass in both Iraq and Afghanistan?? McCain is claiming to be the “war genius” and the “catch and get Bin Laden genius” yet has WITHHELD that knowledge from our military leaders! Please, fellow Americans, think about this!.
IT is ONE of TWO things:
1. Either McCain is a genious and withhelde critical and vital information and ultimately committed GENOCIDE, TREASON, AND AIDED AND ABETTED THE ENEMY BY HIS SILENCE THESE PAST SEVEN YEARS, OR
2. He is telling a huge whopper to deceive ALL Americans to get our votes. He already lied about Iraq having mass weapons of mass destruction, voted for an unnecessary war, and claimed the Iraq War would be easy and quick. McCain CALLIT IT ALL WRONG!! McCain has VERY POOR JUDGEMENT AND EVEN POORER VISION. DO WE REALLY WANT THIS TELLER OF TALL TALES AND NO JUDGEMENT AND NO VISION AS OUR LEADER? I urge everyone to really give these issues serious thought. OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT! I would like to think that we, the people, are much, much more intelligent and much, much smarter than McCain and camp take us for!!
3. Sammy | 08.20.08
What’s wrong with saying that if you earn $5 million you could be considered rich? Would you prefer a candidate that says ‘tax the rich’ and then defines rich as being anyone who earns over $30,000?
4. Ron | 08.21.08
It’s hard to take John McCain out of context because he is always saying the same thing until he changes his mind. FACTCHECK is run by a bunch of Idiots… Where were they when McCain was sliming Obama with the Britney and Paris ad ?
John McCain is a JOKER and that’s how he tries to cover up for his mistakes.
With Jokes…. Why doesn’t the media publish his greatest hits…?
I’m sure that McCain has offended a lot of people in his time.
5. Howard | 08.21.08
OBAMA ADS GO NEGATIVE …
Well, I guess the messiah is just a two bit politician after all. Obama’s supporters complain that Americans are too stupid to choose a candidate based on issues, but they stick with Obama, even after he has flip flopped on all the issues … as if to say “I will continue to support Obama, no matter what he says, does, or believes. Blind loyalty is what’s really stupid.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Denise | 08.20.08
How can Americans be so dumb? Our country, our constitution, our freedoms have been raped for the last eight years by the republican leadership and people are ready to vote for more of that? How bad does it have to get before people wake up? It’s time to take the gloves off. Taking the high road obviously is not working. Dems need to fight dirty just like the righties.