In case you needed further proof that Senator McCain's campaign is pretty much built on wild, flailing half-attacks, this ad should be of help.
Leaving aside the fact that in all of these cases, Obama was using a "I agree with X, but Y" construction--meaning that, for anyone who actually watched the debates (and even most who didn't), it's readily apparent that this is taken out of context, it's hard to actually construe this ad as much of an attack at all. If anything, it makes McCain look cheap and petty.
Of course, McCain's campaign has pretty much been fueled on cheap and petty, so, you know, that makes sense. One of the pretty adequate narratives coming out of the debate was that, while McCain was certainly aggressive, he acted very un-presidential, basically like a bully. This ad just ads to that narrative.
It also is yet another example of his campaign's increasing desperation. McCain's ideas and philosophies have pretty much failed, both in fact and in the eyes of the public. Today's conservatives (and, more specifically, Republicans) have had the last seven years (hell, pretty much since Reagan) to try out their philosophies. Look where it has it gotten us: The financial crisis (extreme deregulation and corporate socialism), the Mideast clusterfuck (neo-conservatism and mindless chauvanism), an increasingly polarized nation and deflating social capital (conservative christianism).
Since McCain can't run on those, he's running on the basest kind of identity politics. He makes bizarre and ill-planed moves: Sarah Palin, a spending freeze as a solution to the financial crisis (wtf?), inserting himself in the bailout plans, pulling out of the debate then jumping back in the debate. His campaign at this point is based on his personal appeal as a maverick and (mostly) scurrilous attacks on Obama.
You know, for all the talk that Obama running a campaign based on his person, it is McCain who spent half the debate talking about himself. He blathered on about his connections with world leaders, his said, basically, I'm a POW in response to questions about veterans (never mind that he helped take down the recent veteran's aid bill). His campaign is simply that he, and he alone, is different than other Republicans. Sure, he has the same governing philosophies, the same failed, inadequate policies and ideas, but he's a maverick!.
The good news: the American people are catching on. McCain's polling numbers have slipped past where he was before the conventions. The bad news: McCain isn't done with his campaign based on showmanship. Apparently, their "October suprise" is to stage a big ol' folksy, non-elite wedding for the pregnant Bristol Palin (From the UK Times, via Needlenose, and via dday at Hullabaloo). Charming. I'm sure that this won't take up days of media coverage, while our venerable press could be talking about, you know, things that at all relate to substance.
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