September 27, 2007 9:31
McCain Puts Up Ads in NH, Aide Snarks About Romney
The McCain campaign is having a conference call to announce a state-wide ad buy in New Hampshire for two tv spots and one radio ad. I have no idea where they got the money to do this. They probably hope the buy does two things: Makes us reporters get temporary amnesia about how badly their fundraising is going, and shores up the mini-surge of support McCain got in the most recent WMUR poll. Wait, it does three things. One of the ads ("One Man") includes some seldom-seen (outside of "bio reels") footage of McCain being interviewed as a POW. The images of the young pilot choking up as he's asked to describe his crash and his injuries -- they take up fully half of the ad -- stand in stark contrast to, say, other candidates' spots. This is not unintentional.
I asked about the decision to use the unusually harrowing clip -- reportedly, McCain himself is uncomfortable with it -- and senior aide Mark Salter took an unusually direct swipe at Mitt Romney, "I don't know, I guess we could have gone with the first time he waterskiied past the sandbar but we thought this might say a little more about his character and love of country."
Romney used his experience as teenager skiing beyond the sandbar on the Great Lakes to illustrate how one overcomes ones' fears in a speech at Regent University.
The spots are here.
About Swampland
Ana Marie Cox is the founding editor of Wonkette and the author of the novel Dog Days. Read more
Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. Read more
Karen Tumulty is TIME's National Political Correspondent and has also covered the White House and Congress. Read more
Jay Carney is TIME's Washington bureau chief. He has covered the Clinton and Bush 43 White Houses as well as Congress. Read more
Jay Newton-Small has covered the Bush 43 White House and Congress since the DeLay era. Read more
Michael Scherer is a TIME Washington bureau correspondent covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Read more
Mike Murphy is a GOP consultant and was a senior strategist for John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. Read more
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Reader Comments
Posted by Tom
September 27, 2007
Ana Marie Cox asserts: "They probably hope the buy does two things: Makes us reporters get temporary amnesia about how badly their fundraising is going, ...." "[U]s reporters"? "[R]eporters"? ROTFLMAO! Evidently, to Cox, "reporters" are synonymous with boilerplate MorOn.org talking points dispensers.
Posted by Anonymous
September 27, 2007
Actually Tom, the "Money Primary" has been a major part of campaigning for a while. This is nothing new.
Posted by mikeg
September 27, 2007
When are some of these loser also-rans going to drop the hell out? McCain is finished. We don't care, John.
Romney, Thompson, Giuliani, McCain, Gingrich, Keyes. Is anybody normal a Republican anymore?
Posted by bjalder26
September 27, 2007
McCain’s uncomfortable with the ad, yet they’re putting it on the air?!? Who’s running this campaign anyway?
Posted by Anonymous
September 27, 2007
I will say this: out of the whole Republican field, McCain's the only one who's potential victory in a general election wouldn't scare me half to death. I'd rather it didn't come to that, but he's the least terrifying in a field choked with Bush wannabes (Rudy and Romney) and people who doubt evolution.
Posted by linda
September 27, 2007
So, is there any truth to the rumor that McCave's campaign is being run by 'interns'?
Lot's of stuff out there about Blackwater. It is not going away. Try TPM. Since McCave [you can Hil to this as she has the same committee assignment plus was First Lady and has Wes] has been a big dog on the Senate AS Comm. was he aware of the extent of the use of Mercenaries?
Since both he and Hil use the 'spending' issue, what about the cost of the use of these services. Can you also put this into the context of US Troops getting a 3% raise with extended tours [finally, Casey is speaking up] and the slow progress on things like MRAPS while the Congress had to increase the Federal debt ceiling to cover expenses?
McCave and Hil with their positions have not seemed to have done much to question this, let alone change the budget/contract process in the DoD. From 'Duke' to Cheney and more the 'contracting' is definitely based on buddy-buddies. Costly in more ways than one.
Personally, the ad is a bad. The type of ads that he ran in IA in 00 were much better. They definitely got my attention, interest. I did fall for the 'Maverick-Straight Talk' and researched his record. His record of course didn't measure up to the Ad. Since, he has been a media darling for years now his record of what I say and how I vote is much more in the public domain.
My reaction to the Ad may be in part because 'that time' was part of my life, not just history. Oh, and the Ghost of Reagan OMG.
+++++++++++++
Somehow the fact the McCave has failed to carry out his job as Senator by being absent for important votes and other Senate business should be an issue. But then the MSM doesn't seem to think, other than the MoveOn.Org Ad that the business of Congress is important.
Posted by Poster Formerly Known as Derek
September 27, 2007
It looks like I've been banned from posting here but before they ban me again I just wanted to say goodbye to the other posters here. I enjoyed your comments immensely.
See you somewhere on the Net.
Posted by Paul, no not that one
September 27, 2007
"I don't know, I guess we could have gone with the first time he waterskiied past the sandbar but we thought this might say a little more about his character and love of country."
Unsaid but suggested-As opposed to the other candidates' lack of character and hatred of country?
That McCain and his crowd are really prickly.
Posted by Terrapin
September 27, 2007
Well, if the Democrats behaved like the Republicans then we would be making crude jokes about him getting shot down. We would be handing out little toy airplanes with purple-hearted bandaids on them. Meanwhile, we would start a whisper campaign against him that the VietCong had turned him into a Manchurian Candidate that will destroy us from the inside.
If the media treated the Republicans like they treat Democrats then one-third of the columnists would be praising McCain for a politically savvy and calculated use of his military record; one-third would be condemning McCain as politically calculating and somebody who would trumpet his military record because he 'just wants to get elected'; and one-third would act as concern-troll and wonder aloud if this use of his military record would appear politically calculating. And, of course, none of them would condemn what the opposition party was doing.
But, of course, that is not how things work in reality. Only Republicans can get away with that kind of deviancy. And only Republicans attempt it.
Posted by Franco
September 27, 2007
Maybe he's getting large discounts on his ads.
Posted by david
September 27, 2007
For a dude who's always "uncomfortable" talking about his experience in Vietnam, he sure brings it up a lot.
Posted by Sid Vicious
September 27, 2007
Hey Derek sorry to see you banned. If you can sneak back in again let us know where you end up.
Posted by Emtee
September 27, 2007
One man sacrificed his campaign staff
One man opposed Bush's tax cuts
One man had the courage to stand up to the gun lobby
One man didn't play politics with immigration
One man stands up against freedom of speech in politics.
One man does what he thinks is right, John McCain
Posted by lauraw
September 27, 2007
On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh declared that soldiers who support American withdrawal from Iraq are “phony soldiers.” While discussing and disparaging war critics, a caller to Limbaugh’s show, who claimed to be an active-duty soldier, said that anti-war activists “never talk to real soldiers” to support their position, to which Limbaugh responded “phony soldiers“:
CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.
LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.
Posted by NYT
September 27, 2007
Ana
Good to see you are an obedient little stenographer "reportedly, McCain himself is uncomfortable with it"
Here's McCain's campaign in 1999
"Senator McCain served in the U.S. Navy and was a prisoner of war," said Schnur. "He doesn't like to talk about it on the campaign trail, but it gives voters a sense of who he is and what he's done."
Yeah he hates talking about it. It just keeps coming up whenever he speaks. And finds its way into his campaign ads.
And then he tells "journalists" like you and Joe Klein or David Broder that he hates talking about it and that becomes part of your novel.
Posted by Anonymous
September 30, 2007
Maybe McCain, his wife and the guy she is screwing should do an ad to show family values. I wonder if they confess to their Baptist pastor if that will show courage. Now that ad would bring in money.