John McCain's campaign released two controversial ads this week attacking Barack Obama on education legislation and his recent "lipstick on a pig" comment. The Obama campaign released strong statements in response to the ads, saying one of the ads contains a lie and the other is a "discredited attack." Obama's camp also released an ad attacking McCain on education and another that responds to McCain and Palin's "maverick" reputation.
John McCain: "The Original Mavericks"
This ad highlights the theme that both John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin are mavericks. The ad cites the example that "he fights pork barrel spending; she stopped the Bridge to Nowhere." This claim that Palin opposed Alaska's Bridge to Nowhere has angered Alaskans, who say that she supported the bridge before she rejected the funds for it. PolitiFact.com reports that Palin backed the bridge when running for governor, but once she was elected her position shifted. In response, Barack Obama's campaign has released an ad called "No Mavericks" and sent a press release. In the release, spokesman Bill Burton said, "Despite being discredited over and over again by numerous news organizations, the McCain campaign continues to repeat the lie that Sarah Palin stopped the Bridge to Nowhere." On September 8, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds appeared on MSNBC and said of the bridge, "It is true that early on in her political career she saw a project...that she saw use for. But as it became more wasteful, the budget ballooned, it became a staple for wasteful spending, she said, 'No.' And she was the one that drove the nail in the coffin that killed the bridge to nowhere."
Barack Obama: “No Maverick”
This response to the McCain campaign's "The Original Mavericks" ad argues that John McCain and Sarah Palin are "anything but" mavericks, they are just "more of the same." The voice-over says that Palin is lying about her record on the Bridge to Nowhere, because "she was for the bridge...before she was against it." And "John McCain is hardly a maverick when seven of his top campaign advisers are Washington lobbyists." CNN reports that McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said that there are no registered lobbyists currently on the payroll for McCain's campaign.
John McCain: "Lipstick"
In this Web ad, John McCain attacks Barack Obama for his recent "lipstick on a pig" comments, suggesting that the pig he was referring to is Sarah Palin. The ad shows a clip of Palin saying that "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull" is lipstick. We then hear Obama's comment that "you can put lipstick on a pig...it's still a pig." The final clip is of Katie Couric saying that "one of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life." The ad concludes that Obama is "ready to smear" but not "ready to lead." In response to the ad, Obama aide Anita Dunn said in a statement that the ad "is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy—the same analogy that Senator McCain himself used about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's healthcare plan just last year." Obama has also used the phrase before, such as in a recent Washington Post interview. Obama has said that the McCain campaign's exploitation of the comment is an example of "phony outrage and swift boat politics." McCain supporter Jane Swift, former Massachusetts governor and a member of the "Palin Truth Squad", said on a media conference call that Obama "owes Governor Palin an apology" for the "disgraceful" comment.
"Lipstick" has been pulled from YouTube at the request of CBS because it includes the commentary by Katie Couric.
Barack Obama: “What Kind”
This ad focuses on John McCain's record of education, saying he "doesn't understand" what it takes to make "America No. 1" in education again. According to the ad, McCain's plan would cut education funding, giving $200 billion more to special interests while taking money away from public schools. The narrator also says that McCain even "proposed abolishing the Department of Education." The McCain campaign posted a response to the ad on johnmccain.com that cites an example of John McCain voting for education funding and Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, voting against it.
John McCain: “Education”
After Barack Obama attacked John McCain's education record in his "What Kind" ad, this ad goes after Obama's record on education reform. The ad says Obama supported "legislation to teach 'comprehensive sex education' to kindergarteners. Learning about sex before learning to read?" According to FactCheck.org, the ad's claims are false. The legislation in question was a bill that would have provided "age appropriate" material to kindergarteners, including how to recognize inappropriate touching, and an opt-out policy for parents. Obama was not a cosponsor of the bill; he voted for it in committee but it never left the Illinois senate. In response to the ad, spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement, "It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls." McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds is quoted in the New York Times saying that "the Obama campaign did not and cannot dispute a shred of the content in the ad."
John McCain: “Fact Check”
In the press release for this ad, the McCain campaign says it "highlights the Obama's campaign's efforts to smear Governor Palin by peddling in rumors and airdropping operatives into Alaska to dig up dirt." The ad quotes a FactCheck.org article that says the attacks on Governor Palin are "completely false" and "misleading." (FactCheck.org says that McCain distorted their article since the attacks on Palin they describe didn't come from Obama.) While showing images of a pack of wolves running through the forest (reminiscent of a 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign ad, "Wolves"), the narrator says that Obama "air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin." Marc Ambinder reported that the Democratic National Committee's research chief, Mike Gehrke, E-mailed him and wrote that "not a single person from DC or Chicago has traveled to Alaska to do research" and called the ad's claim "a flat-out absolute fabrication." The press release for the ad cites several articles that support the claim that Obama himself has smeared Palin.
Barack Obama: “Still”
Following the news that his campaign would take a more forceful approach from now on, Barack Obama released this ad that argues John McCain is out of touch, out of date, and computer illiterate. After showing footage of McCain in 1982 wearing huge glasses and a retro suit, the narrator says, "Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't. He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an E-mail, still doesn't understand the economy." The Associated Press reports that Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said the ad was not about McCain's age but the time he has spent in Washington. Pfeiffer is quoted as saying, "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an E-mail." Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said in a statement, "This is more evidence that Obama's politics of hope is just empty words."
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