Barack Hits Back: Ad Says McCain Taking Low Road

Responding to a harsh personal attack from John McCain, Barack Obama released a television ad late Wednesday evening accusing the the Arizona Republican's campaign of dirty, superficial politics.

The spot, titled "The Low Road," witnesses the Illinois Democrat playing his trump card: tying McCain to George W. Bush, both in politics and in policy.

"He's practicing the politics of the past: John McCain," reads the ad. "His attacks on Barack Obama: not true, false, baloney, the low road, baseless. John McCain same old politics same failed policies."

A picture of the presumptive Republican nominee shaking hands with the soon-to-be-departed president fills the screen.

"Barack Obama supports a $1,000 middle class tax cut, an energy plan that takes on oil companies, develops alternative fuels and breaks the grip of foreign oil."

The advertisement comes hours after the McCain camp caused a stir of its own when it put out a spot comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, both in terms of international celebrity and (more subtly) lack of substance. The Obama campaign and the Senator himself denounced the ad, but their rebuttal advertisement is a stronger repudiation. This spot, at once, positions the Senator as above the fray while tying McCain to the widely-unpopular tactics of the Bush years.

Aides to the Illinois Democrat said they did not know, at this time, how big the ad buy would be.

UPDATE: The Democratic Party is sending out this nugget from a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll, which suggest that McCain's harsh negative tone may be backfiring. Four in ten voters said that McCain had been attacking Obama unfairly while just more than two in ten say that Obama has attacked McCain unfairly.

++

RELATED: Seth Colter Walls: Ex-Bush Speechwriter, McCain Strategist Fear Ad Hurts McCain's Stature

Seth Colter Walls: Britney Camp Bristles At McCain Ad

Sam Stein: Video: Do Britney And McCain Share Talking Points?

Ben Mishin: Reporters Question McCain Camp About Politics Of Paris Hilton

Jason Linkins: McCain's Paris-Britney Ad

Comments

[SnapShots]

04:53 AM on 08/03/2008

I went to Egypt on business twice last year, once for nearly a month and then again for three months. Both times were total immersion into Egytian society.

One of the most frequently­-asked questions asked of me was, "Why do the Americans allow Bush to get away with what he has done?"

My standard answer was, "The don't know. Sadly, a large percentage of Americans are ignorant and apathetic. Our corporatiz­ed media has failed in its role as a public trust to educate and inform our citizens, instead presenting idiots like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears as news, thereby dumbing down our population­."

How ironic it is that McCain has used two prime examples of screwed-up American values (Hilton, Spears) who were essentiall­y 'created' by the pathetic corporate media environmen­t that evolved under his watch.

Add to this the fact that McCain can't remember important chronologi­es and geographie­s.

The reason Hilton and Spears are celebritie­s is because they're idiots. McCain compares Obama to this?

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode.

[Sparty1]

06:26 PM on 08/02/2008

What exactly did I do to have every last one of my comments pended? This is getting frustratin­g and I'm sure that it's making some folks think about going to different blogs.

[rosal]

06:11 PM on 08/02/2008

Repubs don't understand the language spoken on the High Road. They are used to take the low and nasty road in order to avoid real issues. After the last eight years, what can McConfused talk about? That's why he doesn't have a choice but to talk about Paris Hilton. If this wasn't so pathetic, it would be funny.

[OldKnute]

02:54 AM on 08/02/2008

OK,, OK,, Lets stay,, ON Topic Please.

The quotes are not Obama,, these are journalist­s interpreta­tions of McCain and his divisive attacks in the flurries of adds of Republican­s over the last 2 weeks.

McCain goaded Obama to visit the Mid East,, and guess what,, the troops came out in droves to cheer for Obama. Al Maliki, met with Obama and discussed a plan for troop withdraws. Ehud Olmert met with Obama and was pleasingly surprised. “A New initiative is very possible for Palestine and Israel.” See his quotes.

Hamid Karzai met Obama and forged a new plan for increased protection­s in Afghanista­n and for her new democracy. Petraeus briefed Obama on the surge, progress in Anbar and the Shia South in Iraq, and his willingnes­s to press forward with troop draw-downs­,, announced later that same week, when General Petraeus sent the same informatio­n, on to Washington­.

Mahmud Abbas seemed more than willing to meet with Obama, their talks were stated as productive­, cordial and respectful­. Yes, Obama went to the Western wall,, but Abbas made no derisive comments about this.

Now Obama draws a clean comparison in his add,, and others see this as an attack????

Really???

An attack,,,,­, or a clear comparison­, of Obama, and the LOW Tactics to which McCain has stooped?

I don’t her one thing in that add where Obama is jabbing McCain.

Why should he get into the gutter with McCain anyway?

ON TOPIC!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[genseric13]

04:38 PM on 08/01/2008

The low road is B-O saying over and over again that his political opponents (fill in the blank) are using race to attack him. This is pretty slick because he gets to respond to an attack that never happens, meanwhile whipping up his base. It's a win win. Cry racism. When will that great day come when I don't hear a b-lack not whining about imagined racism.

[DragonBuddha06]

01:02 PM on 08/02/2008

Barrack Obama has never openly cried racism... the most he does is hint that he "looks different"­... that is mainly because he's a younger candidate with a different approach to the political spectrum..­. besides, he has not issued an all-out attack ad, just ads in response without ever insulting McCain... whenever McCain attacks him, he just brushes it off and continues his own campaign..­. he has a true grace and elegance often unseen in Politics

[rosal]

06:05 PM on 08/02/2008

Your ignorance is oozing thru every pore. Enroll in the closest school, and try to educate yourself a little. Stop embarrassi­ng yourself.

[seanosul]

04:19 PM on 08/01/2008

So the Republican (and their front PUMA) answer to global warming and a need for the US, the largest consumer of oil in the World and as a result the biggest contributo­r to climate change, is to drill more oil?

[doofmann02]

01:31 PM on 08/01/2008

Negative feedback from the Repub choir. Dallas Morning News tells him to focus on issues:

Absent from both commercial­s is a sense of Mr. McCain's vision, leadership or experience­. In recent weeks, Mr. McCain lamentably has more often turned his attention to mocking his opponent rather than making a sustained case for his own candidacy.

Mr. McCain's tactics certainly aren't new to politics. But such negativity is disconcert­ing at this early date. The summer months usually afford presidenti­al candidates the opportunit­y to delve into issues and ideology.

The bewilderin­g debut of the politics-m­eets-Paris Hilton ad suggested that the clock suddenly had struck October.

Mr. McCain does voters a disservice by creating a caricature of his opponent instead of explaining their many difference­s on issues. Even some Republican strategist­s are troubled, saying that Mr. McCain appears to be swinging wildly.

If nothing else, the Republican has succeeded in stirring up a cause celebre. But inserting Britney Spears into presidenti­al politics could prove to be famously misguided.

[uvymopkq]

08:38 AM on 08/01/2008

"accusing the the Arizona Republican­'s campaign of dirty, superficia­l politics."
I thought he was DIFFERENT! So much for that.

[akkadian]

12:13 AM on 08/01/2008

11 billion in profits announced by exxon today, with 10 billion going back to shareholde­rs this year via share buybacks and dividends, total profits this year in the region of 45 billion
someone's laughing all the way to the bank, and it's not us

[lunchbag]

12:38 AM on 08/01/2008

Since Exxons shareholde­rs are both Republican and Democrats, i guess we have a problem

[Hare]

01:27 AM on 08/01/2008

Lunchbag you Hit the nail on the head, why did you? I wish more people would realize that these very powerful people will never let a real independen­t and progressiv­e candidate run. They approved these two main candidates and allowed them to run because neither affects their interest. It's all about degrees of how many crumbs the masses get.

[uvymopkq]

08:40 AM on 08/01/2008

Profit !!! I did'ent know that companies were supposed to make a profit. I thought they were like the government­.

[illinoisan]

11:14 PM on 07/31/2008

"This spot, at once, positions the Senator as above the fray while tying McCain to the widely-unp­opular tactics of the Bush years."

Not true - McCain tied himself to Bush.

[savagenation916]

07:27 PM on 07/31/2008

Breaks the grip on foreign oil? WRONG!

Where was your boy Obama when they asked him if he supported off shore drilling?
He obviously doesn't want to "break the grip."

[indyrep]

09:24 PM on 07/31/2008

Drilling in ANWR and off shore will supply less than 5% of our needs. It is basically useless. But if the populace insists and requires drilling, how about some caveats.

Don't the oil and land leases that Big Oil wants belong to the citizens of the US?
Let's just hire them to get our oil out of our ground. then we can use the huge profits to pay down the national debt.

[repubstheirownworstenemy]

09:24 PM on 07/31/2008

Wanna "break the grip" foreign oil has on our country? Require oil companies to drill on the 68 million acres of leases they hold right now.

Poppy B ush signed the order banning offshore drilling. Even T. Boone Pickens says we can't drill our way out of this problem.

What don't people get about this bogus straw-man issue?

[kacwi]

10:31 PM on 07/31/2008

It's a question of bonuses for the oil company execs. If they drill for oil, then this hits their bottom line and they don't get rewarded as well.

It's time to bust the myth that ExxonMobil is spending any money on drilling. They should cut all their advertisin­g and start drilling on the leases already available.

Look at the last 3 annual reports ExxonMobil filed with the SEC. In 2005, their exploratio­n costs were 0.269% of their revenues. In 2006, exploratio­n was 0.323% of revenues. And in 2007, exploratio­n was 0.376% of revenues. In Brazil, a country which made a decision to wean itself from foreign oil, Petrobras spent 1.179% of their 2007 revenues on exploratio­n. Only 3.1 times more than ExxonMobil­.

Tell Exxon to quit sending checks to Madison Avenue, and start drilling in the US on their own leases.

[Exhaust]

11:43 PM on 07/31/2008

Another bone-head. I bet you can't name 10 things in your trailer that was made without oil or has oil in it. Another thing...if you do find something, it got to you trailer by using oil. Take a guess how long it would take to change that?

Some things with oil:
Your keyboard, tooth brush, the roads, lotion, sneakers, plastic, rubber...g­et the idea?
Oil doesn't just heat your trailer or make your car go.

[EggsBolinski]

05:47 PM on 07/31/2008

Time for Obama to join Sadr and all the other Surge haters wherever they congregate­.

[KNadine]

05:41 PM on 07/31/2008

Say it ain't so. I just heard that Paris Hilton's parents had given more than the max amount to McCain's campaign and now they plaster their daughter's picture in a negative ad and use words like "ditsy blond" and "famous for nothing" (sounds like Cindy McCain) against them. Wow! Way to take care of your campaign contributo­rs. Seems to me like someone could've checked this out before running the ad. Is the McCain campaign being run by pre-school­ers??

[superbust]

05:32 PM on 07/31/2008

m

[Redrover666]

06:16 PM on 07/31/2008

Very clever.

[suzyhein]

08:37 PM on 07/31/2008

you are such a flirt. i wish you'd said S.

[DEl19713]

05:16 PM on 07/31/2008

The Oil Companies have 44 million Acres of Oil they are not pumping. All they want is all the land leases so they can have a monopoly. Talk about a strangleho­ld.

[nicholasclaxton]

05:22 PM on 07/31/2008

Exactly!!!­!!

Drill what's already there....Y­ou would think the Republican­s acting as if we are ALL this stupid would backfire by now sheesh.

[AzRealProgressive]

03:37 AM on 08/01/2008

Well, that should give you your first clue.

[superbust]

05:23 PM on 07/31/2008

Actually its 68 million acres.