McCain Campaign Denies Report Of Plan To Attack Obama If He Visited Troops

***UPDATE*** 12:34am August 1 The McCain campaign has denied the report from Business Week that the campaign had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the troops in Germany. The Business Week reporter is backing away a bit from his original report since he cannot find a secondary source:

Given the McCain campaign's vehement denials about ever discussing an ad/messaging strategy that would have bashed Sen. Barack Obama for visiting wounded troops in Germany this month [The New Normal: McCain's Desperate Ad Hours], I thought it fair to hear in detail the McCain campaign's explanation, and to go back to my original source for elaboration. I also sought, unsuccessfully, to find secondary sources to back up my original source.

I spent quite a while on the phone with Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign.

The McCain campaign insists that no conversations took place about ads or campaign communication that would have cast Senator Obama in a bad light for visiting the troops while on a campaign trip about which the McCain campaign has been highly critical...

...I went back to my original source with whom I spoke last weekend to make sure I had understood what he was saying. He clarified that he'd heard about discussions of a possible ad, not literally that a script was in place. It may be worth noting that I originally called this source, an experienced GOP lobbyist and strategist, to ask him his viewpoint about the sharp turn the McCain campaign had taken in much more negative attacks on Obama. The information was not fed to me deliberately or proactively. However, I have not been able to find a secondary source to back up the original source. Subsequent calls to a couple of other sources today were greeted with a much greater sense of nervousness because of the intense scrutiny around this issue inside the McCain campaign.

This leaves me with little ammunition to buttress the original assertion, especially in the face of the fierce denials by the McCain campaign.

Read the updated Business Week post in full here.

---

Earlier Post: Straight talk in action: a Republican strategist tells BusinessWeek that John McCain was planning an attack ad against Barack Obama whether or not the Democrat visited wounded troops in Germany:

What the McCain campaign doesn't want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that's political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents--a lie.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that McCain's ad accusing Obama of not caring about the troops was not supported by facts.

Comments

[StillAmused]

Reportedly, McCain was planning to charge, "Hey, that's MY personal, bought-and-paid-for photo op backdrop you're using... give it back! They'll think you're ME!"

[Teritt]

Geez, wonder why I don't trust them. When somebody that old starts attacking Moses, you gotta beleive they'd attack anything.

[research]

Please! Liberals: The conservatives WILL smear you no matter what you do or say!

You cannot appease them but by becoming them.

Stand up for what you believe

without regard for Fox news and the conservatives reaction.

(not that you shouldn't deliberately provoke a stupid outburst from the republicans...)

[LAB10]

Just an Old Sleeze

[CharlesJ]

Bull, McCain is full of it. No Matter what Obama did or did not do McCain would have hit hard. If Obama had not gone he would have hit, and when he did go he hit any way like a spoiled rotten child that did not get what he wanted. Give me a break McShameful.

[KingGeorgetheShrub]

Please start asking the repugs on every news show the following question.

Why is Barack Obama's popularity overseas bad for America? It was nice to see the Germans dusting off their American flags to celebrate America instead of burning them in protest.

I have asked this question on a few repug boards and all I get is the usual repug tactics of attacking the messanger.

[booker52]

The McCain camp is just full of a-h*les.

[Budokan]

And we're supposed to be surprised McSame was planning to attack Obama whether he visited the troops or not? Get real. He's a flip-flopping-flip Repug. It's all they know.

[zendem1]

Whenever Mccain tells a lie, he ages another year.

[smoo]

MCAIN: It would have been a seismic event if the pentagon would allow me to visit the troops so that I could politicize them. And sense it wasn't me, I going to politicize them any way be saying it would have been a seismic event... Priceless

Joke:
Man gets pulled over by police officer, who reaches in the car and slaps the driver for going to fast. He then goes over to the passenger side and slaps the passenger who shocking responds by saying "WHY DID YOU SLAP ME, I wasn't driving?" The officer says "because I don't want you to get down the street and say, "If that cop would have slap me I would have kick his ass."

Reminds me McCain's, "If that were me..." positions.

[Okieborn]

Old and Cranky Jerk,
"THATS ALL FOLKS" !!!

[jcwtts1]

I love the hard firm denial. I don't believe it but this is how real scandals start. It's like dealing with the cops. Cops don't go out and magically find clues that solve big cases. What they do is make people talk, lock into a story and then go out and break the alibi. So the McCain campaign just locked into a story, now lets try and break it. If I were a reporter I would start looking for actors and voice over people, scripts don't just drop on people at the last minute they show up in advance so that people can get it down. Look for outsourced work, like temps or people just there to photocopying etc, you'd be surprised what a temp knows about a company. I just don't believe the vehement denial. If they had let it go, not pushed back this hard, I would say it was wishful thinking, but now....

J

[StillAmused]

Reportedly, McCain was prepared to charge, "Hey, that's MY personal photo op you're using... give it back!"

[barackobama4prez]

This election is a serious test of American ideals. Can someone like O break through? Or will we continue to find reasons why he's less of a candidate than JMac?

[curioustorquemada]

Can someone like O break through?

You mean someone with a one page resume?
If you are referring to his race, most members of the Congressional Black Caucasus are more qualified than he is.

[bygollymissmolly]

Your Republicon fear is showing. You might want to put it away before you make a fool out of yourself.

[seenitall]

Bill-o and Klannity miss your insightful postings...please go back.

[LiberTLover]

His so called one page resume has more substance than McSmearsalot's lengthy one. How is it that it took O to come along before someone started thinking about locking down loose nuclear weapons, for goodness sake? You would have thought that being the expert on foreign policy and national security, JM would have led the charge on that years before O showed up.

So yes, he can be an effective leader, because experience is more than sitting in a chair rubberstamping anything the President supports no matter how harmful and stupid, jetting around to countries to shake hands with leaders, taking money from lobbyists to vote their way, bring us the mortgage and gas crises and voting repeatedly against healthcare for children and veterans.

It is about who understands how the economy works so they can help to ensure it runs more fairly and effectively for everyone, not just the wealthy, about understanding that problems are not black and white but shades of grey and need actual thought and creativity to solve, that we are all in this together and need to work together. And it requires common sense which is not so common, which O has in spades and that too will make him an effective leader.

[Marcl]

Is not length of the resume, it's the contents ! You BUBBLE HEAD

[JoeBlough]

Old habits of the mind and old habits of the mouth break down very slowly. I hope O has the power to do so.

[obamanation31]

McRove;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__wq6s009U&feature=user