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]

06:46 PM on 08/01/2008

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]

05:24 PM on 08/01/2008

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

[research]

04:55 PM on 08/01/2008

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]

04:23 PM on 08/01/2008

Just an Old Sleeze

[CharlesJ]

11:59 AM on 08/01/2008

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]

11:34 AM on 08/01/2008

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]

10:28 AM on 08/01/2008

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

[Budokan]

10:15 AM on 08/01/2008

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]

10:12 AM on 08/01/2008

Whenever Mccain tells a lie, he ages another year.

[smoo]

10:02 AM on 08/01/2008

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]

09:52 AM on 08/01/2008

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

[jcwtts1]

09:27 AM on 08/01/2008

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]

09:14 AM on 08/01/2008

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

[obamanation31]

09:09 AM on 08/01/2008

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

[barackobama4prez]

09:09 AM on 08/01/2008

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?

[JoeBlough]

02:07 PM on 08/01/2008

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