Dems Praise McCain In New Ad (VIDEO)

***UPDATED BELOW***

One-minute long political web ads have one primary audience, aside from political junkies: the press.

Like another recent spot from John McCain's campaign -- "Broken" -- their latest seems intended to burnish the Arizona Republican's "Maverick" credentials among journalists who could be starting to wonder whether he's become just another regular hack politician in light of recent harsh attacks on Barack Obama.

So the campaign brings us a piece called "Praising John McCain," which features a string of top Democratic heavyweights bestowing praise on the presumptive Republican nominee.

While the quotes are not dated in the ad itself, the McCain campaign's memo announcing the release shows that all of them (except for those of Sens. Obama and Clinton themselves) date from 2006 or earlier -- before this seemingly never-ending presidential campaign kicked off in earnest.

So while it's a neat trick of editing, it hardly settles the question of whether McCain is still the same maverick who elicited all this praise in the past.

The Huffington Post has calls out to all the Democrats in the ad, and will update you if and when they respond.

UPDATE: The Democratic responses start rolling in ...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean released the following statement today in response to John McCain's new ad that shows Democrats speaking about the John McCain of 2000:

"John McCain a maverick? The John McCain of 2000 wouldn't even consider voting for the John McCain of 2008. The American people are learning that the John McCain of 2008 represents more of the same failed policies we've gotten from George Bush for the past eight years. Senator McCain is clearly in the tank for Exxon and big oil, for keeping our troops stuck in Iraq for decades to come, and for an economic policy that puts tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations above relief for hardworking families. John McCain has changed: he's taken the low road, leveling false, negative and misleading attacks against Barack Obama. John McCain is no more a maverick within the Republican Party than Dick Cheney is. He's just more of the same."

And Sen. John Kerry offers this spicy riposte:

"The McCain campaign is determined to give their Paris Hilton ad a run for its money in the desperation department, and they've succeeded only in shining a light on the fact that the John McCain of today is unrecognizable from the John McCain of just a couple years ago. The real question is what happened to the John McCain we used to know and why he changed overnight into a George Bush nominee with a Karl Rove campaign. The new John McCain supports the Bush tax giveaways for the wealthy he once denounced, opposes his own immigration bill, flip-flopped on torture, and runs negative ads after calling for an honorable campaign. Frankly, it tells you everything about this election that the McCain campaign spins its wheels recycling what we said about John McCain way back when while scrambling and sputtering to explain away Governor Pawlenty's praise of Barack Obama today."

And Sen. Joe Biden issued the following statement:

"The John McCain of 2008 is not the maverick of 2000. On the most urgent national security challenges we face - Iraq, Iran and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan -there is no day light between George Bush and John McCain. He has embraced President Bush's failed policies and will continue them. It's unfortunate he's changed so much in just eight years."

Comments

[marthlois]

Thank you Senator Biden - short/clea­r/effectiv­e/perfect!

Hillary?

[kellygrrrl]

as much as I think Kerry's "response" is excellent,
I can't help but wonder, who is really going to hear that response?
US and the readers of other progressive websites.
that's it.
There must be a national response.

p.s. Thanks Hilz :(

[wanj]

I 100% agree with you... this needs to be put into an ad and played in the same states that "Fake Maverick" is running! A response is not enough! A TV ad should work better...

[Jamchinadian]

Excellent point. And, if she is sincere about supporting Obama and wanting "a Democrat to win" - Hillary should be the one starring in the ad. Nothing would top that for effectiveness. But she would have to be sincere in her disavowal of her previous words, that plus a little bit of her famous fire in the eyes attitude.

Failing a starring role by Hillary, nothing else matters: and certainly not Kerry's or Dean's responses alone.

[DaOne]

So a maverick is one who bucks the conventional wisdom and stands against majority opinion. Why would we want a maverick as POTUS? Don't we want someone who will represent our opinion and not stand against us.

We don't need a maverick, we need a leader with sound judgement.

[ideasmatter]

Like it or not, this is a very effective ad. It's not about McCain at all, it is about Obama surrogates being shown for having no credibility. "First, they said this, but now they're all of a sudden so critical of McCain" is the message. This immunizes McCain from any further criticism by them. The logical defense -- "This is about a completeIy different McCain than the one running for President" -- is way to complicated for much effect. I am curious to see how the ad pans out with the public

[PumaAnn]

I wouldn't join that group if you paid me.

[CtJean]

They aren't asking

[wheresthebeef]

I'm sure their disappointment is palpable.

[DaOne]

Couldn't disagree more. Every time one Senator speaks of another, it's generally in positive terms. Nobody is going to say someone is an arse or a effen jerk, other than Mc Cain of course.

[Charles1Goodwin]

He voted against his OWN legislation! The bill had his NAME on it and he voted NO. How can you flip-flop any bigger than that? I want to sniff the Kool-Aid McCain is serving. Must be contaminated with Straight Talk Express Tailpipe Fumes!

[kellygrrrl]

maybe if MkKain was "allowed" to speak for The Kampaign ---

I wonder if he got in trubs this a.m. for his "Sorry" remark

[AbrakadaBarak]

According to Wikipedia:
A maverick is a person who shows independence of thought or action, a non-conformist or rebel.

Does this define McCain now? Stooping so low, that he could lick his own boots just to please the cynics and the status quo. John McCain now, is a 180 degrees bend over backwards from John McCain then.

[watchingthings]

John Mc C only answers to one man......h­is own self loving self. Vote him in as POTUS and THEN he will tell/show you what he thinks of you.

[ReelBusy]

Actually John answers to his rich wife and her family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4-PqAXRIRU

[abluevoice]

The Republicans are great salesmen. They have a lousy product, yet their sales pitch is brilliant.
The Democrats have a wonderful and much needed product, yet they can't sell a banana to a starving ape!

[Ceasar]

Excellent point and so true. I've been trying to put my finger on that for so long. Repugs are like those slickster used car salesman that wears short sleeved button downs and bermuda shorts. Yikes.

[tony2008]

I agree. Democrats need to go back to campaigning school. With McCain's personal and political baggage, he should be begging for mercy by now, but it seems to work the other way around. Where is the ad about his shady land deals, his 9 houses, his lavish life style, his history of cheating on his wife, leaving his crippled wife? The only biggest blow he received so far was from Paris Hilton.

[DesertLight]

And after all that, don't look now but they are in a virtual tie and after 8yrs of W, who can't sell banana's to who?

[CtJean]

Can't sell a banana to you.

Tie - start counting the new registrants - they are not polled

start counting the cell phone users with no land line - they are not polled

start counting the intelligent repubs that are moving over - they are not polled

[Jinxykb]

I hereby dub thee "Captain Underpants".

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

Hey! They left off the ending and voice-over:

"...but is he ready to LEAD??"

[CamJam]

A Quote from McCain in "Why We Fight" (2005)
"When does the United States go from a force of good, to the force of Imperialism?"
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/syndication/trailers/whywefight/WhyWeFight-Trailer_300.mov

It was after this flick (from a few YEARS ago) that I too thought maybe McC was not so bad.
He was different.­.so much so that even Ann Coulter was offended for a bit saying she'd never vote for him (back then) and would rather vote for Hillary.

But it's like he's morphed into something really hideous now.. he's NOT the man we thought he was a few years ago.

He's worse.

[Freesia2]

McCain has got to be one of the more interesting candidates the Republicans have run in recent memory....­.because it's like they're running our "Memory of John McCain" for office. When we see images of him on tv, are we altogether sure that is a real man there, or is it maybe a hologram?

[blueshield]

The only sensible response to this ad is to roll out the clips of King Dubya laying the praise on his heir apparent, cut in Repub negative comments about McC from the debates, Congress, etc., topped with a few cuts to J.ohn debating himself on drilling, etc.

[digitalprince42]

This ad is very dangerous for Old Mc. There are a large number of Republicans that do not trust Old Mc because they feel he sided against them too much--this increases that feeling. Secondly, your now going to see every Democrat who was in those ads rebut the ad very aggressively. Old Mc is playing with matches on this one.

[nuglet304]

anybody who's been paying attention to politics for the last several years already knows exactly why this ad is so idiotic. it's appalling. nauseating. blatantly deceptive. too bad such a large portion of the population HASN'T been paying attention to politics for the last several years. i'm so over john mccain.