Obama Ad Goes After McCain For Being Old, Incompetent

There has been talk in recent days that Barack Obama would get tougher in his campaigning following the September 11th détente between he and McCain. Sure enough, Friday morning the Senator released his most personalized attack ad yet.

Making overt references to McCain's age, the spot, titled "Still," calls the Republican nominee out-of-touch, showing footage of him from 1982 alongside screen shots of disco balls, a (Zach Morris-like) old school cell phone, a record player and a rubix cube. It even calls McCain out for his unfamiliarity with the Internet. And, as a parting jab, the ad uses footage of the Arizona Republican riding with George H.W. Bush in a golf cart.

"1982," reads the campaign. "John McCain goes to Washington. 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 email."

In addition to the "Still" spot, the Obama campaign released another ad Friday morning, this one more positive in nature, with the Senator speaking directly into the camera, defining change.

It could very well be that the latter spot, titled "Real Change" will be the one that airs in most places, while the more inflammatory "Still" is designed to grab the media's attention. Already, the McCain campaign is out with a response.

"What is becoming clear to the American people is the fact that Barack Obama has no record of bipartisan legislative accomplishment, no history of bucking his party and no chance of bringing change," wrote Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008. "The truth is, Barack Obama voted for $2.8 billion in corporate welfare for big oil companies, broke his pledge to voters on campaign finance and has personally requested nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel spending for his home state - making his message of 'change' nothing more than an empty campaign slogan."

Comments

[optech007]

"In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type." - Forbes, 05/29/2000

[unmutual]

Play this one at senior centers! Send it to AARP members.

And don't forget to mention that McCain can't physically type on a keyboard, so that you get to hear the POW story that you love so much told one more time.

[Rockwell]

Yes, because we know that being old, out of touch and a former POW qualifies, nay, ENTITLES one to be President of the United States. How dare we point out McCain's cluelessness. How dare we point out him being in bed with lobbiest. How dare we point out that he's of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.

He's old, he's a POW. How dare we question his coronation.

[JulieSA]

It's cruel to mock those with disabilities. The voters won't like this, especially older ones.

[unmutual]

You still don't get it.

Carry on.

[vonny]

John McCain cannot send an e-mail, not because he hasn’t bothered to learn, but because he is physically unable to do so.

John McCain, because of the torture he endured as a prisoner of war, cannot use a computer keyboard. John McCain can’t even comb his own hair.

This ad, released by the Obama campaign today, and played numerous times on television, is utterly cruel, and should not only be pulled.

THis add had made seniors furious.

[dajay]

Or they could ask to hear from BO about how he was going into the military, but then didn't.

DUH DUH DUH

[JoeBlough]

When elected, Palin will teach McCain how to rev-up charisma. She will take the reins from his old, freckled hands and more our country forward. To a cliff.

[Rockwell]

Actually, McCain will stuff Caribou Barbie in a closet after the election. If she's a good girl, he might let her fetch coffee for the cabinet meetings.

She'll sit in her VP bubble, reading her right-wing tracts, getting progressively more out of touch with reality. Marinating in extremist ideology.

Then one day, McCain's third cancer will finally finish him off.

Then we'll have President Palin.

Won't that be special.

[mamacat]

To paraphrase Tucker Bounds, " The truth is..........", the only thing we can count on McCain for is telling us more of the same ol' lies.

[NamvetPR]

My father is 86 and when he saw the add he started laughing and yelling, "go get them Barry, hit em where it hurts the most." By the way, he takes photos with a digital camera and later fire wires them into his PC.

[mediahack]

I'll bet you just made that up.
If your father is 86, then you are probably in your 50s. Does your father live with you or were you at his house at the exact moment he saw the ad on TV. Don't you work? And did he really laugh and yell, Go get em Barry etc.? It sounds so contrived. And who says " fire wires" ?

[deliriousgod]

my father is 70 and he isn't very sharp anymore but he would never vouch for someone as facile and disturbing as Sarah Palin.

[dajay]

Oh, well if your 86 yearl old dad didn't find it offensive, I bet no other elderly voter will.

By the way, my parents are in their seventies, and don't even own a computer.

So what is your point?

[texastornado]

McCain: POW ( Pathetic Old Wannabe)

[dajay]

Yeah, making up insulting slogans are really going to get Obama elected? I bet you guys wish he would come out with some real nasty hate mongering ads, worse than this dopey one.

Right up an a**hole Obama supporter's alley, right?

[NamvetPR]

By the excessive trolling response here which denotes a huge PR damage control operation paid by the GOP I must conclude that this add certainly struck a cord. Keep em coming, on all levels, on all fronts.

[inluvwkeitholbermann]

while i found this HIGHLY amusing (LMAO!!) i can't help but worry that some older voters might get a wee bit peeved/offended....oh well, i would hope that they expect more of their president that he should be current with technology, so GET OVER IT!@!

keep 'em coming, President Obama!! do not let a day go by without highlighting mccrackers/satan-palin's incompetence, hypocrisy, and li es!

[CubanPete]

Don't worry - those old geezers are ROFLTAO Wright now because they know when McCain wins he will reinstate the draft and send all you young sorry butts to some boot camp in Iraq so you will hopefully grow up.

[Daisy1111]

Dumb move. This race is down to swing voters in both parties. The average age of swing voters is 54. They were young in the 80s. This ad insults them. This ad also makes fun of the fact that there's a medical reason McC can't use a keyboard.

Here are swing voter stats from AdAge:

Conservative Democrats, for example, are a group made up largely of "well-informed" women who might have liberal views on immigration and the environment, but tend to be pro-life and religious. In other words, they could be ripe for swinging to the right Republican candidate. The average age is 54 and the average household income is $58,000. The group comprises 17% of registered voters and 40% of Democratic voters.

Mild Republicans, meanwhile, seem to embody the libertarian leaning members of the GOP. They account for 10% of registered voters and 28% of the Republican party. Average household income is $106,000. While they roll with the party such as social security and immigration, they tend to be more liberal regarding abortion and drug legalization.

[Ides]

McCain was 50 in the 80's.

[JimR]

Well, being older and being out of touch are 2 different things.

[deliriousgod]

I was young in the 80's and I felt pretty stupid until recently because I wasn't keeping up with technology. I'm far from state-of-the-art now, but the equivalent of McCain in the 1980's would have been someone running for president who didn't know how to use the yellow pages

[HillaryVoter]

Love the bit about the computer and email. Smooth. He can't use a keyboard. Can't comb his own hair or tie his own shoes either (or raise his arms over his head). Hit him hard Obama! You're the real tough guy! Tell us that story again about the time when you considered joining the military.

[buddhistMonkey]

Anyone can use a computer, whether or not they have a physical handicap. Steven Hawking uses a computer, for Pete's sake. John McCain is worth more than $100 million. If he wanted to use a keyboard, he could afford to construct a custom workstation that put the keyboard at the proper height and angle for his comfort.

No, it's not a physical limitation that prevents John McCain from using a computer, it's a mental limitation. He's simply an out-of-touch old man who doesn't have the will or the interest to learn new things, even such modern necessities as e-mail and web searches. This ad exposes him as the technophobic Luddite that he is.

[babs101]

Extremely well said.

[research]

He could also use voice control.

[JimR]

I see. So we're supposed to let McCain tell lie after lie after lie and not challenge him on anything, because he is a war hero?

Go send money to Hillary. She is still in debt!

[dajay]

Yes. I agree. Keep it classy Obama. You big phony.

[bkovitz]

I'm disappointed by these ads. This election is a serious matter. McCain's approach to foreign policy is to reach very quickly for the military option. Voting for McCain means voting to have the United States start more wars: in Iran, Russia, or who knows where next. Eventually, one of these countries will retaliate by launching a nuclear or biological attack on the United States--not a handful of terrorists with exacto knives, a fully-funded military with real weapons. The question is not whether McCain can use email, it's how many thousands or millions of people are going to die for his ideology.

Obama needs to spell out what's at stake.

[Maryland Teacher]

I noted in the Boston Globe article from March 2000 that John McCain can't comb his hair or tie his shoes. Those ads should be hilarious! I'm so glad the Barack is now focused on important issues like email instead of the awful lipstick. With issues like this, he will be in the White House with a mandate to comb everyone's hair, tie their shoes, send their email, and just provide more government nanny services.

I'm glad the huffingtonpost.com shows tolerance for divergent viewpoints!

[PhDiva]

The hair and shows problem exists because of limited range of motion high above or below. This wouldn't affect his ability to use a keyboard.

[marbiol]

i do believe that the globe article also mentions that he cannot use a keyboard as welll....but whats a little pain to get your yahoo or hotmail email address...

maybe Sen. mcCain get put on full disability (on top of his military disability) ---that's our party's way isnt it? make all of us beholden to the federal government.

you guys make me so ashamed [not embarrassed--ashamed!!] of still being a Democrat.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Giv e me a break.
There are people with no arms using computers.

[JimR]

Oh please. McCain is quite capable of using a keyboard, he just has no interest in keeping up on things. That's the point.

I know a guy who is blind who uses a computer.

[sherbug]

Well if what you say is true, we better not find one text message coming from McCain's cell phone. If he can send a text message, then he can send an email and point and click with a mouse.

[FemDemWarrior]

Blah Blah Blah Tucker, the sky is falling!! the sky is falling!! Tell it to Campbell Brown why don't you!!

[edwarvir]

Good Ad good idea. Methuselah doesn't know how to play nice and attacked
Senator O unfairly so now THE GLOVES MUST COME OFF
He refered to his ownself as divorced from the modern world and
ideas and I agree and so does Senator O.. JOHN AKA DINO THE DINOSAUR!

[inluvwkeitholbermann]

john aka DUMBO the dinosaur

[genseric]

He's old, he's old, we get it, we get it. Say it 500 more times, you frigging morons.

[PUMAMA]

He's frigging old times 500.

[jn123]

Is this ad saying he's old? I thought it was saying he's out of touch.

[JulieSA]

Obama should learn how do a quick google search. This from Forbes, in 2000:

" This Internet-driven decentralization meant that the McCain campaign could organize down to a virtually block-by-block level for little cost. It allowed a thin organization to compete against the heavily financed and well-organized Bush machine, and it gave McCain campaign dollars an estimated 4-to-1 advantage over Bush greenbacks.

McCain himself was convinced early on that the Internet had to play a critical role in the campaign. Time and again it allowed him to leverage his money and his organization. "In the Virginia primary," McCain told me, "we needed a lot of petitions signed to get on the ballot. We had the form available to download off the Internet and got 17,000 signatures with very little trouble."

...His Web team had played the Internet like a Stradivari. . . .

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits. "

http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html

[INDmind]

Wow, apparently Obama didn't follow the 2000 primaries. He would've known that due to war injuries there are things McCain can't do, simple things like combing his own hair, using a keyboard....so basically what Obama has done, is not only insult older voters, but veterans with disabilities.

Oh, I do recall, Obama said Hillary would do anything and everything to win...seems like he was talking about his self.

http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/McCain_character_loyal_to_a_fault+.shtml

[jimmyjones22]

So a senator doesn't have the ability to know what the internet is?

I know a lot of people that don't use computers but know what the internet is. And they don't have an army of staffers to explain it to them.

[cabledave]

Enough of the pity party for McCain. His war stories have morphed so much throughout the years that the current one barely resembles the original.

[PUMAMA]

Obama has insulted the idiots of the world, and I can understand your outrage.

[hooger158]

If Stephen Hawking can send an e-mail, McCain could too.

[PhDiva]

This just isn't true. McCain says he's learning to use the computer. Did his disabilities simply disappear?