Time: New McCain Attack Ad Plays Race Card

Karen Tumulty writes:

When politicians interject race into a campaign, they seldom do it directly. Consider McCain's new ad, which the campaign says it will be airing nationally ...

This is hardly subtle: Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman.

Let me stipulate: Obama's Fannie Mae connections are completely fair game. But this ad doesn't even mention a far more significant tie--that of Jim Johnson, the former Fannie Mae chairman who had to resign as head of Obama's vice presidential search team after it was revealed he got a sweetheart deal on a mortgage from Countrywide Financial. Instead, it relies on a fleeting and tenuous reference in a Washington Post Style section story to suggest that Obama's principal economic adviser is former Fannie Mae Chairman Frank Raines. Why? One reason might be that Johnson is white; Raines is black.

The AP digs into the thin claim that Raines is an Obama adviser:

Obama's campaign says Raines is not an Obama adviser and that McCain's campaign knows it because Raines said so in an e-mail earlier this week to Carly Fiorina, a top McCain adviser. Obama's campaign provided The Associated Press with a copy of the e-mail.

"Carly: Is this true?" Raines asks above a forwarded note informing him that Fiorina was on television saying he was an Obama housing adviser. "I am not an adviser to the Obama campaign. Frank."

Obama's campaign says Fiorina did not respond.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said he was not aware of the e-mail to Fiorina, but noted that the Post reported on three occasions, between July 16 and Aug. 28, that Raines was advising Obama.

"If he was not advising, obviously someone somewhere along the way should have corrected the record," Rogers said.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said he has since asked the Post for a correction. Burton said Obama only met Raines once briefly at an event, and that Raines sought an introductory meeting with Obama Senate aide Mike Strautmanis. At that meeting, Burton said no advice was sought from or given by Raines, who also had served as President Clinton's budget director.

Watch the ad:

Comments

[JungleRoses]

McCain heading downmemory lane; he voted against Martin Luther King holiday in his state of Arizona.

[maxwellinformed]

New John McCain ad running in Texas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7tClTaQbg

[Vote For America]

Youth Vote: The Draft in Your Future?
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=65&ArticleName=Youth+Vote%3a+The+Draft+in+Your+Future%3f

Sept 21 Polling Update
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=63&ArticleName=Poll+Update+

Obama 289, McCain 249
http://voteforamerica.net/electoral.aspx

The Red November: An analysis on campaign marketing
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=50&ArticleName=The+Red+November

Their Possible Pasts
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=60&ArticleName=Their+Possible+Pasts

Cindy McCain's Fallacious Rebuttal
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=54&ArticleName=Cindy+McCain%27s+Fallacious+Rebuttal

Does Bush Even Support McCain?
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=64&ArticleName=Does+Bush+Even+Support+McCain%3f

[tapplegate]

Race? Seriously? You are saying that McCain is playing the race card? If the former head of Fannie Mae was a white guy, would Obama say that he is racist? Just because he was a black guy and to get on to the McCain because it was racist? The reason why they mention Raines over Johnson is that Obama received the second most money from Fannie Mae in the past twenty years than any other senator. He has only been a senator for four years and already is second on the list. That is why they mentioned Raines. For the Democrats to deny that Obama was talking about race when he mentioned his quote about not looking like normal presidents on the dollar bill and then to play the race card on this ad is ridiculous. If the lady at the end of the ad was another black person, then the Democrats would go more crazy than this over it and call McCain a racist.

[JungleRoses]

McCain, how low can you go? Race, gender and FEAR: False expectations about reality is really going to screw things up. Could this be another McCain moment? It's 2008 and not 1946.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

Let's see, how about sexual innuendo for kindergartners for icing on the cake, BEFORE they can READ! It will be much worse before Nov. . And the right wing will love it!

[TheAlchemist]

Fortunately Johnny doesn't need the right wing to win in Nov. He's got the right wing in the bag.

Win the middle and you win the election.

It's the independent voter we've got to keep our eyes on.

While I'm personally delighted to finally have a candidate I want to vote FOR in this election, there are still plenty of voters who will cast their votes AGAINST a given candidate.

I reckon more and more voters will be giving second thoughts to the prospect of having a mildly cognitively impaired senior with PTSD and a less-than-­diplomatic pit bull running things.

[Joulanda]

I gotta say it is time that we get what we deserve. If we vote for McCain and he continues in the same direction as Bush, which I am convinced he will do based on the things he says and his past voting record, than that is what we deserve. If we vote for Obama and take a chance on a black man for the first time and he reveals to us what I believe will be a change in the right direction based on his words and his record then again I say we get what we deserve. We are not stupid people in this country and it is time we start to show that again. Stop letting our fears and prejudices rule our decision making and make choices that are sound and we will be alright, and if we dont either way we get what we deserve.

[Mihailo]

The more I get to know McCain, the more I realize that a vote for Obama is a vote for America's soul. Simply put, if McCain approved this message (which he obviously did), then McCain's honor is a thing of the past, while my vote must represent the future. Obama has earned my vote a long time ago, and I can't wait to cast it.

[Vote For America]

Sept 21 Polling Update
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=63&ArticleName=Poll+Update+

Obama 289, McCain 249
http://voteforamerica.net/electoral.aspx

Youth Vote: The Draft in Your Future?
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=65&ArticleName=Youth+Vote%3a+The+Draft+in+Your+Future%3f

The Red November: An analysis on campaign marketing
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=50&ArticleName=The+Red+November

Their Possible Pasts
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=60&ArticleName=Their+Possible+Pasts

Cindy McCain's Fallacious Rebuttal
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=54&ArticleName=Cindy+McCain%27s+Fallacious+Rebuttal

[papapj]

..Again, the 800lb gorilla at the dinner table is not being acknowledged. Barack is walking a tightrope; damned if he does mention the implicit racism levelled at him from the obscure recesses of the cess-pit known as the Repugnican strategy room - and damned if he doesn't as the media are quite of ten complicit in the scurrilous endeavour to keep the White House just that....Li­lly-White!

Methinks this article sums it up best;

http://arizona.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/mccain-and-th-1.html

[serendipman]

Racist ad, but subtle..very well done as far as sleazy ads go. it would make people, especially white people, fear that obama will "give away everything to the black folk"

Those McCain ad guys are clever, more so because they already have an undercurrent of racial fear to stoke.
What the obama guys need to do is to stick to a narrative that McCain has early dementia - show clips of him stumbling after the crisis, of talking about the economy being strong and say, McCain : out of touch, disconnected, stuck in the past. Not ready to lead

[Joulanda]

I agree, continue to show clips of him making statements like this over and over it will begin to resinate in the minds of people, especially those who really have been hit hard economically.

[Vote For America]

Sept 21 Polling Update
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=63&ArticleName=Poll+Update+

Obama 289, McCain 249
http://voteforamerica.net/electoral.aspx

The Red November: An analysis on campaign marketing
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=50&ArticleName=The+Red+November

Their Possible Pasts
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=60&ArticleName=Their+Possible+Pasts

Cindy McCain's Fallacious Rebuttal
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=54&ArticleName=Cindy+McCain%27s+Fallacious+Rebuttal

Does Bush Even Support McCain?
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=64&ArticleName=Does+Bush+Even+Support+McCain%3f

[n0gar]

I have to admit, it is kind of subtle because it is clearly designed to make it appear as "this is what you get when you let blacks run things." How? As the article explained, it shows two black men (one is half white by the way) who have or who wants to "run things" but one who has done it in a not so positive way as far as results are conecerned. After that, it shows a white person being the "victim" of the "black man not knowing how to run things." This approach is why Hillary is not the VP choice.

[Joulanda]

agreed, if Hilary had not went there she would most certainly been his VP choice. But it wont work. The state of this nation is so dyer that one would be forced to make their choice based on their personal situations and not on their prejudices. If not for this reason I dont think Obama would have had a chance.

[pipprovis]

Give me a break. But I guess anything to keep us from talking about the issues. Both sides need to be more responsible with regard to their ads, but I think we can do without the mindless commentary. The whole "throw it against the wall and see if it will stick" strategy is annoying, whether practiced by the candidates or the pundits. Nothing racially overt or subtle here.

[freedog]

This will be a very effective commercial. But to say he's playing the race card..come on.

[chromodynamics]

Yeah, it will be very effective in showing what a hypocrite John McCain is. 26 of McCain's top campaign advisers, including his campaign manager Rick Davis, were once former lobbyists for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but let's look instead at a 5 minute meeting between Frank Raines and Barack Obama at a campaign event and blame them for the nation’s financial collapse and all of Wall Street’s problems.

I don't think there's a tin foil hat big enough for this silly conspiracy theory that John McCain has made for himself.

[papapj]

..Again, the 800lb gorilla at the dinner table is not being acknowledged. Barack is walking a tightrope; damned if he does mention the implicit racism levelled at him from the obscure recesses of the cess-pit known as the Repugnican strategy room - and damned if he doesn't as the media are quite of ten complicit in the scurrilous endeavour to keep the White House just that....Li­lly-White!

Methinks this article sums it up best;

http://arizona.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/mccain-and-th-1.html

[BandH08]

Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions:

1. Dodd, Christopher D-CT $133,900
2. Kerry, John D-MA $111,000
3. Obama, Barack D-IL $105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary D-NY $75,550


Obama/Biden = part of the problem!

[chromodynamics]

Total contribution to John McCain from 26 former and current lobbyists of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who are now working for the McCain/Palin Campaign: $59,800.



McCain/Palin = Are the Problem!

[shelobo]

Here you go , REPUBLICANS who have taken money from BOTH Companies :Bennett, Robert F S UT REPUBLICAN $107,999 $71,499 $36,500
Bachus, Spencer H AL REPUBLICAN $103,300 $70,500 $32,800
Blunt, Roy H MO R $96,950 $78,500 $18,4
Bond, Christopher S 'Kit' S MO REPUBLICAN $95,400 $64,000 $31,400
Shelby, Richard C S AL REPUBLICAN $80,000 $23,000 $57,000
Davis, Tom H VA REPUBLICAN $75,499 $13,999 $61,500
Boehner, John H OH REPUBLICAN $67,750 $60,500 $7,250
Reynolds, Tom H NY REPUBLICAN $62,200 $53,000 $9,200 : Pryce, Deborah H OH REPUBLICAN $55,500 $45,000 $10,500 Just read the information at : http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

[shelobo]

CORRECT !! BTW it's the Palin/McCain Ticket remember , Sarah said so ...

[shelobo]

You forgot McCains Name ,which which is included in the NUMBER (354)OF POLITICANS who have received MONEY from BOTH companies ,http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html,Tisk ,be fair the AMOUNT matters very little ,its the ISSUES that 354 public officials have been gave money by the companies !As Obama said ,BOTH parties have benefited and looked the other way ....