McCain Debate Ad Tries To Break From Bush

John McCain put out a one-minute ad Thursday morning that is noteworthy on a number of fronts: the Senator speaks directly into the camera, he admonishes the Bush years, and he never mentions Barack Obama by name.

Tilted "Fight," the spot seems transparent in its purpose: paint McCain as the candidate railing against Bush's record and Obama as the product of D.C. Note the quotes he highlights in the script.

"The last eight years haven't worked very well, have they?" the Senator says. "I'll make the next four better. Your savings, your job and your financial security are under siege. Washington is making it worse -- bankrupting us with their spending. Telling us paying higher taxes is "patriotic"? And saying we need to "spread the wealth around"?"

It's interesting to note that hours before the McCain camp put out this spot, Barack Obama's team had an ad of its own reminding voters that the Arizona Republican has supported George Bush 90 percent of the time, often on the vital issues.

That ad, and McCain's record, have made it difficult for him to effectively break from his party leadership. It's hard to imagine that he will be able to do so in the next three weeks.

Comments

[wlwatkins]

We arw taking back our conrty and that is the end!!!
McCain is a rich spoiled military brat, and his Father bailed him out his entire life, through military, pow and now he whines, and Kissinger jumps to defend him...ever­yone covers up his deeds, making excuses for rolling his eyes during a debate.
McCain, what you do not seem to understand, is that the working class people can't be made to treat you like a prince...w­e are out of your reach. You sir have dished out and can not take it. you try to play the trump card of poor me....
The programs social services have had to cut helping the poor and sick...you want to cut more....wh­ere is your compassion for them? ( like it was in the pow camp-no one else got special treatment , just you!)(I know the truth- I researched it)
Yes, Poor you, Mr. McCain for quoting Bush's K.B.G statement about Putin in your second debate. The media never mentioned your trying to provoke Russia, but it didn't go unnoticed by them. You care only for the upper class...an­d that is what everyone sees. No more war , no more lies, no more racism.
No more scratching the backs of corporations and sending our jobs over seas.
No more oil greed!
I am still waiting to know just whom will be running the White House with you? Obama openly stated in the debate...y­ou have not sir.

[meneghin]

Breaking from Bush is not an easy thing to do for McCain. He is one of the strongest promoters of the Iraq war and his voting record doesn't really support the claim that he is not like Bush. None of the moderators ever asked him to spell out something significant that he would have done differently from Bush. If they had the answer would have been very very short.

[TimeGrid]

My friends... Obama is ready to lead, but I'm getting ready for halloween!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mccain-scrapping-to-change-course-of-election-962975.html?action=Popup&ino=1

[pavoterinde]

My friend, you voted 90% of the time with Bush. I am not buying your bridge to no where again for another term.

[nian]

i am mystified that republicans still try this "spread the wealth around" gimmick. Isn't that what trickle down economics is? You give the breaks at the top and they should spread that wealth to the people below. We now see that all they do is buy huge mansions, yachts, cars and private islands, and the people down below have their wages decreased. So yes, we average normal people would like some of the "wealth" spread around in the form of higher wages and benifits.

[pbcrunch]

It's appealing to the anti-socialist base of the party. The term hasn't been used by liberals in decades and I think most people don't understand what it used to represent; McCain attempted to define it during the debate but did a bad job..

[tedbear]

McCain is all over the place in his thinking. Last night he blamed Obama for the nasty campaign when asked about it in the debate. He blamed Obama and his reason was because Obama wouldn't do the townhalls that McCain wanted to do at the beginning of the campaign.

McCain also kept referring to autism as if Palin's son has autism, but he has Down Syndrome which isn't autism, so what makes Palin an expert on either medical problem anyway?

McCain also seemed to think Palin is a role model for women! Trust me, John McCain, she is not a role model for me. I am not interested in a woman whose values include the idea that anything is okay in love and politics. She flatly refuses to admit her mistakes, she insists, on the same day the result of the Alaska investigation was released, that she was found not guility of abuse of power.

Oh, and John McCain, your remark about the health and life of a woman being a consideration in an abortion decision, a private decision I might add, was disgusting. Who do you think you are, sir, to say how and if the life of a woman should be considered in a medical situation? You sir, are not a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (thank God), and you obviously have no respect for women or the legal system of this country.

[marasgram18]

bravo

[GiveUsFree]

This ad was not good at all and it didn't really say anything. It calls on you to suspend any need for detail. "Your saviings -we'll rebuild them?" "Your investments, they will grow again?" WTF? You know, I'm glad his campaign is so inept. Hopefully, we don't elect them.

[timezone]

Even though I disagree heartily with McCain, I would have more respect for him if he would concentrate on what HIS plan is, rather than attacking Obama. He comes across as petty, uninformed and an elitist, with no concept of today's world and problems with face.

[gulopartisan]

I'm sorry, McC*n is running an ad disparaging the phrase "spreading the wealth around" after using it himself ad nauseam last night. What???

[butterworth]

Haha next he'll be telling us he was against the I R A Q W A R. This fool not only tells lies boldly, he has one of the most condescending tones I've ever heard. A mental zero who thinks everyone else is even dumber...

[Actionman]

For mccain to KNOW how to fix the problems we have, he sure is having a problem telling us how he will do it.

After 26 years in Wershington (mccain's pronunciation for Washington) he should have made some progress and not had us hit the skid were in now... I KNOW how to catch Bin Ladin, I KNOW how to fix the economy, I KNOW how to win wars ect. Well johnny, Obama just said it and after trying to make him seem foolish bush did it and it WORKED. Missiles into Pakistan and boom #2 guy for Al Qaeda dead, talk to our enemy and wow a meeting with Iran, pull out of Iraq and Maliki agrees 16 month draw down. This is suppose to be the mccain strength and NONE of his criticism about Obama's policies came to fruition just GOOD results.

So if Obama can say it and it happens with so little experience, then with mccain's 26 years of KNOW how it should happen just because mccain said it. Three weeks till election johnny make it happen, it worked well for Obama's polling numbers it should make you, since he's so great and all, the instant winner of the White House.

[freebird67]

Seems like all this guy can do is claim he knows how to do things. I know how to save billions. I know how to make us energy independent. I know how to catch Osama. I know how to win this war. It's pretty Un-American I think to know these things, and keep them to yourself.

[2cntswrth]

It's amazing how the Republicans now love to trash Bush, and certainly don't want to be associated with him in any way now that this is an election year and the American public wants to break with the past. Yet, these folks lied, cheated, stole votes, and kept this charade going on for years until everything started to go south for them. As long as poverty and displacement knocks at the doors of poor people, and the middle class continued to erode, everything was just fine with those raking in all the wealth at the top. It wasn't a crisis for them as long as Wall Street held together for them. "The fundamentals of the economy are strong," they said. These folks are a joke. A very bad joke. John McCain can go and take his cast of cartoon characters, Sarah (Hockey Mom) Palin, and Joe (Six-pack) The Plumber with him. These zany political gimmicks for media attention are getting really old. I'll be glad when this election is over, and President Obama can bring in an administration that really wants to work for our nation's betterment rather than for the few rich folks at the top.

[Actionman]

Could be the reason there was NO impeachment, the Democrats knew the republicans would have joined them and voted to impeach bush also to distance themselves from him. That would have put them in a more favorable light during the election.

[lucite]

Why is Sarah Palin "like us"? I have never been a hockey mom nor do I understand the game. I don't get it. As a mother I would never seek the limelight and leave a special needs child and a pregnant teenager in the hands of hired help. I really don't get how she represents the American woman.

[JamesInDenver]

Wow, talk about condescending. This guy admits he's dumb on Economics, then looks down his nose at us, like he some sort of frigging genius. This guy becomes a bigger joke every day.

[hollybork]

The biographical similarities between Bush and McCain are remarkable. The difference is that George Bush was a better student and a better pilot, and had a more stable family life with his father George HW a good man and a leader, whereas John McCain's dad was always dragging them all around and was absentee. Another significant difference that makes me somewhat more forgiving of W is that he has been abidingly loyal and loving to his one and only wife, Laura, with at least enough sense and heart to recognize that Laura is a solid and fine woman and one who should be cared for.

At heart, I think George W made his mistakes because he was a lazy but likeable bum who trusted other people to be get things done, to be competent where he wasn't. Those he chose like Cheney, Tenet, and Rumsfeld and their neo con underlings had all kinds of self serving hidden agendas W could not begin to understand nor recognize. But W was not a war monger, and John McCain is. McCain is at heart an irresponsible, happy jet jock, reflecting that aberrant, extreme risk taking of the genus, the high profile carousing and top dog posturing that jet jockeys cultivate to impress each other. John has the wreckage of four planes, his marriage, his body, and finally his presidential candidacy now to prove it.

[butterworth]

G W B just a lazy, likeable bum? Or war criminal?

[renoir]

Jeeze. Do not give Bush a pass. He's a cold-hearted bastage. He does not give a damn about you, me, anyone ... his actions all scream sociopath. While people drowned in NO, he ate birthday cake on the tarmac with McCain. He lied to get us into a war. He's lied about the science of global warming. He undermined the Constitution. He threw away habeas corpus and the Geneva Convention. He's a bad bad person, a reprehensible man. And to boot, he did not choose Cheney... Cheney chose Cheney. Do not be an apologist and revisionist for this administration. They are criminals and they should all go to prison.

But having said all that, I do agree with you re: McCain. He's a tool and he missed his opportunity when he sold his soul to the highest bidder.

[One Two Three]

http://voteforamerica.net/polls.aspx?Race=Minnesota&Election=Senate#Results