McCain Unaired Wright Attack Ad Released (VIDEO)

Recently, Time published an interview with John McCain's ad man, detailing the nasty campaign that never was:

What if the McCain campaign had run ads using footage of Barack Obama dancing with Ellen DeGeneres to show his coziness with celebrity? Or followed up on its Paris Hilton ad with others featuring Donald Trump and Jessica Simpson? All of that was on the drawing board of Fred Davis III, the advertising whiz that John McCain has used for almost all of his campaign media and one of the most talented conservative political operatives in America. Oh yes, he also had an Internet ad up his sleeve that would attack Obama's celebrity by associating him with Oprah. But in the end, he scotched that one. "We decided you don't really fight Santa Claus or Oprah," he says, "so we removed her."

In an extended interview with TIME, Davis detailed what might have been in the campaign ad war -- and what self-censorship the McCain staff imposed on themselves regarding the issue of race. ...

"My favorite ad of the campaign was as simple as it could be," Davis said. "And it started out something like, 'Long before the world knew of John McCain or Barack Obama, one of them spent five years in a hellhole because he refused early release to honor his fellow prisoners, while the other one wouldn't walk out of a church after 20 years of the guy spewing hatred towards America.' And the last line was, 'Character matters, especially when no one is listening.' " The ad never ran, however, because McCain ruled the topic of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the preacher of Obama's Chicago church, out of bounds shortly after he locked up the Republican nomination.

Now ABC has gotten hold of this ad, which went through the final editing and production process before being nixed. A former campaign staffer gave the spot to the network. Watch:

Comments

[KimberleyC]

Does anyone know if this is Patricia Clarkson who has been the voiceover on all of McCain's ads? If so, I no longer have respect for her. Spewing lies like she's done (I don't care if she believes it or not), is not someone I'd waste future entertainment dollars rewarding.

[KimberleyC]

Okay, nevermind: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-clarkson/im-not-joan_b_135089.html

[SurferKit]

I'm glad we cleared that up. I've always admired Patricia Clarkson's work. She always appears in quirky, offbeat roles. I'm glad to know she didn't provide voiceovers for McCain's ads.

[Freesia2]

I'm a little confused here. Is McCain supposed to be getting brownie points for this?

[chronic]

Obama needed just one ad :



" McCain is a republican "

[pleasethinkcritically]

LOL!! Too true!

[Steph 66]

Good one!
I honestly believe that McCain's campaign "got away" from him. He looked genuinely afraid by some of his supporters who were spewing hatred towards Obama. Now that the election is over and Obama won, I think McCain should try to restore his honor and integrity and leave a better legacy than his campaign showed.

[chronic]

Child, bye!!

[postman606]

Well we already knew Mac was a POW, and we already knew about Rev. Wright. I don't know what difference putting the two together would have made, this isn't a dam@ned chemistry set.

[springsm]

All of the POWs were offered the chance to go home early IF they denounced this country for war crimes and all knew that it was treasonous to do so. I think only one took it up and he was quite ill. So this was not a heroic step...he just used it as one. McCain was not a hero in that Hotel Hanoi. And I am not dissing the fact that he survived. That was a fete, but others had it worse.
And Wright is not the evil depiction of satan that they and the media would like you to believe.

[stevensjohn26]

Wow, you probably wouldn't have said the same vicious things about Kerry in 2004 when everyone knew he was a phony...he even threw fake medals over the white house fence for a photo op...nice..

[Pleneras]

I just posted the same thing! All of them were offered the same release. McCain did not do anything different then the other POW's. It's funny how they constantly use this as a McCain character while avoiding the mention of his voice tapes aired continuously at the prison and other locations.

[pir anha]

you know, i do think it's heroic to turn such a chance down, because it takes courage to stand up to torture, and words are cheap in that context. heck, i'd say anything just to get away from the abuse. (which is why torture is such a lousy way to get the truth from people; almost all will say what they think is expected from them.)

what i dislike about mccain is that he pretends what did was anything special beyond what all his fellow PoWs did. yes, it was heroic. they were _all_ heroic.

you're absolutely correct about wright.

[grata2ude]

Davis wouldn't know character if it walked up to him and introduced itself.

[Interested Party]

Why are you continuing to spew this hatred? Obama won.

[Haditup2here]

"Character matters -- especially when no ones looking"

. . . . Can we say Keating 5.

[matthewmilad]

Title of the story should be:
"Obama Could Have Won With Bigger Margin"

[NoSandwiches]

He said he approved of the message. Did he lie?
You better believe that his DAD was looking at how his son acted in the POW camp.
Also, it is hard to walk out of a sermon when you aren't there.
Lastly, that was a GREAT sermon and entirely appropriate when you watch it in context.

pfffffft!

[Pupster]

Bottom line: It's not a very good commercial.

[truthglow]

And McCain was not a good candidate. Obama was always going to win, no matter what kind of commercial was played. If the Republicans went with this one, the Democrats would have gone with the Keating Five, in addition to McCain's own "dirty" reverends (and he had them)! He knew that, and that was the real reason he didn't air this commercial, NOT because of any beneficent reasons he might have had.

[capalzo]

People, have we forgotten the night of the election, McCain did not run the attached Wright, but he did run a Wright throughout the country. What are we giving him credit for?????

[Palemoon]

" 'Long before the world knew of John McCain or Barack Obama, one of them spent five years in a hellhole because he refused early release to honor his fellow prisoners... "

That statement from the ad is an outright lie. According to Colonel Ted Guy's own accounts, McCain was ORDERED not to take his early release, which was given to someone else. McCain never had a chance to refuse, because he never did refuse it.

[Gib]

Maybe the chance of having it contradicted stopped McCain from authorizing the ad. Certainly the Wright ban story isn't credible, given how Wright was used later.

[style]

Mcain deserves no credit for his concession speech. Mccains and Palin campaign incited so much hate and racism that if he had not calmed some of his supporters , We would have endured a very violent post elelection.
Mccain owed America the eloquent two faced concession speech he gave.

[CaliforniaJake]

Sorry McCain and Fred Davis, using the ad wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Obama still would have won.