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

[fem56]

I give John McCain credit for not using it though it would have been pretty darn nasty. I have a feeling that John McCain knows that Rev. Wright, no matter how flamboyant and inflamatory (he is a product of his times), knows he has done a great deal of good and is pretty mainstream really. He has been to the White House a few times even.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

Wright even has a letter of commendation written by the White House doctor under the direction of a former PotUS. It would look pretty bad for someone trying to get to the White House to knock someone who has already been honored by the White House.

[Bruupo]

And he was a marine. I wish that would get mentioned every time they talk about Wright.

McCain was always yapping about how we shouldn't question the patriotism of people just because they hadn't served- how could he question the patriotism of someone who did?

[ListenToTruth]

If McCain had run the Rev. Wright ad, then he and Palin couldn't keep up all the underhanded rumors that Obama was a Muslim. My guess is McCain's political advisors decided the Muslim rumors would be more harmful to Obama than Rev. Wright. Too bad they were too dimwitted to realize the most Americans have FINALLY wised up on the Muslim and fear mongering BS.

[Gib]

That was my theory too.

[PAposter]

"Character matters, especially when no one is listening".

Trust me, we listened, and listened and listened, and then we made an educated decision. I have no regrets, expect for not fighting harder to see McCain's military records.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

Fact is Wright was a Marine. It would be unbecoming to go after Obama for associating with a Marine who was chosen to provide medical attention to a sitting President, as Wright did for Johnson.

No one would ever go after anyone else for associating with a reverend of a mainstream church, like the United Church of Christ. As a white Moderate from the midwest, even I can see that the only reason they really had for criticizing Obama or Wright was because they truly didn't understand race in America.

[Bruupo]

I'm always glad to see someone mention Wright's service. I think there is still a lot of people who have never heard about it.

[tbone99]

Lets be fair Gotta give McCain credit here - he said he wouldn't and he didn't. And if he had, it would have hurt.

[Gib]

But he did, in the last days, blanketing the country with Wright ads.

[tbone99]

Well - "he" didn't . An independent PAC did, tho' if they did it against his wishes it only goes to prove that he was incapable of leading of his own forces.

[greysells2]

Anything to win at any cost. That's leadership we need. So much for character. So much for the superiority of our political system.

[oscartucker]

This is a non-story; the ad was not run nationally. I don't think it would have changed anything in the election, but I do believe the backlash would have been great upon McCain and his team. I am glad that McCain chose not to run the ad, but his decision doesn't endear him to me. I need a rest from all of this, and I have decided that I need a rest from Chris Matthews show "Hardball", too. Everyone is trying to come up with some "NEWS". The Liberals are pitted against the Progressives are pitted against the President Elect. I, like others, can hardly wait until January 20th, but we must. Then I am sure the media will go "full force" for any kind of story that's possible or not possible. Everybody tries to guess who PE Obama will nominate or appoint, then when it's not who they wanted, there's all manner of tongue wagging. No one takes the time to think that someone (the ONE they wanted) could have been asked, but that person may have had all manner of reasons as to why he or she just could not accept. Why not focus on the administration that's still in the White House? There's PLENTY to be still looked at and figured/ found out.

[jnratliff]

I don't know why anyone would call davis a genius? Seems more like an idiot that had some luck.
Not a genius!

[Mike4Obama]

I bet these jokers created this last week and released it now in an attempt to repair his shattered image.

[rockyersocksoff]

What appalled me is Brain Ross, so-called investigative journalist, was the one who presented this bogus story on GMA. What's next? "Brian Ross investigates Joe Biden's hair plugs?"

Talk about missing the expiration date. Who gives a rat's a$$ about this now? The voters had ample opportunity to judge the character of ALL the candidates, and plenty of ink and air about Ayers and Wright etc. AND they spun it like it was McCain's superior honor that kept a lid on the ad. BS!

The ad may not have aired because McCain didn't want to risk ads about his adultery, and Palin didn't want to see ads featuring her Alaskan Independence Party founder saying how he hated America and its "damned flag."

Bunch of d1cks the whole lot of them!!

[Einstein44]

Anymore in the archives to present since it is over !!!!

[jynx]

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see this. Dragging on the same old campaign BS really adds to solving the current economic crisis and ending the wars in the Middle East. Thanks so much to the media outlets who broke this old, tired story that got played out during the primary. I feel so much more secure knowing our media are out there investigating the stories that really matter in these turbulent times.

[KillBillV2]

The ad should have ended like "One would go off to be one of the greatest Presidents while the other will go off into a retirement home and his running mate gets beat up by a deer she shot"

[maggsa]

Can you imagine if motor mouth Palin was now the elected VP? What a headache!

[drund]

Oh. My. God. I don't care that they didn't air it. It's bad enough that they had it. This is John McCain employing Karl Rove. Yet another reason why he deserved the loss he got.