This ad was not meant for TV but, it was sent out to supporters of McCain. This is the most disgusting ad they could have made. How low does the McCain campaign have to go. They twist Obama’s words and takes moments in his speeches out of context. Let the negative campaigning begin people. They actually depict Obama as some sort of church leader or preacher, and theres a guest spot featuring Moses. Now the McCain campaign is using religion to ask a way to get people to vote for McCain, please if anyone on the religious right stands for this then Im very surprised. Heres the ad.
Doesn’t the ad accurately depict the phenomenon of “Obamania”? Whether or not Obama believes his own press, don’t many his followers seem to see him – or their vision of him – exactly as the video shows? Obama has become a symbol and is now both more and less than a man.
I get the feeling that McCain and his camp are infatuated with Barack Obama.
Actually as a supporter I see Obama as a politician not a freaking guy who is all things mystic and magical and Moses.
jonolan, I think you’re getting confused with the giddiness over McCain’s self-proclaimed maverickiness.
This ad is a wash, with a possible residual edge to Obama.
Obama supporters will chuckle, but say to themselves, “Yeah, it’s true… and that’s why we love him”
Opponents who fear Barack will say, “Yeah, it’s true… and that’s why we fear him.”
And those still undecided will say, “Oh yeah? I want to know more about this guy who is able to inspire so many. Is he for real?”
And so, advantage Obama; if he loses the hubris and pedals back on “His Oneness,” and gets back to running against 8 years of GOP rule instead of running for President of the World, he just might be able to pull this thing off.
I thought the ad was hysterical.
You people need to lighten up.
I didn’t see John McCain at the end of the ad saying that he approved the message. Is this ad the real deal or is it just garbage thrown out there to cause hatred toward McCain? Why would a contender say that his opponent is the one anyway? And the Moses bit, could it get any more cheesy?
Obama says extremely arrogant things all the time. McCain just made an ad of his greatest hits. The only reason you’re disgusted is because you know it’s true and it forces you to face an unpleasant truth.
You say this is disgusting and “out of context,” but..this is basically all he ever says. Nothing substantial ever comes out of his mouth anyway.
This email is humorous in its content, but on a deeper level as a “christian” it is blasphemous. It is as if they are saying that Obama is Jesus and this is the second coming. I hate to say that it takes a man of little moral conviction to use a deeply respected religious belief and use it to poke fun at his rival opponent. I guess it looks into the soul of the lost “maverick”.
this ad is disgusting, I got the e-mail that john McCain sent with that video in it, and as a evanagelical I don’t approve of it and McCain makes it harder and harder for me to vote for him each day.
agentsunshine (and I doubt your anything but sunshine)
Obviously your one of those Low Information voters because if you weren’t then you would know that Obama doesn’t go around saying these things. These comments were taken you of context, I was at one of those events in the video that McCain took out of context.
Its great and sad how people like you can believe a 3 second sound bite…but that sounds like an issue that you can solve in therapy.
To me this ad is disgusting because of the fact that McCain puts these ads out there and the media plays the video and then, ignorant lazy voters like agent”sunshine” never hear the real issues. The media is supposed to be there so that lazy voters like agent”sunshine” don’t have to do their own research on where the candidates stand.
I found the ad mildly amusing, though of course virtually everything in it was taken out of context. The GOP obviously has figured out that with no meaningful issues, negative campaigning is their only chance of victory–that’s why almost all of their advertising talks far more about Obama than about McCain. It’s sad that the “straight-talk express” has run so far off the rails.
I do look forward to the debates, when McCain can tell Obama: “I knew Moses. Moses was a friend of mine. And you’re no Moses.”
I’ll admit I’m not well informed on the candidate’s policies. But as a Christian this ad was offensive to me, thought it was sarcastically meant. I think McCain should be more careful and more sensitive to people of the Christian faith because, let’s face it, they’re a big part of his target audience. I didn’t mind so much until the whole Moses thing happened. That Biblical story is sacred to a lot of people and shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are some things that we just shouldn’t “lighten up” about.
Everything is always taken out of context, no matter who says what, the opposing side is going to take it and put a totally different spin on it than what was meant pr actually said.
I think disgusting is a strong term for this – like James, I found it amusing, along the lines of something SNL would do. LOL
Don’t know about disgusting but it’s definitely bizarro.
It’s subliminally linking 2 blonde women with a an uppity black candidate.
Of course, that’s never, ever, been an issue in American history that would cause a lynch party, would it?
Obviously, I’m talking about the previous McCain attack ad — which is itself a strategy from them — throw up some mud, when you get called on it, throw up some different mud.
And the way the press is organized, they can’t handle seeing more than one shiny new object in their path, and focus simply on the latest one. (as well as most bloggers who have no knowledge or sense of history).
But they’re all part of a strategy:
Obama ain’t regular (read: white) folk. He’s scary. He might be Muslim. AND HE’S BLACK!
it’s basically how obama presents himself…if it’s blasphemous then it’s obama who has committed blasphemy… all politics are disgusting, how is this any different or new? i guess obama girl, and the multitude of images the press prints with obama having glowing lights and halos hovering around his head are some how magical and enlightening as opposed to disgusting blasphemy?
as the other guy said, lighten up…(added) this ain’t the Middle East
Topography, is condescension your only argument? I’m familiar with the context of all of those comments, and while some of them may seem more extreme outside their original context, they are all nevertheless very arrogant. None of these comments magically become humble when in their original context.
Contrast that with when Obama claimed that McCain wanted “100 years war” in Iraq. That was a lie that he concocted by twisting a statement McCain made that he wanted troops in Iraq for a long time, after the war, like in Korea. Obama completely changed the meaning of what McCain said from peace to war. In this scenario, McCain hasn’t changed the meaning of anything Obama has said.
“In this scenario, McCain hasn’t changed the meaning of anything Obama has said.”
That’s incorrect. When Obama said “I have become a symbol of America returning to our best traditions,” that was part of a quote saying exactly the opposite of how it’s used here–in the original, he was saying that it wasn’t all about him.
Incidentally, I believe the quote about “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” comes from the closing pages of evangelical Jim Wallis’ book, “God’s Politics.”
fredshelm- its only condenscension if you are the one mad about what Topography said. What he said was true, low information voters are going to believe stuff like this even though its taken out of context.
The reason we know that low information voters buy into stuff like this because McCain is actually going to to spend nearly $150,000 in ad buys for that ridiculous britney-paris ad. Low information voters are the ones that bought into the Karl Rove-Bush strategy.
Also as one of the few evangelicals commenting I personally think this ad is disgusting. We take bible stories seriously, and using Moses in an add to compare with Obama is disgusting. We are a nation of free speech though.
I also recieve the mccain e-mail with this video in it and with the word donate in the e-mail. If they think Im going to donate to the McCain campaign after seeing this video, then they need to think again.
McCain just lost my vote after this week of negative campaigning. I voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. Americans are not going to buy into this negative campaigning again.
Calling Obama racists saying he played the race card when he didn’t, putting britney and paris with obama, and his lack of disrespect for Obama..a fellow senator that worked with mccain on immigration and who mccain praised for Obama’s work with the comprehensive immigration bill…McCain is a joke and a fraud. I was on the fence but, this week I heard Obama talking about tax cuts and economic security and this week I heard McCain talking about raising social security tax and in a closed door fundraiser saying he might actually raise taxes oh and constitently talking about Obama. I know who Im voting for.
“fredshelm- its only condenscension if you are the one mad about what Topography said.” — Janice
With all due respect, that’s not what condescension means. Here, try this:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/condescension
I was referring to Topography’s comment that people who aren’t voting for Obama are “low information” voters that need therapy. That is condescension. Incidentally, your post too engages in this same form of attack – putting down the person you’re disagreeing with rather than discussing the issue.
James McPherson, I’m afraid that is incorrect. Obama was clear that he felt the positive reaction he received to that particular speech was due to the nature of his success, rather than he as a person. What made it arrogant was his claim to symbolize the nature of that success – i.e. America’s best traditions. With all due respect, I don’t think you quite understand the nuance of this statement. Ask yourself, would you ever claim to represent all that had ever been good in America?
Obama’s exact quote: “It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”
Fredshelm, I don’t see “his success” mentioned there, but I do see the exact words (left out of Dana Milbank’s article, the ad, and most Fox News mentions) that it “is not about me at all. It’s about America.” So I think my understanding of the the nuance is better than yours. Regardless, there is no “nuance” whatsoever in the McCain ad–which I still find somewhat amusing, just typically slanted and wrong. I suspect the distorted nature of it is why it runs only on the candidate’s web site and is spread via email, rather than as part of a TV campaign.
I am constantly amazed by how the right manipulates religion (in both directions) to their ends. This ad made McCain’s people look really bad.
I agree with James McPherson, and Fredshelm obviously you didn’t understand what a Obama was said or what topography or Janice was saying. And isn’t it also condescending to put the definition of condenscending in your comment…I just thought I would mention that.
Obviously if your voting on this ad and other ridiculous things because you think Obama is arrogant and not researching a candidate on the issues, then I also think your a low information voter.
By you criticizing Janice and Topography based on that, then you yourself seem to imply that all McCain voters are low information voters, which is obviously not true.
And NEWS FLASH-POLITICIANS ARE ARROGANT AND OVERLY CONFIDENT, they have to be or no one would vote for them. McCain ran a radio ad calling himself President, I don’t know about you but I think thats arrogant. In Fact a CNN poll showed that only 37% think Obama is arrogant and 34% think McCain is arrogant, statistical tie.
James, the “nuance” I was referring to has to do with the word “returning”. Obama’s claim has been all along that he will “change” America and bring back wonderful things that used to be. The arrogance comes from the context of his campaign. Calling himself a symbol of that so-called return to our best traditions is arrogant. I don’t see how it could be argued otherwise in the context of his campaign. It is one thing for a politician to call for a reform, another for him to claim to be a symbol of reform – that demands that we believe he has acheived some sort of transcendence.
Janice misused the term, I posted a correction. I’m always trying to improve my English and will do so by being corrected. I am amazed that anyone would interpret such a benign statement as condescending.
I am not voting on this ad. I do not vote on ads. If anything, I make ads so that would be pretty silly. Sorry, I don’t fit any of Obama’s caricatures of his opponents. A quick question – what is this supposed to mean:
“By you criticizing Janice and Topography based on that, then you yourself seem to imply that all McCain voters are low information voters, which is obviously not true.” — sensico
????????
It seems you are suggesting that I implied somewhere that all McCain voters are “low information” voters. I never said that nor implied it. As is such, this sentence is confusing.
A certain degree of arrogance in presidential candidates is to be expected, yes, I’m glad you concede that, but there is also a threshold where too much is too much. Do you have a link to the radio ad? I’m not sure why you conclude that I’m a “low information” voter, because I’m a professional political operative. I spend 12 hours a day collecting information. Apparently, that’s “low information” by your standards.
I could be wrong, but this debate doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. On a lighter note, have you seen the recent Obama debate? Check out the transcript here:
http://fredshelm.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/the-great-obama-vs-obama-debate/
Well, sorry I don’t have your “resume”. And that little link you provided is a joke, I hope that steps up your credentials as a “professional political operative”.
It is a joke. You know, meant to make you laugh. You might not find it funny seeing Obama flip flop so much though. I don’t take my random blogging too seriously, neither should you.
I say score 2 for Sensico and ZERO for fredshelm. And I thought you done commenting because the debate seemed to not be going anywhere.
Seriously fredshelm you did imply that all mccain supporters were low information voters by taking what Topography said out of context and attacking it. Fredshelm, your game of gotcha is a losing one for you.
How disgustingly ridiculous. Associating politics with religion, ew! A feeling of nervousness is given from this. It is manipulative and horrible.
Tocar, does it not strike you as somewhat childish to apply a “score” to a civil discussion. I’m of the mind that Obama supporters claimed to be interested in such things, not emotional gladiatorial debates with “gotchas” and “scores”.
I never said at any point that I felt that McCain supporters were somehow “low information” voters – others were doing that. I’m not sure how this confusion arose.
Oh, and Tocar, please read the last little bit of my long post.
Sensico, you do not need my resume to be well informed. I was not knocking you. I was explaining why your attack against me as a “low information” voter was pretty silly.
Dude, Im actually a Ron Paul supporter and will be voting for Bob Barr since Ron Paul isn’t in the race. I could care less about McCain or Obama supporters, I was just adding to the conversation and stating my observations and thanks for being CONDESCENDING.
Being critical of your actions is not condescending. Being critical of you as a person, which I did not do, might’ve been. Is it so much to ask that we understand the words we use? Before Tocar becomes offended again, this is not condescension – I use the dictionary at least a dozen times a day to look up words I don’t know. Why do I do this? Because I don’t want to confuse anyone or waste anyone’s time. I’m just finding it difficult to discuss anything at all when some of those I am discussing with use words without regard to their meaning. I, incorrectly in this case, assume that they mean what they said, and confusion ensues. I cannot read minds.
It has occurred to me that the likely reason that sensico’s sentence which made no sense was due to a misuse of the word “imply”. Please tell me this isn’t true.
Our effectiveness of language depends on the familiarity of concepts as we express them. When this breaks down nothing is accomplished.
Lastly, while you accuse me of being a low-information voter, sensico, you seem averse towards any rememdy. You mentioned a radio ad which I was unfamiliar with, so I asked for a link or reference. You have not provided anything of the sort.
fredshelm you are weird, Sensico is probably sleep like most of America, who is going to be up all night trying to get you a link for a radio ad, if you weren’t a low information voter then you would google the radio ad and get the link yourself. Matter of fact I think I’ll also go to sleep and see where this conversation goes in the morning.
Well since I am up and am also about to go to sleep, I will provide lazy fredshelm the ad I think sensico was talking about,
http://thepage.time.com/2008/05/02/mccain-wraps-up-week-long-health-care-push-with-new-tv-ad/
I don’t know what specific radio ad he was talking about. Therefore, how will I know what to google? Just “McCain radio ad”? He’s done tons of ads – sensico is the only one who knows exactly what ad he was referencing.
Jason, I work through the night. Not sure why you brought up my work habits, seems irrelevant to me.
yeah I was referring to that one also heres another http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/31/0219/02631, sorry not a radio ad it TV ad, but McCain also runs radio ads as though hes Regan.