TPM Reader JB …
I think this ad is good, not great, but good. It answers an attack about Obama’s character with charges against McCain’s policies. Yes, it pushes back. That is the good part. But it doesn’t fight fire with fire. I don’t think we need to go as low as the McCain campaign, but Obama really needs to take some shine off the rose of McCain. Enough complimenting his patriotism. Biden should never again say McCain is very qualified. They need to make it clear that he is a forgetful, old, hothead, who only wants to shoot, but can’t shoot straight.
I think getting MoveOn out of the ad game is a bad idea. They can say things the campaign can’t. They can create viral videos the campaign can’t. Someone good needs to create a video of everytime McCain has used the POW excuse and then add some line like, “And when you get sick and have no health insurance, John McCain will blame it on his being a POW.” The one thing Karl Rove was right about was that the strength of a candidate is the target. Everyone already knows the weaknesses. When you remove the strength, the weakness is all voters have to think about. It is time to attack his service and maverick image. It shouldn’t be hard…he is making an ass of himself everyday that he is allowed to speak.
