"Hot chicks dig Obama," a new John McCain ad proclaims

Another day, another John McCain Web ad that depicts Barack Obama as an air-headed creation of celebrity culture.

References and images include Elvis, The Beatles, Bono, Wayne and Garth (of "Saturday Night Live" fame) and, most improbably, a Taco Bell (!).

[UPDATE: The use of Wayne and Garth -- the two stoner characters memorably etched by Michael Myers and Dana Carvey -- came to the attention of copyright lawyers and led to a slight re-editing of the spot, as The Times' Dan Morian relates here.]

Most controversially, the spot features one young woman complimenting Obama's "aura," and a second young woman singling out his "very soft eyes" for praise. And then there's a fellow saying of the 47-year-old U.S. senator and father of two who defied long odds to emerge as one of the two main contenders for the most powerful office in the world: "Hot chicks dig Obama."

The ad begins with an excited narrator saying: "You've seen him in London, Paris and Berlin. Now you, too, can join 'The One's' fan club in America."

Later, the narrator cheerily asserts: "We know he doesn't have much experience. And isn't ready to lead. But that doesn't mean he isn't dreamy."

McCain surrogates will light-heartedly defend the ad as simply another effort to inject humor into the serious business of running for the White House.

Others will wonder how much more demeaning the McCain camp can get toward its rival -- and whether the Democrat and his aides will figure out a way to effectively counter the ongoing assault.

The new ad surfaces on the same day that Mark Penn -- unabashedly continuing to offer his insights at Politico.com after helping guide Hillary Clinton from frontrunner in the Democratic race to also-ran -- gives his professional blessing to the much-discussed McCain "Celebrity" ad that linked Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

Writes Penn: "Clever negative advertising works. That is reality."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Josh]

http://obamascrapbook.com/index.htm

Viral this. Now!
Post this address everywhere!

Make Obama human to independants. A great and humanizing introduction to Obama.

This is needed to help inoculate him from the coming onslaught of October swiftboaters. So make it viral, and post it everywhere.

[Aiken Blue]

It's just demeaning and vicious, a newer level of low. McCain just sinks in terms of integrity. He, more than anybody else should know that mudslinging is disgusting. Vote for Obama, visit WHYOBAMAO8.ORG!!!

[Renee]

That is very ugly coming from the Mccain camp This is not a Mccain of 2000 This is a low,very low from Mccain very unhappy wth John Mccain fight on the issues John Mccain

[Ugly Woman]

Well I thought it was insightful. I'm voting for McCain

[KiloWat]

You McCain folks missed a golden opportunity. The ad should have stated that while hot chicks dig Obama that smart, thinking women see that's he's just telling people what they want to hear....just like that smarmy guy in school used to do to get what he wanted.

[Madison]

Great! hot chicks love Obama....so what? everyone does!!! GOOD FOR OBAMA!
McCain is pathetic.

[1080Pure]

Hahaha thats awesome... and it's so true. Obama sucks people... You're blind sheep if you don't see it. Great Ad.

[JT]

Obama has a senate vote keeping companies from exploring for oil off our own shores.

I like Obama as a rock star, I don't like him in charge of my children's future.

[Steve C]

obamas crapbook! That's GREAT!!

[katie]

This is a complete fabrication of Obama's tax plan. Total Lies http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html

Someone needs to call him on these LIES

[Brian K.]

As an Obama supporter, I find it humorous. It in no way degrads Obama... it's not attacking his talking points or policy. McCain is really belittling the American population with this video. Only a real moron would take this seriously and lets take a good look at who is not voting for Obama. Exactly.

[Stephen Fisher]

McCain is really setting himself up with these ads. Just wait until they debate. McCain will be sorry he ever insinuated that Obama was unequipped to do the job.

[kadesha]

They're both completely worthless. Why bother voting when the election is bought & paid for by big corporations?

[Jill]

Is McCain in high school? He sounds like a scorned child with all these "campaigns" of what - jokes?

Just proves that a stewardship under McCain will really be a continuance of the immature dealings we currently endure under W. Disgusting and immature beyond belief.

What our country needs is a grown up to run it Mr. McCain. Not a child with these lame lame lame attempts at "humor" - GROW UP. I am more than ever showing up to vote OBAMA this fall.

We are crossing the line because of YOU McCain and your ridiculous campaign of little thought or imagination. We are not a nation of immature high schoolers - we are looking for a LEADER out of this mess your boss has left for us. Disgusted.....

[TurboFool]

This is just plain disgusting. For one thing, it's not even particularly clever. For another, is it really that effective to actually point out how popular your opponent is? And then to use the craziest of a person's followers as examples. "Ooooh, I don't want to look like a nutcase like them, so I won't vote for him." And it's incredibly demeaning. I can't believe this is what is being stooped to. Not the usual tactics of attacking credibility or specific policies. Oh, no. This guy's just too popular and too attractive. This is a new low for the Republican party.

[Joe]

I usually support the Republican contender, but this is just pathetic!

Do we really want someone who acts like a 3 year old in the White House?

[Eric B]

Its funny because its true.

I thought he was great too for a while, but when you start really looking you see that he doesn't know what he is talking about. He has some good lines but after a question or two he is out of answers. if he would do the townhall meetings we would all see that, but he wants to keep that exposure to a minimum. They are very carefully packaging Obama so that you can't see that he is just the wizard of Oz but no one is behind the curtain.

[O.P. Neon]

Amazingly, Cindy McCain is included in that group. Poor John. He is also lost again, forgetting about the Buffalo Beauty Contestants he was salivating about, while Bush posed with the athletic ones in China.

[Brian K.]

I'd link McCain's scrapbook, but the Museum of Natural History won't release photographs of the artifacts within.

[Rob D]

I'd like to see a McCain ad dealing with his position on the solving the economic mess he and his war monger Republician friends have leveled on this country. Attack ads unfortunately work, but they are no solution to the environmental, economic and moral mess this nation is experiencing from the likes of the Republician Party and its surrogates. We don't need more Karl Rove types to destroy our future. Wake up America!

[Anna]

I normally don't pay much attention to the mudslinging and try to stick to the issues, but the insinuation of the ad is that "hot chicks" can't also be intelligent because if they were, they wouldn't be supporting Obama. Why can't a woman be attractive and intelligent at the same time? I consider myself both attractive and intelligent and I'm also an Obama supporter...and if I weren't before, I might consider it now that McCain is letting his chauvinism and tendency to stereotype people show through.

[Ken]

McCain is also at risk of ridicule.

Starting with his fifth to last place in his graduating class at the Naval Academy.

Then there is the cheating on his first wife. Did he pull and Edwards, or did Edwards pull a McCain? A question worthy of a public vote in itself.

And McCain's lack of support for bills that would improve the VA treatment of vets, or improved ZGI Bills. Well, sure, McCain grew up in the elite world of Admirals, always had money behind him and an obvious disdain for enlisted personnel. It they ain't rich don't bother taking care of then

Behind the image developed for the campaign there is a lot of issues that McCain can get hit on in October when spending advertising dollars will really count.

[Blip]

Why the hell would McCain mock voters? I could see maybe trying to pick on something Obama said... but to go after the electorate like this is just stupid.

Maybe this ad is an attempt to brace himself for losing next November. Instead of blaming it on his foolish campaign, bad personality, and lack of attention to the issues... He can just call the voters stupid. And for what? Being excited about politics? Liking a charismatic and intelligent candidate?

I hope someone interviews these women. McCain tried smacking around Paris and he got pwned. It would be funny if these women released an ad defending themselves from McCain.

[MamaFogle]

I can't believe that they actually used donor money to put this piece of crap ad together. What a waste of time and resources. Mr. McCain, I actually attended two of your speaking appearances and VOTED for you in the primary before you started all of this negative nastiness. Now I am disappointed and disgusted at the turn that you have taken from being honorable and respectable, to wallowing in the muck just like the worst of them. You have not only LOST my vote, but now I make sure to tell everyone I know not to vote for you. How's that for a use of time and resources?

[Joe Canadian]

Is McCain running for high school president or the leader of the free world? Pathetic.

[Larry]

These ads are outstanding. The message is getting through, even to the ditzyest Yobamites. Obama, or Reverend Wright's step-and-fetch-it mentoree, is a ditz. Anyone who has not heard this bone-head speak without a teleprompter, should. Obama is the Slickmeister without brains.

[Brian K.]

Wow. How deaming to women. Way to alienate those sore Hillary supporters.

[Anthony]

oh my god, this is ridiculous!
We're talking about the presidency here!
These guys are actually running ads that are below the lowest common denominator...
Not someone I would trust to run the country in a responsible way.

desperation shows MCain

[Enewc]

No doubt these guys have heard that negative ads discourage independents and voters who vote on substance. Unfortunately these tactics are part of an attack on our electoral system by those who can't win fairly, and who seem to count on the indifference of the majority of voters. They are doing everything they can to preserve the indifference and discourage participation. Don't let 'em!

[Debb]

McCain's obsession with young 'chicks' including Paris, Britney and Heidi has crossed over to creepy territory. What's next, Viagra commericals?

[horvath]

so mcCain is the only one one thats qualified to lead us--where? straight to hell--like the bush-chaney gang before him

[RoBoTech]

Fantastic ad!

"

This is a complete fabrication of Obama's tax plan. Total Lies http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html

Someone needs to call him on these LIES

Posted by: katie"

It's NOT a lie. Obama is going to allow Bush's tax cuts to expire. And one of those cuts is taxes on $42,000.
Spin it all you want, but whether it's a deliberate tax increase, or letting a tax increase expire, the end is the same result. Higher taxes.

[Brian K.]

Maybe when Cindy McCain becomes terminally ill, he will have an affair with one of these 'hot chicks'? McCain sure seems to like degrading the female gender for his gain.

[hesingswithfrogs]

This is John McCain trying to pull the wool over the American People's eyes. Notice how he isn't laying out his own qualifications in this sneering ad and telling the American People why he should be President. Instead, McCain is trying to get people to simply assume that HE must be "The One" by claiming that Obama isn't.

It is becoming obvious that McCain is so weak that he cannot run on the issues and is left with trying to engage in psychobabble manipulation of the American People. This psychobabble manipulation employed by McCain is designed to bypass people's consideration of qualifications actually relevant to the presidency and get them to make decisions based upon unsubstantiated and mean-spirited name-calling instead.

Without a doubt, McCain's vile tactics do work and are supported by research as being capable of manipulating public opinion. For example, one study I recently read involves having a test subject hear another person call a third person an ugly name. Without even knowing anything about the person who was called names, the subjects tended to form negative opinions about the person who was called the ugly name. It's a strange phenomenon, but it works. McCain's team of psychobabble experts (Schmidt/Rove) are obviously well versed in these sort of manipulations and are attempting to manipulate the American People into selecting their President based upon these same types of manipulations.

American People, do not be fooled. When a candidate (McCain) chooses to resort to name calling instead of discussing the issues and what could make this Country better, there is a reason for it. He's trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

[funny bone]

This ad is not an attact, funny or ugly. It's silly and wasted contributors money. All that campaign money, and this is the work product of McCain's tactic. What a group of LOSERS..... Never let your grandparents have access to alot of money.

I wouldn't let these people run my out house....

[Brian K.]

McCain is dumber than a bag of rocks! Don't forget McCain's economic criminal past. He was a defendent in the 1980's S&L scandal, where he ripped off the american people for millions. He's a thief, adulter, and thoroughly reprehensible individual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcdLO3jKkPo

[Obamaisbetter]

Obama graduated with a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard, therefore smart hot women like him.

McCain, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, 894th out of 899 in his graduating class. Therefore unattractive unintelligent women like him?

[Maine Man]

McCain has a sense of humor - I like even more now.

[Watts]

McCain lacks ideas of his own? That's the whole point of this ad. People are awestruck by Obama for reasons OTHER THAN HIS ideas.

McCain is using this ad to make it all about his ideas and tangible policy differences--not the soft stuff like feelings and tingles up the leg.

[Jake]

Is McCain jealous that he has no supporters who actually are excited about him?
McCain voted against voting rights for Washington DC. Weird how he wants to give foreign countries voting rights but not America.
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=15861&ca n_id=53270
McCain also opposes freedom of speech and expression.
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=V2692&ca n_id=53270
McCain would not even try to negotiate with others but would go straight to war.
McCain also wants to allow you to be locked up forever without going to trail.
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=15833&ca n_id=53270
Mccain also voted against CIA oversight, despite the fact that the CIA over the years has illegally wiretapped thousands of Americans phones, illegally tested chemical weapons on Americans, overthrow dozens of Democracies, contributed to insider stock trading, and sabotaged private companies in order to get wealth for themselves.

[David]

McCain could father a baby llama, and I still wouldn't vote for Barack Obama!

[Dave]

Yet another low blow from the McCain campaign. Propaganda, whether dishonest, downright nasty, or both, seems to be their only hope.

[PulSamsara]

Barack Obama for President of the UNITED States of America.

[Cal]

Man, if this is McCain's idea of a policy debate I no longer think he is "just like Bush". He's worse! LOL

He should stay home and make a google in his Depends.

[Joe Public]

I was comfortable with the fact that things were bound to improve, that either candidate we are looking at in 2008 would be smart enough to gather the right people around him and begin the long haul to fix the mess that W made. I mean, no one can be a bigger imbecile than W has proven to be, can they?

Wrong . . .

McCain's camp is making McCain look like a bigger moron than W. I hope the Republican party keeps this strategy up, because it's bound to put Barack in the oval office.

Who in McCain's camp could possibly believe this ad was a good idea. LMAO.

[first step]

I have a question if America is majority Christian why does the McCain campaign think it's ok to have images of Obama as Moses in one of his ads is that Christ-like, why no up roar from the Christians. Why try using double talk when stating " The One". Which is another reference to being the chosen, and not for President as McCain and his camp would like for us to think. There are alot of so-called Christians making these kind of references to Obama all I ask is why. America where is the LOVE & RIGHTEOUS.

[hesingswithfrogs]

In a Country facing unprecedented challenges, record gas prices, unending war, soaring national debt, collapsing social security, a broken health care system, a struggling environment and a redistribution of wealth in favor of a privileged few unknown before republicon rule, there is ONE candidate who doesn't take his job seriously. That candidate is John McCain.

But not taking his job seriously is nothing new for John McCain. He slacked his way through college, graduating at the bottom of his class. He slacked his way through his job in the military, crashing five planes, costing millions in tax dollars. And despite spending almost thirty years in the legislature, and chairing the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, John McCain never bothered to learn about economics. When it comes to slacking, John McCain is as good as they get.

Now John McCain is at it again. He never bothered to learn about the issues facing our country. He wouldn't be troubled with learning the difference between Sunni, Shiite, and Al Qaeda. He never found the time to pull out a map to see that Iraq does not border Pakistan. Don't we expect more of our highest and most powerful leaders?

Rather than confronting our Country's serious problems head-on and helping lead our Country back to greatness, John McCain would rather run for Joke-teller in Chief than for President. But do you blame him? What would you do if you were a lifelong slacker and knew so little about the issues that really matter? We've had enough slackers in the Oval Office. Don't we deserve better?

Obama '08

My name is hesingswithfrogs and I approve this message.

[fromnj]

FactCheck.org clearly finds that McCain's accusations of Obama about tax increases are comple fabrications.

Thanks to the person who posted this link earlier - let me post it again -
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html

I don't care if McCain's ads are juvenile, but they do need to be truthful.

[first step]

GOBAMA08GOBAMA08GOBAMA08. The future. NOMcCAINNOMcCAINNOMcCAIN. The past. Know your past to better your future.

[Avida Verde]

Yes, Hot Chix do support Barack Obama - because he is the best candidate on many issues, and more importantly has the moral integrity and good judgment to lead this country.

Let's turn negative ads into humorous support, check here:

http://hotchixdig.blogspot.com/

XOXO,
Avida