Ed, it strikes me as extremely ugly to suggest that someone who served in the military and was prisoner of war is an empty suit.

It strikes me as extremely surprising that you would assume that military service and being a prisoner of war qualifies someone to be president in any way. While I do not believe that McCain is an empty suit in any way, I can’t help but be confused by those that use his military service record as an example of his intelligence or effectiveness as president.

There are plenty of other examples one can use to point out McCain’s potential as our future president. If you don’t, however, I might be forced to “consider anything you say here as the easily dismissable rantings of rabid partisan.” [sic]

And McCain says nothing but lies and baseless character assassinations, while Mr. Obama is nothing but the actual issue.

Rich, I’m guessing you were being facetious with this, yeah?

I think is point is not that Obama is a celebrity so don’t vote for him. I think his point is that Obama is nothing but a celebrity, so don’t vote for him.

Well, that’s obviously false too. Either way it makes McCain look foolish for creating the ad.

And McCain says nothing but lies and baseless character assassinations, while Mr. Obama is nothing but the actual issue.

But at least Rove’s consistent — it’s only a short jump from “most private president” to “most secretive president.” As if keeping things from the public is a good thing.

And Justin, I love the way you push the MEME that McCain is just as much a celebrity as Obama. Subtle, but nice.

If you don’t think John McCain has purposefully and methodically crafted a “maverick” image for himself so he could run for president in 2000 and 2008, you’ve got some serious blinders on.

McCain is one of the few true political celebrities out there, and that’s been the case long before we even knew who Barack Obama was.

As I’ve said, I don’t begrudge him this, but when he starts talking about how somebody else is a celebrity and that’s why you shouldn’t vote for him? Come on…you’re telling me you don’t call BS on that?

For example, he wanted to keep his POW records private so badly that he sealed access to certain POW records for everyone.. .pissing off lots of veterans in the process. See here for their reactions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBiti-ZbeO0
The public just knows that he was a POW for years and doesn’t know if the rumors that he made anti-american propaganda tapes is true or not. He could open up POW records and end the rumors..

Another example is the misunderstanding by the public that he is a typical average guy. He’s not. He doesn’t let the public see him surrounded by the vast wealth that he enjoys.

There’s also the public misconception that he’s the “maverick” .. because in past years he went against the Republican status quo. He’s flip-flopped on almost every issue he had with the party and now tows the line for them. Go watch some clips of him from 2000 compared to the John McCain of today: http://therealmccain.com/

And Justin, I love the way you push the MEME that McCain is just as much a celebrity as Obama. Subtle, but nice.

You just proved the whole point of Rove’s claim. John McCain was never in the Air Force. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and former Naval Aviator. You have so much knowledge on random bad parts of McCain and yet fail to know even the most basic knowledge about the man.

I agree with Rove on this point. McCain has one of the greatest recent American war stories. It is on the same level as Admiral Stockdale or Colonel Ripley, yet he refuses to talk about it with the American people. Why is up for debate.

Justin, I think you’re making a GREAT point about McCain and all the time he has spent leveraging celebrity. It’s quite clear to me that Rove and his ilk are eager to portray McCain as the humble everyman Joe-Bag-of_Doughnuts in contrast to Obama.

But its pretty much a big lie. McCain has been glad-handing his way round the pop culture for quite some time now.In that time, he has not received the depth or breadth of celebrity that Obama has, but clearly it’s not due to a lack of trying. So all you folks out there gobbling up JohnMcCain’s “harley davidsons make the sound of freedom” bullshit need to take a second look.

No, the only time McCain is going to bring up religion in this campaign will be in regards to Rev. Wright.

This just shows how out of touch Karl Rove is these days. Does he really want the media peeling back the public image of John McCain, and looking into his various scandals, his hypocrisy on campaign finance reform, his multiple mansions and $500 shoes, or his less than stellar navy academic and performance record?