New McCain Ad: It’s 3:00am……
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, McCainJohn McCain is out with a new ad today that picks up on the 3:00am meme that HIllary Clinton started during her primary battle with Barack Obama, and continues the McCain campaign’s recent strategy of using Hillary’s own words against the man she now says she supports:
Here’s the transcript:
CLINTON AD: It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?
ANNCR: Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism.
HILLARY CLINTON: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.
ANNCR: Hillary’s right. John McCain for President.
This ad was, of course, inspired by the commercial that Hillary Clinton put out during the week before the Texas and Ohio primaries. The quotes from Hillary come directly from a press conference in March:
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and the presumtive Republican nominee John McCain offer the experience to be ready to tackle any crisis facing the country under their watch, but Barack Obama simply offers more rhetoric. “I think you’ll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say,†she said. “He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.†Clinton was referring to Obama’s anti-war speech he delivered in Chicago before entering the United States Senate.
The Clinton recycled the 3:00am idea for an ad on domestic issues in early April, and the McCain Campaign released a similar spot a few days later.
For the most part, this is a good ad in that it accomplishes what the campaign clearly set out to do — raise doubts about Obama’s readiness to lead on foreign policy issues, which happens to be McCain’s strength. For that reason, I pretty much agree with James Joyner’s take:
This is easily McCain’s most effective ad yet. It has none of the feel of cheapness the the constant invocation of his days in the Hanoi Hilton or his using Joe Biden’s kind words against Biden. He’s playing his strength against his opponent’s weakness while at the same time exploiting bitterness that Hillary supporters feel over their candidate losing.
(…)
While Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience is somewhat overstated — most incoming presidents have had precious little of it — undecided voters genuinely worry about Obama’s qualifications in that regard. This spot does a good job reinforcing those concerns.
Which is, after all, exactly the message that McCain needs to get across right now.
Cross-posted at Below The Beltway.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:24 am
McCain has nothing to say about his own self? What a loser.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
McCain does not need to say anything about himself. We know him inside out as a man of integrity, fully qualified to become our next president. We need to know more about Obama because we don’t really know the guy. Are we willing to gamble our future, our children’s future with an inexperienced man?
WAKE UP, AMERICA!
August 26th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
This election is about hope (Obama) vs. fear (McCain). If you don’t know Obama or McCain, educate yourself. This is about the future of our country. No time to be lazy.
3AM call? What about sitting there for 8+ minutes with 3rd graders while the World Trade Center is coming down? Or watching the Olympics while Russia invades Georgia?
Or supporting an invasion to support the oil companies because they donated money to his campaign.
America doesn’t need another career politician. We need fresh ideas to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I saw a comment somewhere suggesting that we should do a 3:00 PM ad showing McCain wide awake and still unable to cope rationally.
They wanted to show him old and dozing, but I’d prefer one that shows him foaming at the mouth and nuking England.