It also doesn't really seem to have a point that it's trying to make and, uh, frankly it's kind of crappy. (The "No." at the end was really jarring for some reason.)

i thought the ad was effective for those who are inclined to vote republican but still undecided.

they'll say, well, they both have the same ideas but the old dude has been there longer. might as well vote for the old dude.

Why did Obama referred to Senator McCain as Jim?

And why did he need to read his bracelet? He didn't know the name on it?

Now Obama is trying to claim Ahmadenijadh wasn't the leader he planned to meet with.
The video clearly shows Ahmadenijadhs picture during the debate when Obama said he would meet with him in his first year without preconditions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSFSUbMWenU

I thought McCain was in favor of "reaching across the aisle" to accomplish serious work. How do you work cooperatively with opponents when you can never find common ground -- when you can never say they are right about anything? When you can't even look them in the eye?

It probably won't get any news play but Obama is clearly a memorizer. After he is asked a question, he spends the first 2-8 seconds 'ohh'ing and Umm'ing a response, until he remembers the four sentence answer to the question.
He usually ends with another memorized line of 'working together' or some other rote line.

This is why Obama doesn't want to do town halls...you never know what an average person might ask. With a Wasington/New York talking head reporter you get the standard questions: Iran, economy, Russia, etc.

We saw this when a lady asked Obama about Hanford and he had no idea what she was talking about.

It would be nice to see a debate when they have to discuss their governing philosophy or discuss more generic situations so a trained debater and meorizer has to actually THINK, rather then REMEMBER.

The existence of this ad will further one of the main storylines emerging from the debate: McCain was contemptuous and ungracious towards his opponent, unable to so much as look him in the eye.

It's more than this, too. Did you see the CNN poll?

Asked which candidate was more likable, Obama trounced McCain 61% to 26%.

People thought John McCain was an old ornery jerk. They would feel comfortable seeing Obama in their living rooms over the next four years, being smart, cool, and fair, while they have no desire to see John McCain with his mocking, unsettling anger.

Obama they'd have a beer with, McCain they'd watch at the end of the bar as he hectored various waitstaff and quickly wore out his welcome.

"When Tucker Bounds takes to the cable channels tomorrow and is questioned about his boss's aggression, he won't be able to draw equivalence with Obama. After all, the McCain campaign itself released a video mocking Obama's conciliatory bearing."

And on what facts does Ezra base his inference that the McCain campaign will try to be consistent in its statements?

Obama they'd have a beer with

No need for further campaigning, then! Seriously, not to be snarky--and it does pains me to admit as much--but we all know that is a rather important qualification for a lot of people. I'll take what I can get, however!

Still, I look forward to seeing Obama deliver some body-blows during a future debate on domestic issues (health care and education).

When Tucker Bounds takes to the cable channels tomorrow and is questioned about his boss's aggression, he won't be able to draw equivalence with Obama.

Boy, if I were John McCain and the big problem for me in the debate was that I came off as contemptuous and ungracious, I would not want Tucker Bounds as my main surrogate. That guy reminds me of the rich kids from Scent of a Woman.

"McCain was contemptuous and ungracious towards his opponent, unable to so much as look him in the eye."

I for one find it deplorable that liberals are making fun of John McCain for having a stroke.

If McCain continues on this sour note and doesn't project some charm and likeability by at least the third debate, it's over. He will have completely blown it - not a chance in hell that he'll score that lucrative Viagra spokesman contract.

When Tucker Bounds takes to the cable channels tomorrow and is questioned about his boss's aggression, he won't be able to draw equivalence with Obama.

Tucker Bounds can't draw stick figures. Obama could have threatened to cap McCain on stage last night and poor Tucker would still have trouble making the point that Obama was mean.

copy from one blog, paste in another.

Yes, that ad is lame, but his other new one's lame to the max:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/images/26Sep_Friday_WSJ.JPG

via:
http://thismodernworld.com/4488

What does such an ad say about the McCain folks' disdain for the intelligence of their potential voters? I bet they can't look them in the eye either.

On point 2, one of those claimed instances of agreement is a lie in itself. If people recall the debate, they will remember that Obama said that he agreed that our statutory corporate rate is high, but that there are so many loopholes that nobody pays the statutory rate. So it's not really in McCain's interest to draw attention to this, because it makes him look shifty. But I guess they showed it to him while Obama was talking so he could approve it, and he was too distracted to notice.

I love the "No" at the end. It's the biggest anticlimax in advertising history. Did McCain's people not think that folks could understand rhetorical questions?

brucds: "If McCain continues on this sour note and doesn't project some charm and likeability by at least the third debate, it's over."

I don't think he has nearly that long. I actually think it's over now, but I know that might be just a bit premature. If he doesn't do great at the Town Hall he's sunk.

This is where McCain and his Schmidt/Davis slash and burn campaign tactics wind up alienating undecideds and independents. McCain may say he "reaches across the aisle," but in this debate he acted out the open contemptuousness and demonization of opponents that reasonable people have had a bellyfull of from Republicans over the last ten years. The people who made this ad are so deep inside the echo chamber that they really believe that any courtesy to one's opponent, any attempt to find merit in his ideas, is a confession of weakness. Whereas most people understand that we need to find common ground in our political life in this country, and that doing so is a sign of strength. Obama is confident enough that he can take into account other points of view and seek out areas of agreement. It's what intelligent grown-ups do. Isn't that what we want in a President?

That ad is really awful. Was it produced by a high school media team? Not only does the 'NO' at the end have an echo of a Monty Python animation, those of us who watched the debate remember that each one of those instances of Obama's agreement was followed by a "but ..." that they cut out.
Particularly the one about business taxes, the point was that John is right 'on paper', not in reality.

Perhaps, when they've lost the campaign, the people behind this ad can go back to their day job, writing movie ads with misleading snips from reviews.

"Particularly the one about business taxes, the point was that John is right 'on paper', not in reality."

This is the part that is most bizarre. Even if you didn't watch the debate, I think you still might get a sense that Obama isn't going to agree with that statement. You don't acknowledge that something is true "on paper" unless you're going to make the follow-up point about "in reality".

Were there only two good examples they could use?

(Yes!)

5. With such an ad, they establish Obama as an authority on McCain. So when the next Obama negative ad comes out, people will think "Yeah, I guess we should listen to this, since McCain himself said Obama knows what he's saying."

IF you guys think Obama won, you just don't understand Greek philosophy. Check this out from one of the geniuses at Redstate:

"This may be too esoteric, but Universals do exist and it’s McCain's authentic humanness as Plato would say, or the invisible substance between the elements as Aristotle would add, that won the Debate for McCain. So when many in the MSM are looking for a zinger, or knock-out, or one-liner, etc. to prove who won, McCain just is, and that IS requires no definition. People experience it."

This fits in well with McCain's strategy.

First it was "Obama is popular and charismatic. Vote McCain!"

Next up: "Obama is courteous and respectful. Vote McCain!"

I can't wait for their next devestating line of attack against Obama.

Truly a terrible ad. The literal argument the ad is making is that Obama has shown his unreadiness by agreeing with McCain. The only possible reaction is , WTF?

McCain could have made an ad with the message, Obama and I agree on the issues, and I'm the one with the experience and the competence. That would have required a moderately positive portrayal of Obama, and apparently that's something they just won't allow themselves.

jeebus, jeebus, that's really scary. For all their jeering about the Obamessiah or The One, none of us talk about Obama like that Redstate bit. ("I AM THAT AM" is what Yahweh translates to, isn't it? i.e., "the one who just is" is what God called himself when he announced himself to Abraham, right?)

"I am that I am" is how God described himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. YHVH (assumed to be pronounced 'Yahveh' although no one really knows) is thought be some to be derived from the root word for "to be" (HYH). The problem is that HYH has no 'v' in it, so you have to jump through some complicated hoops to derive YHVH from "to be."

PS- you see Yahweh instead of Yahveh because the scholars who did a lot of the work on God's name were Germans and in German, of course, w makes the v sound.

"I yam what I yam" is how Popeye desribed himself to Olive Oyl.

It seems like this ad, taken literally, is saying "Barack Obama thinks John McCain is right about some things. Which proves he isn't ready to lead."

Are we sure this isn't a Nader ad?

Wow, they really whiffed this one. I was concerned during the debate about the ad fodder Obama was giving up, but this? I'll take it.

McCain could have made an ad with the message, Obama and I agree on the issues, and I'm the one with the experience and the competence

Exactly. They could have ended the ad "Doesn't he have any ideas of his own?" They could have clipped in McCain explaining his crackpot position on one of these and then closed with the Obama clip and then said "Even Obama agrees. John McCain: Right on the Issues"

They could have done a hundred times worse that this head-scratcher. Keep it up!

The big question today, and one McCain should have put to Obama is why hasn't he taken the lead and gotten the Democrat majority in Congress to pass a bailout bill.
Why has the press not asked Obama why if he thinks we are on the brink of another Great Depression, why isn't he insisting the Democrat Congress pass a bill regardless if it gets any other votes. I've never seen the Democrats worry about having Republicans vote for their bills before.
The Democrats control Congress, they told us to vote for them and they would get things done. Obama says he's ready to be President. So write the F'ng Bill and pass it tonight!

You don't need a single Republican to vote for this bill...your simply stalling to further damage the country.

Bidens brutal attack on Obama is almost as bad as Pelosi calling Republicans unpatriotic for not agreeing to vote for whatever she wants.

Speaker Pelosi, you have the votes TODAY to pass the bill without any Republicans, yet your sitting on it and damaging the country economically - according to Barack Oabma you are driving us toward another Great Depression.

So who's being unpatriotic?

Biden say Obama kills American soldiers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Kc9TR-Rbk

If I were undecided and I watched that video, I'd come away with a reasonably favorable impression of Obama. Especially the last one about corporate taxes -- you can just see that he's going to transition to some critical point.

I just viewed this ad and couldn't agree more with this analysis. "I agree with John, therefore I am not ready to lead." I knew that McCain would do something like this with Obama's "I absolutely agree with John" comment--I just thought they would do it more effectively. Even McCain's hatchet men are losing it.

"Why has the press not asked Obama why if he thinks we are on the brink of another Great Depression"

Well, actually, that was Palin and the McCain campaign, not Obama. Maybe you should ask them about it?

"why isn't he insisting the Democrat Congress pass a bill regardless if it gets any other votes."

Well, mostly because he's not stupid.

"I've never seen the Democrats worry about having Republicans vote for their bills before."

So you're what, two months old, are you?

"You don't need a single Republican to vote for this bill...your simply stalling to further damage the country."

ROFL.... I do so love an idiotic troll who writes self-refuting gibberish.

One thing this ad does show is that even the McCain campaign thinks that McCain doesnt look presidential. Whenever they can they use media pieces of Barack, instead of their own candidate.

They don't run clips of McCain saying things because he looks frail and old. They try and use out of context clips of Barrack because he actually has the presidential bearing to pull them off.

You're right, loser ad. Nader +1 on this one.

15 Sept 2008:
Obama declared we are in "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression."

The Republicans would be stupid to go along with this mess.

Boehner should come out and say; the Democrats refused to work with us in 2002 and 2005 when we warned them their irresponsible support for risky loans was going to destroy the financial market - now they got what they have been asking for.

The Democrats didn't say they needed our votes when they forced Fannie and Freddie to buy up all these bad loans.

Now to top it off, they reached across the aisle for us to bail them out of the mess they caused by calling us unpatriotic.

The simple fact here is the Democrat Party doesn't need a single Republican to vote for their bailout of their wallstreet cronies. And Senator Obama can call today for the Democrats to vote for the bill and pass it if he's not too busy with Oprah and Barbara Streisand.

The Democrats decided hearings on steroids in baseball were more important then the Nations fiscal health and Obama took his eye off the ball because he was too busy raking in campaign donations from these same people he now wants to shower with Mainstreet tax dollars.

If Obama really believes in this bailout and really thinks it is that serious, he should be here getting his party to do their jobs instead of always critizing others for representing the peoples interests.

Maybe Ezra could get Olbermann and Mathews to watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o&eurl=http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/

Hot Governor pick at the end...

Obama debate stunt painful for grieving father:

During the debate, Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek of Merrill, Wisconsin.

Shockingly, however, Madison Wisconsin resident Brian Jopek, the father of Ryan Jopek, the young soldier who tragically lost his life to a roadside bomb in 2006, asked Barack Obama to stop wearing the bracelet with his son's name on it. Yet Obama continues to do so despite the wishes of the family and a mourning Father.

Guess not having an actual father, Obama didn't really understand how hurtful and disrespectful he was being to Mr. Jopek.

Afterall, to Obama, its all about me, not about a grieving Father or his dead son.

"after all, to obama, it's all about me, not about a grieving father or his dead son."

anonymous, i want to thank you for all of the encouragement you have given me personally, for the obama campaign.

there is a reverse-beauty in unkind energy.
the more negativity that you set out for someone, the more you inspire those who love and admire them to work even harder to support them.
everyday, when i read your unkindnesses about barack obama, i work even harder at voter registration....i stay longer, to register one more voter....whatever contribution i send to the obama campaign, i think of your words, and your words inspire me to send more, work harder, take time to talk with one more young person, one more undecided voter.
and so, anonymous, i personally thank you.
when i help someone complete a new voter registration form, i think of the anonymous posts, and i say a little blessing over the new registration form.
your words have actually, in some strangely karmic way, brought more energy, voters and abundance to the obama campaign.
if obama wins the election, i will also have you to thank.
today, i plan to work all day for the obama campaign.
and when i am tired and ready to leave, i am going to think of your email....and then, it will inspire me to stay even a little longer
and do the work!
you see,
the darker the shadow, the brighter the light!

There is a huge problem with this ad that no one is seeming to mention. CONTEXT.

Barack Obama agreed with John McCain that a President need be prudent...and coming from you, John, seriously? The guy who threatened extinction for N. Korea and sings about bombing Iran!

Barack Obama agrees with John McCain that there needs to be more responsibility in Washington...John McCain admits voting in lockstep with President Bush, yet offers a near identical agenda!

Obama agrees with McCain that earmarks have been abused, but McCain's crusade against $18 bil. in earmarks versus his $300 Bil. in new tax breaks makes absolutely no sense.

Obama agrees with McCain that corporate taxes, on paper are high; but with these corporate republicans, enabled by John McCain, the tax code has so many loopholes that business owners wind up paying some of the lowest tax rates globally.

I wouldn't expect John McCain to start being honest with the America people at this point. He was lying on television this morning about the access Freddie was paying RD for up until the gov. takeover.

ACLS (first comment): The reason that the "No" at the end was jarring is that it insults our intelligence. It could have gone without saying.

Even dummer jacky is Obamas team claiming that McCain never used the words 'middle class' in the debate therefore, he opposes the middle class.

Obama never used the words, 'babies with brain cancer', so obviously Obama doesn't care about babies with brain cancer.
What a terrible man.

Just watched it again, and I really hope the McCain campaign is blowing some money on this one. That first shot has John McCain shifting around and looking less comfortable than Obama does in any of his parts.

15 Sept 2008:
Obama declared we are in "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression."

Sep. 15, the same day that John McCain said "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

I have to agree with PaulB on that troll, Patton. What we're seeing is the logical endpoint of Reaganomics as pushed and driven relentlessly by the GOP for decades. McCain's economic guru, Phil Gramm, has his name on the bill that helped open all this up. Deregulation is a GOP mantra. Markets are efficient. Tax cuts are the other GOP mantra ... though only for the wealthiest people in the country.

Sooooo, how do House Republicans propose to clean up the wreckage caused by their own flawed economic theories? Why with more deregulation and tax cuts!

No real fiscal conservative could ever vote GOP again, until they've cleaned out the current crop of economic idiots.

Until I know how much money is spent to air ads like this, I place the possibility that it might be merely an attempt to sway the media, or to intimidate the other guy from doing something that's effective.

McCain never used the words 'middle class' in the debate therefore, he opposes the middle class.

I wouldn't say "opposes" so much as "isn't concerned about."

Wasn't their message, "Obama is a raving liberal" and "McCain is more bipartisan"? Doesn't this completely undercut those messages? Are they really going to pay money to air ads that contradict their own messaging?

Now that I think of it the "John is right" was probably bait. Tempt them into undercutting their own message. And reinforce Obama's message of a "new kind of politics".

Please explain to us all what are the 'fundamentals' of our economy and tell me why they are not strong?

I mean the economy really sucks in places like Detroit where Democrats have been running things for decades.

And the economy really sucks in Michigan where the Democrats raised taxes and drove out business.
Michigan’s economic woes — among them, the nation’s highest unemployment rate and a continual exodus of skilled workers is thanks to the governorship of Democrat Granholm.

Obama would just make America look like Michigan.
Obama repeatedly praised Kwame Kilpatricks running of Detroit, so if you want your home town to look like Detroit - by all means vote for Obama.

Obama called him 'a great Mayor' and 'doing an outstanding job'.

I'd LOOOOVE to see McCain do a "Town Hall". I'd be first in line to ask him "Why did you abandon your first wife who was disfigured in an auto accident in favor of a beautiful heiress- was it for the money, or the sex?"

Even dummer jacky is Obamas team claiming that McCain never used the words 'middle class' in the debate therefore, he opposes the middle class. Obama never used the words, 'babies with brain cancer', so obviously Obama doesn't care about babies with brain cancer.

Yeah, that's the same.

To the various Anonymous's who wrote (real brave, BTW):

1. Obama called McCain "Jim accidentally because the facilitator's name is "Jim Lehrer."

2. Obama didn't not "know" the soldiers name. His hesitation was partly because Obama doesn't use the bracelet at every single speech and rally the way McCain uses his soldier and partly because he started saying the soldier's name instead of saying "the mother of Sgt..."

3. The mother has NEVER publicly told Obama anything about not using the bracelet. She is an Obama supporter. The only one who has said anything is her Ex-husband. He claims to speak for her. How many of you let your Ex speak for you?

McCain was rude, stubborn about whether the war should have been started and contemptuous. Obama was polite, respectful and agreed the few times there was agreement.

Who should be president in these difficult times? Someone who is like GW Bush or someone who is like JFK?

Get used to it, conservative whiners and racists -- it will be President Barack Obama.

And the African imagery in the background is another nice touch... McCain is proving to be exactly like Bush. I was hoping he could have some class.

Intellectuals want to know... In what kind of world is it considered universally bad to agree with your opponent sometimes?

Even Giuliani,in his debate rejoiner, suggested it meant that McCain was "teaching Mr. Obama about foreign policy" right there on the stage...

This is all very strange...