Continuing the discussion in the post below about political attack ads, it appears McCain is on a role and one has to wonder if the slew of swift-boat-style personal attack ads represent a bit of desperation on the part of the Senior Senator from Arizona.
This new ad claims that Obama doesn’t care about the troops unless cameras are around- he is, of course, referring to the canceled stop on Obama’s overseas tour where he had planned to visit with wounded soldiers/veterans- the Pentagon request was the primary reason for the cancellation, although that hasn’t stopped McCain from using service-members as pawns in his political battle. It’s interesting that while Obama has been on his overseas trip, McCain seems to have done nothing but whine about the media coverage and personally attack Obama (as opposed to issue statements on the underlying issues).
I guess if you are ignorant enough to believe that any candidate for President doesn’t like the members of the U.S. armed services, you would also have to believe that the only reason Bush made trips overseas was for propaganda photo-ops with our soldiers.
Stumble It!
1 response so far ↓
1 tehehehe // Jul 28, 2008 at 7:13 am
Please tell me. What is a “swift boat” ad? Can you describe a “generic swift boat ad”? Or do you call any negative ad “swift boat”
See, I thought a “swift boat ad” was about a person’s military service. One that tries to illegitimize a person’s service to his/her country. Like saying that “being shot down and in a prison camp is not a credential for being President”. Or “none of his command time was during war”. You know, stuff like that. How can someone who has NEVER served be “swift-boated”?
Obama scheduled a meeting to visit combat casualties while in Germany. When he arrived in Germany the hospital told them they wanted him to visit, and welcomed him They asked him not to bring his campaign staff (only his Senate staff) because they wanted to avoid making it appear as if it was “political” in nature.
Rather than visit the troops without campaign staff videographers, Obama cancelled the visit and went to play some “hoops” instead. Made a better photo shoot for his young audience in the opinion of his campaign staff. His shooting a “three-pointer” was repeatedly shown on TV networks.
McCain points out the tradeoff, to inform the public. Shouldn’t the public know what happened? Is that “swift-boating”, to inform the public? Its not like the ad contained any falsehoods, or that it mischaracterized the actual events. It wasn’t taken “out of context”. It may not put Obama in a “falttering” light, but it was Obama’s choice, wasn’t it? It is not McCain’s job to make Obama “flattering”. Besides, Obama’s supporters prefer to see him playing hoops rather than supporting the troops, so maybe Obama should thank McCain!
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