Hard hitting Obama ad: McCain owns SEVEN houses (OMG)

[Lunar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpmFd25tRqo

And they're worth 13 million dollars!  He's RICH too.

McCain made his money the old fashioned way  --  he married it!

Oh, and why won't Obama help support his impoverished half-brother?

Why won't McCain and his wife help Cindy's impoverished half-sister?  See the campaign subforum if you want to participate in that particular childish back-and-forth.

This ad is interesting because it also has subtle age digs.  McCain "couldn't remember" and then you're like, awww grandpa, your keys are in your POCKET.

I actually like this ad from a tactical point of view.  It's part at attacking McCain's strengths and turning their elitism charge back on him.  Now McCain is the one who is out of touch and doesn't understand economics to boot.  I think the event of 'not being able to remember how many houses I own' is something that most Americans can't connect with.

[Lunar]

Jonathan Martin on Politico:
Link
Barack Obama's campaign, moving rapidly to exploit what they see as a major opportunity, is deploying high-profile surrogates in 16 states across the country today to highlight John McCain's uncertainty yesterday about how many houses he owns, the Democrat's campaign tells Politico.

Governors, members of Congress and state legislators will hold conference calls and press conferences in front of homes to draw attention to the issue. Party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, on the stump in Ohio and Iowa respectively, wil move to incorporate the matter into their remarks on the campaign trail today in an effort to draw local media attention to the story.

Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don't know how many houses they own.

And in other states, ordinary citizens who have been victim of the mortgage crunch will hold press availabilities to contrast their plight with McCain's wealth.

The aggressive move on Obama's part is in keeping with a shift in campaign tactics since his vacation. Obama and his campaign aides have both ramped up their rhetoric in recent days. This latest effort reflects a willingness to hit McCain much harder and to veer from conventional issue-based attacks to the sort of character assaults that have marked the GOP's campaign against Obama as well as their effort against John Kerry in 2004.

[Lunar]

All McCain surrogates have been greenlighted to play the Rezko card anytime houses come up.

Today is going to be a nasty day in politics unless a VP choice arrives.

[Lunar]

All McCain surrogates have been greenlighted to play the Rezko card anytime houses come up.

Today is going to be a nasty day in politics unless a VP choice arrives.

Wasn't that obvious?

Well, they are basically refusing to defend McCain's comment.  I thought they might try and justify it somehow.  It seems like a very difficult thing to defend and they have decided to use the "change the subject" strategy.  It is also an interesting strategy because the Rezko card, like most cards, can only be played so many times, possessing significantly diminished punch each time.  I think McCain's camp takes this new houses thing very seriously to pull out one of their big guns and then refuse to play any defense.

[Lunar]

McCain's camp is REALLY pulling out all stops

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/The_POW_card.html#comments

The POW card

Eric Kleefeld notices that McCain aides referred back to McCain's time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam in defending him from the mockery over his houses.

This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," says spokesman Rogers.

It does seem like they're flirting with Giuliani/9/11 territory here, in which at subject that seems utterly immune to humor, used as a first resort, suddenly becomes a running joke among your political enemies and your late night comic friends.

McCain himself, it should be noted, doesn't tend to talk about his prisoner-of-war experience in random contexts; but his staff and surrogates have been doing it a bit lately.

[Lunar]

Obama hasn't be campaigning cleanly whatsoever since at LEAST the Pennsylvania primary.  I don't know where y'all are getting sentiment this from.

[Lunar]

Hahahahahahaha

McCain actually owns 8 properties.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html

McCain says 4, Obama says 7.  Epic fail.

[Lunar]

Hahahahahahaha

McCain actually owns 8 properties.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html

McCain says 4, Obama says 7.  Epic fail.

     Lunar4Prez! He's more in touch with reality than Obama or McCain (I mean this in a good way; I'm not making fun of you, honest)!

     That aside, I don't see what the issue is. I'm extremely poor, but I don't see anything wrong with McCain having money.

The issue really isn't that McCain is rich, although that is a side-issue jabbed with the "13 million" comment in the ad.  The "message" from the ad is that McCain is out-of-touch with economic matters, especially the housing crisis, because he is such a 'celebrity' that he cannot remember how many houses he and his wife own.  It's sort of a better-articulated backhand to the Paris&Britney attack.  Americans are ok with rich people, but we don't like rich people that cannot remember how many houses they own or how many servants they have, y'know?

[Lunar]

Actually, it will probably help Obama that they got the number of houses wrong.  The media (or themselves fixing the ad) correcting them will just keep it in the news longer.  McCain really doesn't want to have a debate about whether he owns seven or eight houses while I think Obama is ok with that, haha.

[Lunar]

This POW thing is starting to become a joke definitely.

Yeah Mongo, POWs are a joke.

Guiliani's constant mentioning of 9/11 became a joke even though 9/11 is a very serious subject.    Late night comedians and all of us starting making fun of Rudy for that.  Kerry's purple hearts and war wounds were a serious subject as well before he overused them.  McCain obviously is nowhere near that level yet, but he runs a danger of running a similar route if he keeps bringing up his POW experience out of context (which he hasn't done significantly enough yet).