It's long, long, overdue.

Finally, the Dems are calling it what it is: lying. So, how about starting a Truth Squad to check the GOP claims?

I love reading blogs (especially yours) but I hate watching videos. I appreciate that you always describe the video content for those like me. If only TPM...

every time I start to worry they aren't doing enough to counter the normal republican garbage Obama delivers something like this. This campaign seems more prepared and more capable of winning an election than any since Clinton. Obama knows what he is doing

Yea for the good guys. Call them for what they are liars prima classa! More ads like this and whamo! Wal-Mart moms here we come.

Two other notes:

Listening to Joe "the mouth' Scarburro this morning for 15 seconds of his right wing tirades brought my breakfast close to the back of my mouth. Especially after MSNBC demoted Olberman after right wing pressure from the Bushit/McAce people. They should be ashamed of them selves. To remove a clear thinking voice from the public arena in such an importany election and leave clap-trap horse manure like Morning Joe to flourish is not only cowardly but breathtakingly nauseating.

Secondly, I saw Steve on Rachel Maddaw's show last night. It's nice to put a human face to the blog. Keep up the good work my friend.

Yea for the good guys. Call them for what they are liars prima classa! More ads like this and whamo! Wal-Mart moms here we come.

Two other notes:

Listening to Joe "the mouth' Scarburro this morning for 15 seconds of his right wing tirades brought my breakfast close to the back of my mouth. Especially after MSNBC demoted Olberman after right wing pressure from the Bushit/McAce people. They should be ashamed of them selves. To remove a clear thinking voice from the public arena in such an important election and leave clap-trap horse manure like Morning Joe to flourish is not only cowardly but breathtakingly nauseating.

Secondly, I saw Steve on Rachel Maddaw's show last night. It's nice to put a human face to the blog. Keep up the good work my friend.

Its a good ad and about time, but he needs to go on the offence. I don't want to see McCain continue to drive the narrative and Obama stuck in respond mode. The tone of the ad was right on, I lked that the words Lie and lying were used, but now he has to bring the fight to their front door.

I LOVED IT...want to see more of the same over and over with things like the BUSH/McShame morph that TDS used last Friday...good to see you, Steve, on Rachel's show last night and glad her voice will be out there...hoping she has more to fill her hour than reusing Keith's interviews (particularly weak one from my point of view)but realize she is just getting started...perhaps YOU could have had more time????

Great stuff. Lets see more of this.

The ad's terrific, and they need to keep this up as a minor theme. But more than ever, "It's the ECONOMY, stupid!"

I wish he wouldn't conflate lying with "more of the same". They're two separate issues - both important, but by throwing in the "more of the same" phrase, he dilutes and even loses the "lying" part, which in this ad is the more important part.

More, please.

It's exactly what I've been thinking and writing about lately-- by branding themselves as a team of mavericks they have pratically put "maverick" on a silver platter for the dems to attack.

They're NOT mavericks. They're liars. They lie about their own records as well as Obamas. We've had 8 years of a liar in the White House-- isn't 8 enough???

It looks like Rachel Maddow's Meme is catching on Hey Steve It was good to see you on the TEE VEE last night and put a face with the name. I think Rachel's show needs to diversify a little from Olberman. The rehash of the Obama interview was a little superfluous, but it is good to have another solid left point of view.

Finally!

I think the reason liberals like me have been a little panicky is that Barack Obama hasn't seemed to understand how desperately important winning this election will be. We've seen the United States decline in power and influence over the past eight years. We've seen our economy left teetering dangerously on the edge of a cliff. And we've seen our justice system corrupted and our democracy steadily eroded away. Four more years of McCain doing what he's promising and the U.S. could end up permanently as a second-tier country -- and no, I don't think that's hyperbole.

So this ad is a good start.

Of course, I'd like to see the campaign go even further. I would love to see "McCain must think the American people are stupid" become their other campaign theme. And I'd like them to add this challenge: "McCain is counting on the mainstream media continuing to act like their 'his base'.

Wonderfully on the mark.....and none too soon.they must keep it up................... shouldn't it be that the truth hammered home over and over will take root as much as the lie does ?

I think it is a very good ad. John McCain and Sarah Palin are both liars. They are more of the same.

We need to make sure all of our friends, neighbors and relatives have a chance to see this ad. I don't know where it is going to be seen, but if it isn't coming to a television near you, don't hesitate to share the link. It gives Democrats hope.

Steve...you "looked marvelous" last night on Rachel's show !! Good job.

Obama needs to hit McCain/Palin hard. Thank God they are doing this. Hopefully more is coming. I know Barack is a good guy, but unfortunately it is part of the game.

It's not enough. They must hit back so hard that it takes a life of its own. Remember the Swiftboating? Why do we still talk about it, or have it as part of our vernacular? It's because it was a hard, hard hit.

Say it like it really is.

about time. but he also needs to take it to them directly on economic bread-and-butter issues. and unfortunately this ad doesn't make up for, or prove that Obama is ready or able to move away from, the underlying sense of seeming above it all. (For once I actually agree with Richard Cohen.)

Another strategy...

The Obama campaign needs to hit Palin on what she knows about the problems of people in the rest of the country. When you govern less than a million people who are all basically the same race and economic class, AND your state has profited dramatically from high oil prices -- how can she relate to the rest of us?

Great ad!

Speaking of ads, I saw the new McCain one several times this morning, the one where McCain accuses Obama of being a celebrity while showing him at the convention. The one that lies and says Obama is going to raise taxes. The one that says [and I really can't believe the audacious bullshit here] that Obama is just more of the same. Revolting!

And yet, somehow these lying, thieving, backstabbing miscreants have leveled the polls.

We need more dirt on Caribou Barbie and we need it now!

Yes! Yes! Yes! More of that, please!

Only complaint is that they should have thrown in a "Then she kept the money." after the part about the bridge to nowhere.

It's a boxing match. That's a good left hook. Now we need about fifty more before the knockout punch.

It would have been nice if the ad ended with a "Four More Years" banner. In fact, maybe displaying those banners at at McCain rallies would be a good tactic.

not just plain liars, but greedy, i got mine and f-you type liars. The worst kind. I can understand people lying to stay out of trouble, but the greedy, holier than thou, fraudulent, and intentionally manipulating types that are mccain and palin should be dealt with harshly. If only we had an indpendent media.

Obama needs to link the lobbyists to the stupid economy more directly.

The lobbyists are responsible for trickle down economics.
The lobbyists are responsible for high gas prices.
The lobbyists are responsible for shipping jobs overseas.
Bush policies are the lobbyists policies.
McCain's policies are more of the same lobbyist policies.
These policies are bad for our pocketbooks.

The missing piece is the economic populism.

Good. Attack them on the word "maverick" and the Bridge to Nowhere -- turn their own selling points against them. And repeat the slogan "more of the same." Dropping the "l" bomb -- appropriate as it is -- is just icing onthe cake.

McSame conceded a lot when he agreed this election is about change. There's no way he should be able to get away with running as a change candidate, and it's good to see Obama's campaign won't stand by idly as he tries.

It's about time the Democrats pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes. The level of deceit from the GOP ads is insulting to all Americans, so it's time to step up and call a lie a lie.

Didn't see all the Maddow show yet, taped it, but saw your segment. Good, but I wish either you or Obama had stressed that Palin's lack of qualifications -- and what picking her says about McCain -- IS an issue, going straight to the question of what it says about his fitness to lead and his likely choice of subordinates.

Obama's ad is good, but, once Palin entered the equation, 'more of the same' isn't the point any more. McCain will be worse than Bush, were there to be a chance of his being elected -- which I still doubt strongly.

Ad is good but not great. Need to bust up the pattern a bit. I am a little sick of the voice used in these. The idea of "Truth Squad" is good. Random normal people reality tv style shooting down individual points the McCain-Palin have said about their record or things they have said about Obama. Some kind of tag line about how stupid do you think we are cause you know we can look up the facts (with link to websites or something.) Make some fun ads (like the MN Senate one)

McCain and the GOP still want to play got-cha politics, which most Americans are weary and growing tired of. The GOP lead us in a Pretend and Fake war, the Iraq invasion. The Real war was and is in Afghanistan where Bin Ladin is hiding today. That is not change you can believe in. Most Americans want Truth and Authenticity. We don't want to be led into a fake war for oil! We don't want our young men and women dying for oil and a fake war that should have never been authorized. John McCain likes to say he is good on national security, yet he voted Yes to authorize the fake war the Iraq War. What we need desperately today is more honesty by our politicians in this nation instead of the politics of Got-cha, Lies and the tearing down of one's opponent through dishonesty. The debate should be about the real issues, not pretend wars or personal attacks and or empty and false slogans because it does nothing for the day to day lives of American people.

The Republican operatives have belittled and berated Barack Obama as just speeches, however, Barack has over 20 years of experience in public service, plus a Natural Talent to organize and get things done, as evidenced by the successful running of his Campaign. Barack Obama has an innate judgment as evidenced by his speaking out against the Iraq war when it was not popular because he had the intelligence and common sense to know that the real was was in Afghanistan not Iraq. Bin Ladin did and does not live in Iraq. Barack Obama has the ability to inspire people to unite in a common cause to bring about the Necessary Changes we need today. Because if we do not unite for change, for true democracy, together we will all go down with the ship and be united anyway but in a negative way and not a positive way.

We definitely need a change in the way our politicians campaign which as to date, tears down one's opponent through lies and dishonesty which only tears the country down and puts a bad taste in our mouths, though each candidate has the right to point out true policy differences. We should demand honesty and integrity from our politicians and stop letting them lead us down a yellow brick road of illusion, misstatements, lies and dirty political maneuvering!

Barack Obama is no ordinary man. He is not the Messiah, but he is an Old Soul or Disciple. He was born to lead and born to take humanity to a higher stage of unity and prosperity. His message has been throughout that all children are Everybody's Children, and that we must change the "mindset" for going into wars. He tells us that in order for us to make it as a society and solve our problems, that we must stop being divisive: gays against straight, Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Christians must unite and respect one another's religions. That will be his greatest gift to humanity at this time -- the ability to see each other as ourselves -- or together we can go down with the ship. Everyday he risks his life. He is not running because he has a thirst for power. He offers up his life for his love of humanity and to its next stage of evolution. We should embrace this gift and offer up our prayers that he can finish his mission, his high calling. We must stopped being fooled by politicians who only has the best interest of their pocketbooks and big corporations and not the pocket books of everyday average citizens. It should not take 10 years for the minimum wage to be increased, there is no justification for that. That should tell you there that politicians who vote no for an increase care nothing about your day to day struggles. And you have to ask yourself "What has the GOP done for me lately"? The years when the American Dream was thriving, they were years when there was Democratic Presidents and Congress. That is the true party of the people. If we are to get back to the American dream again we must put in office that party who has always been inclusive and the people's champion. That party is the Democratic Party.

And lastly we must not listen to those who refuse to understand the changing of the old order, and the awakening of humanity to the new possibilities. We need a complete purification of the political and economical arenas which would be of the greatest value in bringing back Americas greatness and strength.

Personally, I like that he finally states, unambiguously, that they are lying. It's not spin, it's not a mischaracterization, it's not a slip. It's a lie. It's been demonstrated as a lie, and they haven't defended it. They've just yelled it louder. That's the behavior of a spoiled child. Plus, for those religious types, it's breaking a commandment. It might not be a bad thing for some mouthpiece to point out that Sarah Palin claims to have strong christian values, but since when was lying a strong christian value?

bahko said:

Obama needs to link the lobbyists to the stupid economy more directly.

The lobbyists are responsible for trickle down economics.
The lobbyists are responsible for high gas prices.
The lobbyists are responsible for shipping jobs overseas.

Good point, but the depredations you charge the McCain's lobbyists with are too abstract. How about:

- McCain's lobbyist advisors promoted the deregulation that caused the mortgage meltdown.
- McCain's lobbyist advisors made it possible for oil speculators to drive the price of oil to $120 per barrel.
- McCain's lobbyist advisors encouraged the deregulation that allowed poisoned food and lead-tainted toys to be imported from China.
- McCain's lobbyist advisors have worked to undermine any health insurance reform.
- McCain's lobbyist advisors have prevented any improvement in the security of America's ports.

Maybe the Obama campaign should have a weekly feature called "Meet John McCain's advisors" were they profile a different one of McCain's lobbyist buddies each week, talking about the customers they worked for and the harmful legislation they promoted.

Of course, this is really the job of the corporate-controlled media, but . . . .

"We has met the enemy, and he is us..." -- Pogo circa 1950.

"He battled Republicans and reformed Washington. She battled Republicans and changed Alaska."

Apparently EVEN the McCain-Palin ticket sees the Republicans as the problem.

If not for the autonomic nervous system the makers of this ad would be too stupid to breathe.

Hey, thanks... now that you've told me that Republicans are the enemy of good governance, I'll vote DEMOCRAT!

Badsss4Peace: Only complaint is that they should have thrown in a "Then she kept the money."

Exactly.

Don't play games a self-declared pitbull.
Cross the damn bridge and smash Palin:

...she kept the money, and we are still trying to figure out what she spent it on...

Nice. More please, especially in light of a right-wing shake-and-bake* PAC called Freedom's Defense Fund. They're running a smear ad showing old footage of Obama with Kwame Kilpatrick in another round of guilt-by-association here in Michigan.

And, of course, the McCain campaign pulls a Sgt. Schultz and says they know nothing about the ad running up here in Macomb.

*WHOIS search has the domain registration date as Jun 27th of this year.

Actually, they do look like characters from the original Maverick--the loud mouthed four-flusher who screams "Cheat" when he's called, and the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth con-artist that Bret rumbles before she opens her mouth.
Putty in the hands of a percentage player.

Obama needs to make an issue of McCain's dishonesty or else they will continue to rise on the polls based upon misconceptions they spread.

Obama needs to make this a central campaign issue. People who campaign in such a dishonest manner will govern in a dishonest manner. That's not change--that is a repeat of Bush/Cheney.

Best.Ad.Yet. (More, please!!)

Love it.

Hey, Obama campaign! Don't forget this one:

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln

I have no idea if this is a strategy, but it seems like the Obama campaign waits long enough so that there is no way that the McCain campaign can walk back the crazy things that they say. Then they let out an ad like this. Maybe Obama just wants to give them enough rope.

If that is the strategy, I'll admit that it is nerve wracking to watch. But, how can the McCain campaign get away from their own statements at this point? I know that there are good arguments against doing things this way. I just hope that it works.

The one time mcsame was actually a "Maverick" was when he went against his party on the immigration issue. And it almost cost him the primary. Now he has done an about face and has sold his soul to the extreme right. How is that being a "Maverick?" Sounds more like a deal with the devil to me. Why should we trust he can stand up to his own party when they won't even let him pick his own VP? Everytime mcsame has tried to buck the rethugs they have bitch-slapped him and he rolls over and cries "Uncle!"

she kept the money...and gave the people of Alaska a tax rebate with it. Republicans like to talk about 'free money'...I guess it's free when it is someone else's taxes...

I have been generally in fabor of Obama's 'politics is about issues, not personalities' approach, but sometimes I think he isn't taking into account that some issues are about both.

Corruption is one major one. Why haven't we heard more about the numerous scandals that are the direct result of corruption.

More later, severe thunderstorm makes me have to leave for a doctor's appointment an hour earlier than planned.

We have GOT to win this election. We've just got to.

McCain is turning into a very dangerous man. He asks for us to sacrifice so he can play more war games? The Hot-head in Chief? It brings tears to my yes at the thought of such a damaged man being in the highest office, ruling like the smug despot he has become.

Heaven help the children of this earth if this warmonger is elected. Heaven help us all.

'Bout time

Looks good.

I'd still like to see a side-by-side comparison of McSame's platitudinal acceptance speech with Bush's 2000 acceptance speech.

Repube-lickers lack creativity in their mendacity; I'd bet there are at least 10 lines from McLame-o's speech that match perfectly with Chimpy's lie-infested rallying cry from 2000.

That's the ad I'd like to see. Let's out McCain's bromides by showing how remarkably similar they are to Bush's recipe from 2000 (you remember that year right? That's when we had a balanced budget, a surplus and no wars without end).

Yee Hawwww!!!

I also vote for the "McCain must think the American people are stupid" theme. Hit 'em hard with the truth about those lying sacks of #*$&.

Finally, Abraham Lincoln never said that. That's one of the oldest urban legends around.

It is about time Obama's campaign hit them hard with the truth. The media allows McCain's campaign to promote their lies w/o challenge except for the few like Olbermann, Maddow and Begala who called the media out on this on CNN this morning.

I love the use of the word "lie"- finally! Pretty good ad.

You think they could get any distance with Palin's book-banning attempts? Several people I have spoken to think it's a non-issue. I think it's as important as any other.

It's a start, yes, but I found it painful to watch Obama last night as Keith Olbermann interviewed him, and fed him the lines he ought to be using in his campaign. But Obama kept fending them off in a wishy-washy performance that had me groaning. More and more he seems to be just another Democrat afraid to be a Democrat. He doesn't just run from the liberal label, but apologizes for suggesting that government should play a role in American life.

Everyone read Bob Herbert's column in the New York Times today about the demise of liberalism.

Rachel finally got her show, but doesn't seem to have any idea what to do with it. She needed Olbermann as a crutch, and I didn't even finish watching it. It won't last if she doesn't come up with a winning format.

I like the ad - particularly the use of the word Liars. I think more of the same is a bit tepid and passive - and it has outlived its usefulness. I would prefer that they begin to incorporate the word "Enough". It feels a bit more loaded as a concept It seemed to go over better in the convention.

I've already seen this ad here in Ohio (and I almost fell out of my chair). This is exactly the kind of ad that he's going to have to run to counteract the bombardment of McCain ads running here. (Okay, an occasional issues-oriented ad thrown in would be good too :-)

Obama and Beiden and the whole Democratic party (mostly the PACs) need to hit this theme hard - over and over and over - WITH attribution. It needs to be drilled into the mind of every voter that McC and Palin lie with virtually every breath - "Drill Drill".

At the same time, Obama needs to put out more ads that talk about his plans for the future, and stay above the slime whenever possible

The appropriation of the old Kerry gaffe, that "Palin was for the bridge to nowhere, before she was against it" caught my eye.

I suppose the idea is to tar the GOP with the same brush that Bush used in '04 by arguing that McCain isn't a "maverick," he just changes his positions a lot based on the political winds. But in my mind, at least, that statement is so tied to John Kerry's catastrophic '04 campaign that if I were a Democratic pol I would just want it to disappear.

I love it!

Good advert and this should pacify the tireless whining here in the comments. They are liars and they're not going to win. Positive thinking works positively and if you're feeling negative contact the campaign and get to work with them.

Here's an idea - link the lies as a throughline from Bush, i.e.: They lied about WMD, they lied about Katrina, they lied about the US Attorneys, now they're lying about the Bridge to Nowhere etc. Bush, McCain: more of the same.

It just destroys the urban left when heartland sensibilities are in ascension. You guys always act startled, if not miffed, when Americans remind you that a majority of us do not believe a handful of heavily populated urban areas should control our country. You uppity urban people can't control violence, crime, civil responsibility (people ignoring their neighbors pleas for help), or your out-of-control risky behavior populations.

The secular progressive paradigm has caught the clap (or worse) and is trying to give it to everyone else before they get the cure they are running from: two big needles full of antibiotics in their collective (pun intended) hind end, named John McCain and Sarah Palin!

Best ad yet!

The should finish with a catchier phrase:

"That's more of the same from John McCain."

I think it is an excellent ad. Unsettle potential McCain voters by turning the original maverick brand into "not to be trusted."

Now I'd like to see them go after McCain/Palin on taxes and "country first." Maybe done anecdotally, via a persuasive couple, or two men at work. The jist is "times are hard if you're middle class because Bush's tax cuts have turned over our national wealth to the richest Americans. And McCain? Country first? Forget about it. McCains' "tax cuts" would just be more of the same. With McCain's plan, Average Americans won't benefit...again. And of course McCain is lying about it. McCain claims Obama would raise your taxes. But if you are a middle-class family, if you earn less than $250,000 thousand a year, the truth is that Obama's policies will cut your taxes. Obama's tax policies don't support welfare for the rich, like McCain's does, it will let average Americans keep more of what they have earned. And isn't it about time?"

I'd love a graphic that shows how much wealth is concentrated in the top 1/2% of the population or the difference in effect between Obama's and McCain's tax policies on average Americans.

That is a great ad -- the best yet, IMO. They need to be called "liars" -- I like the big bold "A NAKED LIE." Even the soundtrack had a good feel to it, kind of a "they are just a bunch of bumbling losers" cadence.

I liked everything but the Palin bit about the earmarks. Up front, the ad is describing an instance of flip-flopping. Even if they had explicitly made the connection between flip-flopping and traditional politicians (i.e. non-mavericks), it would still be too much of a stretch for a short ad.

A better example would have been her highly orthodox views, I think. At least that gets at the idea that she's just the same as everyone else, and not really mavericky at all. Or something along those lines, anyway. Maybe something that attacks the implicit idea that nominating a woman is a maverick act in and of itself?

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right. ,

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If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

+1

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Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

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