Nice.

Poor McCain. He's been had by a faction of the Republican party that wanted to root out and purge certain elements that are a threat to the power structure. The sad part for us has been the pivot to use his anger and ambition to promote demagoguery and to lay the groundwork to delegitimize an Obama presidency and Democratic congress.

When McCain said last night that if Obama had wanted to run against Bush, he should have done it four years ago, I laughed, and expected it was a huge blunder. Of course, Obama is more cerebral than showman, but he did respond effectively. So I was surprised as I flipped from one analysis to another that all the Republican leaning pundits were so pleased with the McCain line. It had to have been a coordinated effort, because the line was absurd and could have been much more embarrassing.

The Obama ad also uses footage of McCain grimacing and looking irritated during the debate - it reminds people of all those eye rolls during the debate, and in the context of the ad it makes McCain look like he got caught in a lie.

This McCain ad, like a lot of the others, makes me absolutely distrust him. "Your investments - they'll grow again" - as if he can guarantee that, and as if that's a plan. I always wonder if other people find the ads as condescending as I do.

I'm biased of course, but the McCain ad was completely unconvincing. The background music and McCain's patronizing delivery of his lines made it seem like he was telling a fairy-tale to small children. It was a subtle satire of his candidacy.

I agree that McCain's ad seems patronizing. It reminds me of a mother shushing a child who has skinned her knee..."Shhh, there, there, your retirement will be OK, honey."
I found Obama's ad to be so sharp. The images of McCain are devastating...and I hadn't seen that video footage of his bragging about his Bushie record used in an ad before. Do you think they were saving that for this occasion?

I've always wondered why Obama hasn't made more of the following exchange in a Russert interview back in 2005, which, to me, is more persuasive than the "90%" figure and responds more directly to McCain's "zinger" last night:

RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.
SEN. McCAIN: No. No. I-the fact is that I'm different but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.

Since when is spreading the wealth a bad thing?

When McCain said, "If you wanted to run against George Bush..." blah blahblah. I wish Obama had said, "Senator McCain, I know George Bush..." that would have been, like, totally cool!

(kudos to Ms. Marko for that one!)

I always wonder if other people find the ads as condescending as I do.

I find virtually everything the McCain campaign does to be condescending. Nancy Pfotenhour, Steve Schmidt, and Rick Davis obviously think I'm a total moron; Palin's as phony as a three-dollar-bill; and McCain himself conducts himself in a transparent, "who you gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?" manner. And his put-on "I care so much! Look how I'm squinting!" routine is just pathetic.

Probably one of the most notable things I appreciate about Obama is that he talks to people like they're intelligent adults, no matter what subject he's discussing. THAT's the bresh of freth air.

oooh, that obama ad is mmm-mmm-good.

The Obama ad is awesome. It needs to be run daily in every competitive state until election day.

McCain is a horrible candidate and a sacrificial lamb. The idiotic line about George Bush, even without the swift and to the point Obama ad, just activates and further reinforces the frame that McCain/Republicans=Bush.

It's humorous that the corporatocracy is trying to explain this away as a winning McCain moment when it's seems quite clear to me to be further evidence of how undisciplined and shortsighted his campaign has been.

McCain's "positive" ad is a piece of crap and looks like it was put together by a beaten campaign going through the motions. The exert no time and effort to an economic plan or in creating a message to address these issues and instead resort to catch phrases to banal to even be deemed "platitudes".

It escapes me why every other Obama TV ad doesn't end with that great huggy-bear picture of McCain embracing Bush. Even I'm embarrassed for him, and I loathe what he's become. Pour it on — he's got it coming.

I always hate "voted with this person X% of the time" ads. They're misleading because most votes are uncontroversial 99-0 to establish things like National Preserved Fish Week. I wonder how often McCain and Obama vote the same way? Probably 75-80% at least. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Huckabee or Romeny ad from the primaries with that message.

oooh, that obama ad is mmm-mmm-good.

Exactly.
Like Andy enjoying Aunt Bee's home cooking...

i guess when john mccain says "stand with me," he's expecting us to all get up first and help him to his feet, because he never pries his ass out of that chair.

North: I always wonder if other people find the ads as condescending as I do.

In ads like this, McCain sounds like he's trying to talk his ailing mother into a nursing home. He doesn't believe a word he's saying. He's just saying, "It's OK, mama. This will be better for everyone. You'll see."

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy. It's like he keeps getting his pants pulled down, so he decides not to wear a belt.

Steve Benen wrote, "McCain tells the viewer that less government spending will for some reason help 'protect your job' and suggests off-shore drilling has something to do with creating a 'renewable energy economy.' But putting that aside, the point of McCain's ad is rather straightforward: he won't be as bad as Bush."

Wait a second. Doesn't Bush claim to support "less government spending" and more off-shore drilling too? McCain says he's different from Bush and then promotes ideas that Bush has been politicking on since day one?

Let's be clear. Despite his rhetoric to the contrary, and like all so-called conservatives, McCain doesn't support less government spending. Like Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43, McCain supports more government spending. And let's remember that Republicans believe that "deficits don't matter" while Dems support PAYGO.

McCain's ad is like if McDonald's had a commercial with Ronald explaining how Chicken McNuggets are health food and why eating Big Macs will help you score with the ladies. Some things just won't be believed no matter how many times you repeat them, and it usually just undermines your credibility.

It's sad, but Ronald McDonald has far more credibility than McCain. He may be a corporate shill in a clownsuit, but at least he's honest about it.

Steve Benen wrote: "McCain ... suggests off-shore drilling has something to do with creating a 'renewable energy economy.'"

McCain is a fountain of bullshit on energy issues.

In last night's debate, when asked what he would do in his first four-year term to reduce dependence on foreign oil, McCain immediately responded that the US should build 45 nuclear power plants "right away".

Well, first of all there is no such thing as building a nuclear power plant "right away". It takes a decade to build a nuclear power plant, even when the regulatory process has been "streamlined" to the point of seriously compromising safety.

Even with the massive taxpayer subsidies that the federal government is lavishing on the nuclear industry, and the gutting of the regulatory process, it is pretty much impossible that even one new nuclear power plant will go online in the USA during the next president's first term.

Secondly, nuclear power produces electricity, and almost no oil is burned in the USA to produce electricity. One can argue about whether nuclear power is a cost-effective and safe replacement for coal burned to generate electricity, which is essential to mitigate global warming. (I would argue that nuclear power is neither cost-effective nor safe, nor is it needed since wind and solar can do the job of replacing coal better, faster and cheaper.)

But as for reducing "dependence on foreign oil" within the next four years, nuclear power is completely irrelevant.

The bottom line on last night's debate is that when McCain was not angrily lashing out with sickening vicious lies, he was babbling bullshit.

Obama's ad is perfect.

I think the "speaking to mom in the nursing home" comment is a good one. Last night, I kept wondering why he was talking to me like a child. His tone of voice was so patronizing. Also, I've decided he shouldn't smile. Some of the split screens when Obama was speaking made McCain look absolutely insane.

One more thing: Can he and Cindy be more awkward? Michelle and Barack had a long, loving, believable hug, while John and Cindy did a half-hug-brush-cheek thing and then stood around and waited for the Obamas. As much as I don't care for her, I would hate to be her on the morning of November 5th.

"Everyday we send billions to the Middle East."

Uh, yeah. Especially the billions we send to Iraq in exchange for ...uh...bupkiss.

Do you really want to remind people of that John?

God his ad SUCKS.

It plays like an unfunny SNL skit.

Even better, I think, than "just like Bush" is the take in this SEIU ad: Worse than Bush.

By the way, would that Obama had pressed McCain over Palin's (and now McCain's own, in the "I'm not Bush" ad) implication that there's something patriotic about not wanting to pay one's fair share for the activities of one's nation's government -- things like, oh, let's say supporting the troops fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Not that everyone supports both those wars, but I'm assuming McCain and the voters he's going after do.)

My favorite McCain comment in the debate was "I'm not George Bush, I'm John McBush."

Of course, McCain's ads are using the Biden 'It is patriotic for the wealthy to pay taxes' comment. All good republicans know that true patriotism is to avoid paying taxes.

I was amazed to hear pundits say that McCain's "I'm not President Bush" line was the soundbite of the debate. Don't any of them remember the LBJ "make the sonofabitch deny it" story?

"...lower taxes and less spending will protect your job and create new ones..."

McCain raises his eyebrows and the pitch of his voice when he delivers that line. He might as well be saying, "...and when you stop peeing in your pull-ups you can have big kid underpants!" Christ, I don't even talk like that to my three year old.

From a previous Benen post:
I talked to someone earlier this week who worked tangentially on some previous campaigns with David Axelrod, the Obama campaign's chief strategist. He told me, Axelrod's not the type to drop a refrigerator on a guy's head. He'll take the refrigerator apart, drop one piece at a time, and save the biggest piece for last.

That "THUNK" you just heard was the ice maker smackin' McCain on the noggin'.

Smile, John, get ready for the freezer door.

What struck me about the McCain ad was how much he had copied some of Obama's previous ads: speaking directly to the camera/viewer, set in a living room, extolling the virtues of his plan.
But what's different is telling: in Obama ads, the specific points would be very concrete ("95% of American families will receive a tax cut"), but in this McCain ad all he's got are vague promises to make things better.

Re: The Obama ad.

Stop me if I'm gushing, but it seems like every day the Obama campaign does something brilliant.

Brings to mind something Dan Quayle said the day after the 1992 election. Referring to Bill Clinton he said, "if he runs the country as well he ran his campaign, we'll be alright." Backhandedly gracious, but not a bad point. Obama is acting very much as an executive should.