Dems Play M-Card on McCain
Leading Democrats have been slamming the McCain campaign for quoting their dated praise of the GOP nominee in a web ad, and now the DNC has managed to churn out its own web ad rebuttal in the same day's news cycle.
The spot continues the summer clash over the m-word, with McCain asserting his maverick credentials while Democrats protest he has sold out. The new video, "Maverick No More," turns to the same Democrats quoted by the McCain campaign -- only this time they discuss his reversals:
"You know, the John McCain of 2000 wouldn't' vote for this John McCain."
-DNC Chair Howard Dean
"He's changed a lot since 2001."
-Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
"John McCain has changed in profound and fundamental ways that I find personally really surprising, and frankly upsetting. He is not the John McCain as a senator, who defined himself quote as a 'maverick' though questionable. This is a different John McCain."
-Sen. John Kerry, Mass.
The video also includes a tepid quote from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who roiled Democrats this week by talking up her plans for a convention in an alternate universe. She is still campaigning for Obama, however, on Friday at a noon rally in Henderson, Nev. So that's an opportunity for her to rebut McCain's ad -- and put her past praise for the GOP nominee in some kind of context.
PRODUCTION NOTES: This ad is more of a duplicate than a parody. It deploys the same text presentation, rock guitar riffs and "characters" as the GOP ad, but with a different script. The DNC not only ripped off the RNC's style, it is mooching off its web traffic, by posting the video as a linked "response" to the original ad. That may work for everyone in the end, since the response feature posts a prominent link under the video, right back to the GOP ad.
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