As expected, the McCain campaign’s new TV ad, comparing Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, made quite a splash yesterday. When pressed for a reaction, Obama told reporters yesterday, “You know, I don’t pay attention to John McCain’s ads, although I do notice he doesn’t seem to have anything to say very positive about himself. He seems to only be talking about me… You need to ask John McCain what he’s for and not just what he’s against.”
That’s not bad, I suppose, but as Greg Sargent noted yesterday, “Hearing Obama himself laugh off the ad as childish or babyish would help ensure that McCain just keeps on shrinkin’…”
With that in mind, today’s response at a town-hall meeting on energy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, seemed quite a bit stronger.
“Given the seriousness of the issues, you’d think we could have a serious debate,” Obama said. “But so far, all we’ve been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I mean, I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election is about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?”
The crowd yelled: “NOOOOOOOOOO.”
“Even the media has pointed out that Senator John McCain — who started off talking about running an honorable campaign — has fallen back on predictable political attacks and demonstrably false statements. But here’s the problem. All of those negative ads spending all this time talking about me, instead of talking about what he’s going to do, that’s not going to lower your gas prices….
“It’s politics as a game,” Obama said. “But the time for game-playing is over. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.”
Much better.
As long as we’re on the subject, there’s been some speculation about the choice in celebrities McCain picked for his attack ad, and possible racial implications. Newsday’s John Riley had an interesting piece.
The problem: Anyone with even a vague sense of pop culture knows that Britney and Paris are yesterday’s news. Here’s a link to Forbes’ Celebrity 100. Paris and Britney don’t even make the list any more.
Instead, the top 10, in order: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, JK Rowling, Brad Pitt.
So, they didn’t pick other big celebrities, who were either men, or black, or married.
What they picked was two sexually available white women.
But it must have been a coincidence, because we know John McCain wants to run an elevated campaign focusing on the serious issues that America faces.
Jonathan Chait isn’t going for the racial angle, arguing instead that McCain’s team picked Spears and Hilton because they’re “extremely unpopular celebrities.” Maybe, but McCain having hired the minds behind the “call me” attack ad against Harold Ford might tip the scales a bit.
In any case, the McCain campaign’s spin has become increasingly ridiculous, and even tougher to defend. Leading conservative blogers hate it; McCain allies hate it; and the Obama campaign is mocking it.
So, when McCain spokesperson Nicolle Wallace (a Rove acolyte) appeared on the “Today” show to talk about it, what was her message? “This ad is in some ways a celebration of [Obama’s] celebrity.” Good lord.
But don’t worry, while even McCain’s paid staff is struggling to defend one of the stupidest presidential campaign ads in recent history, there’s still Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman took a different tack, saying the ad simply compares the two candidates in a “creative” way and people should lighten up. “To some extent the appearance of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears — people complain about it — they should just relax and enjoy it,” he said.
“Relax and enjoy it.” Hilton and Spears. Joe Lieberman.
The mind reels.