"I'm John McCain and I Approve this Moronic Message"

So much for John McCain's pledge to run a clean campaign. In his latest Rovian ad aimed at the lowest of low-information voters, the presumptive Republican nominee for president compares Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Apparently the former straight-talker would rather put his principles in a blind trust than lose an election.

What do YOU think?

8/1 UPDATE: One YouTube viewer said this about the Low-Road Express: "McCain's ad is actually telling me just what they think of me - and I am not very happy about it at all!"

Here's the response from Barack Obama.

Comments

[Dave]

But did he go to his agency saying he wanted to do some H* S* stuff???

[TOM MESSNER]

AT ITS heart, spot is very benign...but you are correct that it attacks more obama's supporters than obama...attacks the media more than obama's platform...
kind of innocence by association compared to a spot, let's say, showing him hobnobbing with bernardine dohrn, late of the west 10th street bomb factory or the catholic priest, whatzizname, who went ballistic on hillary clinton...
funny that the so-called twofer is lost here---the drilling issue......obama, following the spot'S RUNNING, saID he may be interested in allowing drilling....by the end of the august, he may have moved so far to the right that he gets confused and gives the acceptance speech in minneapolis instead of denver and calls for an end to legal aborions, drops the capital gains tax entirely, calls for the bombing of iran...and precedes it all with his signature phrase for such trunarounds, "I've always said that..."

[Robert Rosenthal]

Dave: I think he only told 'em he wanted to run "s."

[Robert Rosenthal]

Tom: Obama seems to be borrowing from Bill Clinton's triangulation playbook. He even had his Sister Souljah moment.

I blame the electorate. Clinton operated like an Eisenhower Republican because he knew no other way to get re-elected. A Dem has to be a political contortionist to get elected -- and re-elected -- these days.

[Tom Messner]

TRIANGULATION? He's reached into the hexagon area.
Before you blame the electorate, blame the media. I saw a three persond discussion on MSNBC Friday afternoon in which the three of them (including andrea mitchell) rant on about how the media are ignoring the real issues and focusing on these commercials. They talked on an on about that for a half hour. Don't they see the irony.

[Robert Rosenthal]

Tom: I see the irony, but I think the media -- particularly TV broadcasters -- are reflecting the interests of their audiences. In that sense they're no different than TMZ.com: Feature Britney or Paris and they see the numbers spike. The Sunday morning news shows are the exception.

[Robert Rosenthal]

Check out what Paris Hilton's mother -- a McCain supporter -- had to say about the ad:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKN0344419420080803

[Tom Messner]

also check out what charlton heston's mother thinks of the use of her son parting the sea...
i am actually surprised that the heston image and paris and britney can be so easily used in commercials.....
maybe the trial lawyers who are the second biggest contributor to the democrats (after the teachers' unions "No instructor left behind") should take up a sort of class action for pitiable women and dead actors....
good to see heston back in political spots...i worked with him in '88 when he did voice over work for a convention film i wrote and prodcued for george bush...
nice guy to work with.......i told him i loved him in touch of evil....he asked where in hell i saw that....it had been out of circ for a while

[Robert Rosenthal]

Tom: Speaking of that, was wondering what you thought of McCain's ad ("The One") with the Heston scene.

[Tom Messner]

hyperbole isn't allowed any more...used to be a perfectly fine literary device but
promising the planet will begin to heal following your election or that the oceans will recede is a little tough to enunciate and expect to avoid ridicule...
the real story of advertising in this campaign appears to be that the shelf life of a spot is one day...then the media chew it over....they were still talking about it this morning on obama's station...msnbc.........
but be careful up there...i think obama has come out for drilling in boston harbor...on the theory that if you can't clean it up maybe there's oil there...