John McCain continues to stumble....

[Odin]

Group launches ad against McCain's joke

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 48 minutes ago



The liberal group MoveOn.org is launching an ad against Republican John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and his joke about bombing Iran, arguing that the nation "can't afford another reckless president."

The group plans to spend about $100,000 to air a commercial on network and some cable television stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that hold early contests in the presidential nomination process, spokesman Alex Howe said Friday.

McCain, campaigning Wednesday in South Carolina, answered a question about military action against Iran with the chorus of the surf-rocker classic "Barbara Ann."

"That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran," he said. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..."

His audience laughed, but MoveOn.org called the comment dangerous.

"America has lived through six years of a reckless foreign policy," an announcer says in the ad. "We're stuck in Iraq. More than 3,000 Americans are dead. And thousands more wounded.

"Now comes John McCain with his answer to what we should do about Iran. John McCain? We can't afford another reckless president."

The group ran ads in the same states in January, criticizing the Arizona senator's support for sending more troops to Iraq.

McCain defended the joke during a campaign stop in Nevada on Thursday.

"Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends," he told reporters in Las Vegas. "My response is, Lighten up and get a life."

Asked if his joke was insensitive, McCain said: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"

His campaign said the latest commercial is predictable.

"It comes as no surprise that America's most liberal interest group would attack John McCain's belief that we cannot allow Iran to destroy Israel," McCain spokesman Matt David said:

The head of MoveOn said McCain displayed "more out-of-control bravado."

"The point is, a presidential candidate just doesn't kid around about bombing other countries, especially countries with high tensions, and especially where a diplomatic solution is our only hope," Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said Friday.

McCain's comments, posted on YouTube.com, had been viewed at least 118,056 times as of Friday morning.

Youtube

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This guy just cant get out of his own way. I personally think its funny (the beach boys theme), but McCain just dosent get the fact that he is in a presidential climate now and he cant (politically) expect these types of jibes to go under the radar.

So for my republican american friends out there on the org whats the concensus on the republican field of candidates? I truly want to like them and vote for them as I have squandered enough of my time on the left in the past. To be honest the 3 front runners all have weaknesses that really make me nervous.

Any takers?

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'm pulling for Fred Thompson. The only conservative who's close to running.

McCain and Guliani - no thanks, try reading the constitution guys. Romney isn't as bad - at least yet.

But the hubbub over this joke is stupid. Not that I'm surprised.

CR

[Don Corleone]

Well, I think it shows some political acumen on McCain's part. He's constantly fielding criticism that he's not conservative enough, not hawkish enough, too soft on our enemies. It's the first effort I've seen out of him to play to the base and not the middle of the entire American field, something he needs to do first, to get the nomination.

Honestly, MoveOn.Org should be more careful. I'm an engineer and I can come up with a perfect retort commerical: "Democrats... worried about hurting Iran's feelings first, American security last..."

I'm not saying I agree with that. I'm just saying if I came up with that in 30 seconds, just imagine what Karl and the boys have in the works.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

McCain = lacks the sense of charm and vigor he had at the outset of the 2000 campaign. Position on the Iraq war doesn't appeal as much to the large swath of semi-independents he appealed to last time. Plays better with the true-blue conservatives, but the religious right is still skeptical of his comments during the last attempt and the constitutionalist GOP'ers are NOT happy with his stance on the border or on campaign finance.

Guliani = putative front-runner with oodles of charisma and gravitas points picked up by his solid performance during the 9-11 events. This demonstration of ability to act under pressure is his biggest appeal. Has taken a constructivist justices pledge for the SCOTUS and scores heavily on law and order. His support for abortion and his relatively liberal stance on social issues do not play well with the base.

Romney = best money raiser so far and, despite his previous support for abortion, most of his recently expressed views are pretty middle of the road for the GOP. Coming from Mass almost guarantees that he'll have to concede his home state to the opposition in the general -- a poor starting point.

Thompson = not yet officially running and therefore behind in the finances game (which is more an more crucial with the early primary setup). Probably the best "gravitas" and stage presence as a leader and has a solidly conservative record behind him that will play very well for the base. If there is a contender who can get in at a late date and pull it off, Fred is the one.

Most of the others simply don't have the resources and support so far to be called major candidates.

[Odin]

Thanks for the replies.

I honestly dont know much about Fred Thompson, I'll keep an eye out for his eventual apprerance on meet the press.

I do agree with Don Corleone that this might acutally be a political move for McCain. It certainly sets him up to appeal to that portion of the party who is hawkish, and sets up rebuttal potentials as Don points out.

@Seamus nice summary thanks. Guliani, I dont know something about him just strikes me as off, is there a skeleton or two in this guys closet? Maybe its because I'm a Boston guy and he is NY, but hes to charming if you ask me.

Good old Mitt, his fundraising has been from a lot of first time donors from the business world and his largest donor base was from Utah. He was a good govenor in the sense that he made dam good efforts at subdueing the Mass liberal coallition, sadly in most cases he failed and in the end thats a liabilty for him.

McCain is still intriquing to me mainly because I dont want a retreat from the unilateral foriegn policy of Mr Bush, I just want it applied more intelligently with less intervention and more preventative action with minimal investment.

So he fulfills (somewhat) my most important foriegn adgenda. Domestically My number 1 priority is a reinvestment in infrastructure (include the social infrastructure like SS reform, and health care). I feel like we have spent so much time abroad that as a whole the U.S. internally has remained status quo.

While thats good to a degree its hardly encourging given the aging population, budget deficits, and global warming.

[Major Robert Dump]

big deal. and moveon.org are a bunch of retards who lost their credibility long, long ago.

[BigTex]

I personally found the joke to be rather funny. Hilarious to see the dem's making a fuss over this. Definately a stupid thing to do also, can quickly backfire in the dem's face. As don has pointed out.

In fact it's siggy material.

[Xiahou]

and his largest donor base was from

What? I'd love to see that backed up with something- I tend to doubt that.

I'm pulling for Fred Thompson. The only conservative who's close to running.

I'm with you. A conservative who actually has some charm, plus Hollywood connections.... I tingle.

The only thing that I can think of that McCain talks some sense on is his foreign policy. However, he seems to have temper problems- which are never good. And more importantly, he's been on the wrong side of too many important issues to get any consideration from me. I'd probably pick him over any of the current crop of Democrats- there's certainly nothing to get excited about over there -but then again, I might just take a throw-away 3rd party vote instead.

[Odin]

What? I'd love to see that backed up with something- I tend to doubt that.

I was wrong, 18% was from california, 13% from Utah. In the chart listed it states 52% from other states but lists the top contributing states.

It also lists donation per zip code and Utah is 3 of the top 5.

Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/ge...286&cycle=2008