by Mark Silva
The McCain campaign has rolled out a new campaign TV ad today replaying Democratic running mate Joe Biden's campaign-trail warning that the world will attempt to test Barack Obama if he is elected president.
"Listen to Joe Biden,'' says the announcer of the ad, "Talking about what electing Barack Obama will mean.''
iden's voice is replayed through an echo chamber that sounds as if the recording studios of the caves of Tora Bora had produced the clip: "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama.The world is looking.We're going to have an international crisis ... to test the mettle of this guy. I guarantee you it's gonna happen.''
The campaign ad concludes: "It doesn't have to happen.''
"Vote McCain.''
Is this a potentially explosive new ad in the hardest-fought states in the closing weeks of the campaign (we saw it on the morning news show cycle of ads in Virginia this morning), the political equivalent of Lyndon Johnson's nuclear countdown, warning what will happen if his oppoent is elected?
Or is it wasted ammo?
Stan Greenberg, a seasoned Democratic pollster, ran the issue through a survey of voters nationwide this week - after Biden delivered words over the weekend that the McCain campaign has been replaying in their stump speeches day after day.
The pollsters read voters some statements:
"John McCain says, 'Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, guaranteed that if Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis to test America's new president. With our economy in crisis and Americans fighting two wars, we don't need a president that invites testing from the world or would sit down unconditionally with the world's worst dictators.'''
""Barack Obama says, 'This new attack from McCain's campaign distorts what Sen. Biden says. He told people that, quote, 'Those who test Obama will find he has a spine of steel.' Colin Powell has endorsed me saying I will be a determined leader. This attack is just an attempt to avoid having a debate on the need to change our foreign and economic policies.''
And among the 1,000 likely voters surveyed Tuesday through Thursday:
- -- 50 percent said they believe McCain is trying to distract from the issues.
-
- -- 40 percent said they believe the McCain statement strongly.
"Because of Barack Obama's inexperience, Joe Biden has guaranteed the American people that the world will test Barack Obama within the first six months of being elected,'' the McCain campaign says. "If Barack Obama's vote against the surge and response to the Russia-Georgia crisis are any indication, Americans can't afford to see if he passes the test or not. The ad will be televised in key states.''
Pollster Stan Greenberg concludes: "We... tested the Biden argument, and it didn't work.''
Comments
That's right, McCain. Four more years of Neocon rule doesn't have to happen, and it won't.
Posted by: dt | October 24, 2008 2:05 PM
I actually heard that Biden soundbite yesterday.
It is a bit shocking. Hyperbolic.
What was he thinking?
Was he thinking at all?
Posted by: ornery | October 24, 2008 4:38 PM
McCain has been tested. True - tested and failed. He failed on Iraq; He failed on Afghanistan; He failed on Georgia where we fell into a Russian trap; He fails on diplomacy. We don't need any more trigger-happy Bush/Cheney/Goldwater people in the White House.
Posted by: jefflz | October 24, 2008 5:50 PM
What is happening is beyond belief!
The Alinsky "Handbook for Radicals" has been played to the hilt as the Game Plan to TAKE POWER,and the Mesmerized Obamaid drinkers are playing their roles to the tee.
Where persuasion won't work, they turn to INTIMIDATION, as proven in certain ethnic communities in Florida, where Grandchildren are THREATENING THEIR GRANDPARENTS!!
Posted by: choi | October 24, 2008 6:06 PM
Fear is all McCain has.
Didn't Joe Lieberman make the same statement about a new president being tested? I wouldn't want to have to grade failing student McCain's test. Or. God forbid, Ms. 6 Colleges in 5 years Palin's test.
Posted by: athena | October 24, 2008 6:49 PM
How dare you mention Barry Goldwater in the same sentence with Bush and Cheney - as if they were all of the same mind. You only show your ignorance by making such statements. Goldwater wouldn't have sent us into Iraq, he wouldn't have signed off on even one of Bush's deficit spending budgets, he wouldn't have employed police state tactics in the name of national security, and he wouldn't have championed even one of the Bush/Cheney social conservative positions. If Bush were half the conservative, libertarian Goldwater was, we would be at peace and prosperous right now.
Posted by: John W. | October 25, 2008 10:21 PM