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The Ayers Ad

Submitted by Lisa on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 10:26
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The new ad coming out today about the Obama-Ayers connection got me wondering about who the sponsoring group is, and about what it was Obama had originally said. So, I did some poking around and this is what I found:

The ad is not produced by the McCain campaign. It was funded by the "American Issues Project" The AIP is an independent group, co-chaired by Ed Falior, former senior advisor to McCain. It's a brand new 501(c)4, a non-profit not required to disclose its donors. The group spent $3 million on the ad.

It took some determination, but I found the full quote from which two words were used in the ad. The quote is not originally from Obama; Obama was quoting journalist Alexander Cockburn. The original quote reads as follows:

“Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn became respectable fixtures in mainstream liberal Chicago years ago.”

~ Alex Cockburn, 3/2/2008, quote used on Obama's website as of 6/10/2008, since removed.

 

Obama's team, responding to the ad, tried to implicitly change the subject back to McCain and his houses:

"The fact that John McCain dispatched his paid consultant to launch this despicable ad from a so-called independent committee shows how desperate he is to change the subject from his shocking disconnect with the economic struggles of the American people."

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Ayers Ad

Submitted by gs on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 13:11.

In contrast to the mocking humor of the McCain ads, the AIP ad has a heavy-handed obsessiveness.  IMO it won't be especially effective with undecided voters, and too much of this kind of thing could be counterproductive.  Little Green Footballs shows the ad and notes that everything in it is factual, but that's not my point.

Obama's team, responding to the ad, tried to implicitly change the subject back to McCain and his houses:

"The fact that John McCain dispatched his paid consultant to launch this despicable ad from a so-called independent committee shows how desperate he is to change the subject from his shocking disconnect with the economic struggles of the American people."

Of course they tried to link the ad to McCain.  AIP uses the kind of nasty tone that I think the Obama people had game planned for.  The effectiveness of the authentic McCain ads has them back on their heels.