Archive: John McCain
McCain's Environmental Message
John McCain gives what his campaign describes as a "major speech" today on global climate change in Portland, Ore. The Post reports today that an "examination of McCain's voting record shows an inconsistent approach to the environment: He champions some 'green' causes while casting sometimes contradictory votes on others," McCain...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 12, 2008; 01:13 PM ET | Comments (0)
New Group Criticizes McCain
Progressive Media USA (PMUSA), a new group fronted by former conservative David Brock, has launched an anti-John McCain site called McCainSource.com. McCainSource features online-only productions, such as this video marking the fifth annivesary since President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech: The site also mixes humor with criticism. "Pop Up Double Talk,"...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 2, 2008; 07:43 AM ET | Comments (0)
MoveOn Strikes McCain on Iraq
MoveOn.org is concerned that John McCain is "on the air unopposed" in some states, so it's airing a new ad attacking him on the Iraq war. "Candles" starts with a birthday cake with five candles, to mark the five years since President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech. It also uses images...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 30, 2008; 05:50 PM ET | Comments (7)
SEIU Attacks McCain's Health Care Plan
John McCain is unveiling his health care proposals today in Florida, and is airing a new TV ad on health care in Iowa. But one of the nation's fastest-growing labor unions is also airing ads attacking the plan. SEIU is airing "Feeling the Pain" in Ohio, and Washington, D.C.: SEIU...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 29, 2008; 02:10 PM ET | Comments (12)
DNC Releases Second Anti-McCain Ad
The Democratic National Committee has released a second ad criticizing John McCain, this one focused on his comments about the Iraq war. (The first message focused on McCain's comments about the economy.) This ad uses only parts of the infamous Q&A session that McCain held with voters in January (courtesy...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 27, 2008; 02:45 PM ET | Comments (1)
McCain Airing New Ad in Pennsylvania
With one week until the Pennsylvania primary, John McCain doesn't want the two Democratic candidates getting all the attention. His new ad, "Ignite," strikes a bipartisan tone, saying that McCain will do what he can to fix the nation's economy. The script: "As President, John McCain will take the best...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 15, 2008; 08:01 AM ET | Comments (8)
McCain Says Play Nice With New Videos
John McCain seems to be laying down the markers for the tone of this year's general election campaign with a new video, while doing more to define himself before Democrats do it for him. Two key passages: "We have our disagreements, we Americans. We contend regularly and enthusiastically over many...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 11, 2008; 04:28 PM ET | Comments (1)
MoveOn Attacks McCain in New Web Ad
Less than 24 hours since Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker completed their congressional testimony, MoveOn.org is attacking John McCain in a new Web ad, once again tying him to President Bush's Iraq war strategy. "Iraq: Six Months at a Time" uses previous statements by Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush,...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 10, 2008; 04:18 PM ET | Comments (4)
McCain Comments On Iraq and His 'Girls'
In an interview with Fox News Channel, Sen. John McCain reacts to the so-called McCain Girls, and at the end of the interview opines about politically-themed viral video efforts: "I think this is part of the new technology and the new life we lead in politics, and a lot of...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 9, 2008; 03:05 PM ET | Comments (3)
McCain's High School Days Ad
Sen. John McCain's campaign has launched a new TV spot, "American Hero." The ad highlights lessons of honor and integrity McCains said were passed down to him from his high school English teacher and football coach, William Ravenel -- the "hero" referenced in the ad's title. After an intro that...
By Sarah Lovenheim | April 1, 2008; 01:37 PM ET | Comments (32)
It's Raining McCain!
A friend sends along this musical tribute to the candidate. One word: Ouch!...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 24, 2008; 10:02 AM ET | Email a Comment
Democrats Tie McCain to Bush (Again)
On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, Democrats are once again tying the words and actions of John McCain to President Bush: "Lockstep" is a 1-minute review of McCain's statements in the past seven years, and how they mirror those of Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Here's...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 19, 2008; 10:27 AM ET | Comments (10)
Video Marks McCain's POW Anniversary
John McCain's campaign has produced a video marking the 35th anniversary of his March 15, 1973 release and return home from North Vietnam, where he was held as a prisoner of war for six years. The video stars fellow POWs Orson Swindle, and Paul Galanti, and McCain's mother, Roberta McCain....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 14, 2008; 02:01 PM ET | Comments (3)
McCain and Grizzly Bears
The Post's Joel Achenbach reports today on a key element of John McCain's stump speech -- a $3 million study of grizzly bear DNA. "I don't know if it was a paternity issue or criminal," McCain jokes, "but it was a waste of money." The study featured prominently in a...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 10, 2008; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (31)
Man in the Arena
The Post's Michael D. Shear reports today that John McCain's aides are "determined to start crafting McCain's public image. They released a two-minute, online ad Friday called 'Man in the Arena,' which compares McCain to former British prime minister Winston Churchill and former president Theodore Roosevelt, focusing on McCain's military...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 9, 2008; 12:39 PM ET | Comments (4)
Democratic Group Launches Anti-McCain Ad
From our brother blog, The Trail, by Matthew Mosk: A Democratic group launched a massive new independently-financed ad campaign attacking John McCain today, launching the first assault on the Republican nominee in the absence of a Democratic candidate. The $1.1 million commercial, sponsored by a California-based group called Campaign to...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | March 5, 2008; 12:33 PM ET | Email a Comment
Democrats Target McCain
Democrats have started attacking presumptive GOP nominee John McCain on several fronts this week. The most recent example is a new web video by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that lumps McCain together with President George W. Bush, and vulnerable GOP senators, criticizing their continued support for the war in...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | February 20, 2008; 11:34 AM ET | Comments (6)
McCain Produces 'A Tale of Two Mitts'
Just in time for the Florida primary, John McCain is out with a new Web ad casting light on Mitt Romney's change of positions through the years. The 60-second ad is an opposition researcher's dream come true: It combines statements made by Romney during his Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, with...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 29, 2008; 01:25 PM ET | Comments (1)
McCain's Christmas Story
Let there be no doubt: There is a cross in John McCain's Christmas ad. (Some have suggested Mike Huckabee's holiday ad had a subtly placed cross in the background of his holiday message.) McCain's Christmas ad follows similar messages from several other candidates. McCain tells a story about spending Christmas...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | December 23, 2007; 12:05 PM ET | Comments (1)
New Ads From Clinton, Dodd, McCain
Clinton: You Need to Work for Change Hillary Clinton has earned praise for her statement at the Des Moines Register debate that "Everybody on this stage has an idea about how to get change. Some believe you get change by demanding it, some believe you get it by hoping for...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | December 20, 2007; 12:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
McCain, Giuliani Talk Fiscal Conservatism in Granite State Ads
McCain Touts Union-Leader Support John McCain highlights his "conservative plan to cut your taxes" in a new 30-second spot. He also mentions his recent endorsement from the Manchester Union-Leader. "One man has a plan to cut taxes for 25 million middle class families. Bold solutions to our toughest problems. A...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | December 12, 2007; 02:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
The PowerPoint Presidency
A John McCain strategist, campaign manager Rick Davis, shares a PowerPoint presentation pushing the McCain early-state strategy. It's actually sort of fascinating: spin, to be sure, but also an inside look into the thinking of a campaign. And that hinges on a win in New Hampshire leading to a...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | December 10, 2007; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
Clinton, McCain, Obama, and Paul Release New Ads
Clinton's 'New Beginning' Hillary Clinton's new 60-second spot will air in New Hampshire. It tells viewers the nation needs a "new beginning" on health care, education, and foreign affairs. "It takes strength and experience to bring about change," Clinton says. "I have a very clear records of 35 years fighting...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | December 9, 2007; 09:25 PM ET | Comments (13)
Giuliani Ad Shows Off the Shiny Big Apple
The newest campaign 2008 TV ad comes from Rudy Giuliani. "Challenges" is another reminder of Giuliani's New York turnaround narrative. The ad will air in the Boston and New Hampshire TV markets. "The world's seventeenth largest economy, swimming in red ink. Record crime. Runaway taxes. A million on welfare. That...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | November 21, 2007; 09:35 AM ET | Comments (8)
New McCain Ad: 'Outrageous'
The ad isn't outrageous, but the title is. The 30-second ad, "Outrageous," will air in New Hampshire and in the Boston media market, in order to reach Granite State residents who live in the southern reaches of the state. It ticks off a number of so-called "wasteful spending" projects, and...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | November 12, 2007; 02:39 PM ET | Comments (9)
McCain 'Guts'
John McCain is moving on from his recent Woodstock fix to remind voters he's against wasteful government spending. And where better to run such an ad than in New Hampshire, where pocketbook issues dominant political discourse. "Guts" is a 30-second spot. "All the candidates say they'll stop wasteful spending. One...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | October 31, 2007; 01:42 PM ET | Email a Comment
Ad Watch: McCain On Woodstock (Again), Giuliani Takes 'Chances', Obama On Social Security
McCain And Woodstock, Take Two John McCain is airing another ad in New Hampshire criticizing Hillary Clinton for her efforts to secure $1 million in federal funding for the Museum at Bethel Woods, focused on the 1969 Woodstock music festival. "[The museum is] the farthest thing from a hippie museum...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | October 29, 2007; 11:36 AM ET | Comments (21)
McCain 'Tied Up' In New Hampshire
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Capitalizing on his great one-liner from last Sunday's GOP debate in Orlando, Fla., John McCain is now airing a 30-second TV ad here that takes a shot at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton while touting McCain's record of military service and his experience as a...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | October 26, 2007; 04:49 PM ET | Comments (1)
Endorsement Videos
The Romney campaign posts this video from 2002 of John McCain endorsing Mitt's bid for Massachusetts governor. Silly, but at least it's better than another clip about the line item veto. Former Wisonsin Governor and presidential candidate Tommy Thompson throws his support to Rudy Giuliani. Sound Bite: "I want...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | October 15, 2007; 11:12 AM ET | Email a Comment
The Other McCain Ad
PrezVid's Peter Hauck wrote about one of John McCain's new New Hampshire TV ads, but there's one more worth noting. "One Man" is a much more dramatic 60-second spot that uses footage of McCain being interrogated when he was a Vietnam POW. "One man sacrificed for his country. One man...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | September 28, 2007; 10:34 AM ET | Comments (1)
New McCain Ad: 'Live Free'
Sen. John McCain's got a new TV ad running in New Hampshire. Same old, same old: leadership, character, service, courage, experience, judgment. Sound Bite: "The character to put America's interests before his own. New Hampshire -- you know who he is."...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | September 27, 2007; 02:12 PM ET | Comments (1)
McCain: MoveOn Should Be Thrown Out of the Country
At a campaign event in Hudson, N.H., Thursday night, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) responded to MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad by saying the liberal activist group should be "thrown out of the country." [See video of McCain's comments below] McCain's fellow presidential candidate, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani,...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | September 14, 2007; 06:37 PM ET | Comments (67)
McCain: No Surrender
Senator McCain says "the threat of radical Islamic extremisim" is the "transcendant challenge of our time" and that he's the best qualified candidate to meet that challenge. Sound Bite: "If we set a date for withdrawl and withdraw as the Democrats want us to do, you'll see chaos, genocide...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | September 11, 2007; 12:51 PM ET | Comments (4)
McCain Back On The Stump
John McCain relaunches his campaign with this 12-minute bio clip that focuses on his military service and experiences as a POW. His story remains heroic and compelling, of course, but it's hard to jumpstart a campign once it stalls....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | August 30, 2007; 11:01 AM ET | Email a Comment
Invisible McCain
As his campaign staff regroups, Sen. John McCain has been keeping a relatively low profile. So low, in fact, that he doesn't even appear in his latest video. Instead, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer delivers some classic campaign corn pone while introducing the candidate at a recent Iowa town...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | August 7, 2007; 10:06 AM ET | Email a Comment
One Toke Over the Line
When asked about rumors that he's considering dropping out of the race, Senator McCain doesn't blow any smoke....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | June 26, 2007; 08:48 AM ET | Email a Comment
YouTube Spin
An operative for a campaign sent me a link -- telling me not to attribute it to him -- for this video sniping at John McCain because his senior media adviser, Mark McKinnon, said he would quit, apparently to change sides, if Obama won the Democratic nomination: McCain McKinnon...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | June 11, 2007; 01:23 PM ET | Email a Comment
McCain Courts the Digerati
GOP presidential hopeful John McCain was in Carlsbad, Calif., Wednesday for the annual D Conference, a gathering of corporate types, journalists and entrepreneurs who work in (or with) new media, the Internet and technology in general. Here, McCain is interviewed by conference organizers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. He talks...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 31, 2007; 08:01 PM ET | Comments (1)
McCain's NASCAR Visit, YouTubed
John McCain gives us video from a NASCAR event, the Coca Cola 600, at which he thanks veterans for keeping us safe, if you can hear that over the revving of the engines and the cheesy music track. We await McCain, The Videogame....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 30, 2007; 10:18 AM ET | Comments (1)
McCain Jabs Romney on Immigration
On a conference call with reporters, GOP presidential candidate John McCain nails Mitt Romney with a couple of quick jabs over the latter's opposition to the proposed immigration bill: "In the case of Governor Romney, you know, maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 22, 2007; 11:57 AM ET | Comments (19)
Some Uninspired Straight Talk from McCain
John McCain follows up his turn in YouTube's YouChoose '08 Spotlight by responding to three questions (so far) from viewers. Unfortunately, McCain doesn't use the YouTube platform to its (and his) fullest advantage. He doesn't reference the viewer's question; he doesn't connect personally; he looks like he'd rather be...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 14, 2007; 11:48 AM ET | Email a Comment
McCain: Googled and YouTubed
Senator John McCain sits for an interview with YouTube's News and Politics Editor Steve Grove and delivers a quick rant on government spending. He also answers some questions from YouTube viewers, including: Is homosexuality immoral? McCain punts it as high as possible: "I do not know . . ....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | May 7, 2007; 02:10 PM ET | Email a Comment
