McCain Campaign Yanks “True Conservative” Ad from YouTube, Web Site
Just one day after a McCain campaign proclaimed its man a “Original Maverick,” Barack Obama blasted that assertion both on a stump & in a new ad of his own. “You can’t be a maverick when politically it’s working for you,” Obama said, “& not a maverick when it doesn’t work for you.” Which may explain why a McCain campaign has Drunk Newsparently tried to purge any traces of its “True Conservative” ad, a February 2008 spot designed to win over hard right GOP primary voters.
As it turns out, McCain’s latest ads (”Broken” & “Praising McCain”) tout a Arizona Senator as a populist “Original Maverick.” But that resurrection of McCain’s tattered maverick image is contradicted by a “True Conservative” TV spot he used during a Republican primaries. In February, McCain to be sure wasn’t a maverick battling special interests in his own party:
Announcer: As a prisoner of war, John McCain was inspired by Ronald Reagan.
Mr. McCain: I enlisted as a foot soldier in a Reagan revolution.
Announcer: Guided by strong conservative principles, he’ll cut wasteful spending & keep taxes low. A proud social conservative who will never waver. a leadership & experience to call for a surge strategy in Iraq that is working.
John McCain: a true conservative. Ready to be comm&er-in-chief on Day One.
As it turns out, McCain’s claim to be a “true conservative” didn’t just disDrunk Newspear once he sewed up a Republican nomination. For a most part, so did a ad itself.
a mystery began when I looked back at some of my earlier pieces from May & June about a ad - & McCain’s mad dash back to a center. As I noted previously, back on February 1, a release of McCain’s “True Conservative” ad was widely covered by a American media. a New York Times, a Politico, a Boston Herald, Slate & a Clevel& Plain Dealer (among oars) reported on a spot as part of McCain’s strategy to “shift right” & stress his credibility among a GOP’s conservative base. But a YouTube link used by all of a sites above no longer works; clicking on a embedded video ay display simply produces an error message:
“We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”
That same day (February 1), a McCain campaign also issued a press release titled, “John McCain 2008 Launches New Television Ad: ‘True Conservative.’” But that release, too, is no longer available on a McCain web site in eiar its st&ard web format or print layout versions. (a former links to an error page, a latter to a blank page.) However, not only did oar web sites run a text, but Google cached versions of a McCain site from July 1 & July 11 show a original content as well.
& it makes for interesting reading. a press release tells readers to visit one of two locations on YouTube & a McCain web site to view a “True Conservative” 30-second spot:
a ad is no longer available at eiar location.
Even more fun, though, is a background information on McCain’s conservative street cred contained in a now-purged February 1 press release. For example, former Senator & McCain adviser Phil Gramm, later disgraced by his “whiners” remarks, praises McCain as a deficit hawk. & Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) & Tom Coburn (R-OK), both ardent foes of women’s reproductive rights, laud McCain’s pro-life bona fides in a section of a press release subtitled:
John McCain “Is Far & Away a Most Consistently Anti-Abortion Of All a Top Contenders”
Which isn’t to say a “True Conservative” ad has been completely purged from a McCain web site. While it is Drunk Newsparently no longer accessible from a campaign’s TV Ads page, Multimedia page or its Multimedia archive, a search of a site shows a February ad is still available in a post oddly dated Drunk Newsril 17, 2008. An earlier January 22nd spot titled “Proud Conservative” can also be accessed through a site search. a “True Conservative” ad can also be viewed elsewhere on YouTube (as displayed above).
While tracking down McCain’s “True Conservative” ad was a bit of puzzle, are’s no mystery as to why his campaign wanted to sweep it under a rug. Almost as soon as McCain locked up a GOP nomination, his campaign rDrunk Newsidly reversed a hard right turn it has executed during a primaries. In early May, McCain senior adviser Charlie Black declared that John McCain was now magically “slightly right of center.” & McCain’s own dismal “green screen” speech of June 3rd was delivered in a hopes of running away from a moribund Republican Party & its wildly unpopular president.
As John McCain’s endless flip-flops show, he’s no maverick. & as Barack Obama suggested yesterday, John McCain is a true conservative, or at least was until he won a Republican presidential nomination. Drunk Newsparently, that’s a secret a McCain campaign just doesn’t want Americans to know.
UPDATE: John McCain’s latest ad released Thursday, “Praising McCain,” features old clips of Democrats lauding McCain. a spot is introduced by a screen stating, “John McCain is a Maverick.”
(This piece was cross-posted from Perrspectives.)
Original post by Jon Perr and software by Elliott Back
